Are Kai tucks sealed shut or just folded shut?
- Thread starter Frito Ray
- Start date
Folded, from memory.
Folded in my experience.
Yeah, a tongue that folds in. It's pretty neat. Also, the blade wrapper has watermarks all over it. But you really have to look for them to see them.
- Thread starter
- #5
Does the wrapper have a dab of glue holding it together?
I can't wait 
It does not, which is one of the many reasons I like the Kai DE blade.
No, just folded in the wrapper.
Edit to add: No glue dots like a Gillette blade. And no tiny dab of glue holding the wrapper closed like a Bic Chrome.
- Thread starter
- #9
I can't wait
Patience brucered-San.
I was considering to ask the same question and then some (as is evident from the lines below).
Well my only beef with Kai blades is that for such a highly priced DE blade, its packaging and markings leave much to be desired with regards to being more tamperproof and easily recognizable with regards to counterfeiting attempts.
Kai tucks are not sealed, meaning you do not need to tear certain aspect of the packaging to get to the blades (not tamperproof). As was mentioned above, the ends just open as easily as any (reclosable) box really. This to me is a really awkward practice especially for such a product. Do you really want to use a blade that some person used before you. This opens some serious consideration with respect to the posssibility of disease transmission. Some other blade manufacturers also put DE blades into such non tamper proof paper packaging, but then follow with the outer transparent sealed foil with a tear ribbon. If you order a few Kai tucks, anybody in the delivery chain could in essence take a blade out, shave a couple of times and put it back in and none would be the wiser ... just a blade would be considered more from the "bad" end the Kai blades population. I find that a really terrible aspect of Kai blades packaging.
Again wax spots are friends in tamperproofing the blades against unsolicited use (in addition to prevent blade movement and coat abrasion during shipment). To achieve better tamperproof design, the blades actually do not need to be glued to paper, but the wrapping should be glued (sealed) like for instance with Dorco HQ in paper tucks. Dorco HQ paper tuck box needs to be teared to open, and even then each blade is double wrapped, first in a sealed outer paper followed by unsealled inner wax paper. That is a nice approach.
And also regardings the markings, Kai blades are not marked. Just plain steel. The wrapper has such poor water markings that even If I know what I am looking for, I have a problem finding it. I would have a huge problem assessing if certaing "Kai" blade is a counterfeit or not. This approach is a longshot from what others do, especially considering the high price of Kai blades. For the (premium DE blades) price and "Made in Japan" I would expect some high tech laser etched marking ... dare I say (tongue in cheek) hologram markings on each blade.
But hey to each its own.
Well my only beef with Kai blades is that for such a highly priced DE blade, its packaging and markings leave much to be desired with regards to being more tamperproof and easily recognizable with regards to counterfeiting attempts.
Kai tucks are not sealed, meaning you do not need to tear certain aspect of the packaging to get to the blades (not tamperproof). As was mentioned above, the ends just open as easily as any (reclosable) box really. This to me is a really awkward practice especially for such a product. Do you really want to use a blade that some person used before you. This opens some serious consideration with respect to the posssibility of disease transmission. Some other blade manufacturers also put DE blades into such non tamper proof paper packaging, but then follow with the outer transparent sealed foil with a tear ribbon. If you order a few Kai tucks, anybody in the delivery chain could in essence take a blade out, shave a couple of times and put it back in and none would be the wiser ... just a blade would be considered more from the "bad" end the Kai blades population. I find that a really terrible aspect of Kai blades packaging.
Again wax spots are friends in tamperproofing the blades against unsolicited use (in addition to prevent blade movement and coat abrasion during shipment). To achieve better tamperproof design, the blades actually do not need to be glued to paper, but the wrapping should be glued (sealed) like for instance with Dorco HQ in paper tucks. Dorco HQ paper tuck box needs to be teared to open, and even then each blade is double wrapped, first in a sealed outer paper followed by unsealled inner wax paper. That is a nice approach.
And also regardings the markings, Kai blades are not marked. Just plain steel. The wrapper has such poor water markings that even If I know what I am looking for, I have a problem finding it. I would have a huge problem assessing if certaing "Kai" blade is a counterfeit or not. This approach is a longshot from what others do, especially considering the high price of Kai blades. For the (premium DE blades) price and "Made in Japan" I would expect some high tech laser etched marking ... dare I say (tongue in cheek) hologram markings on each blade.
But hey to each its own.
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Copying marks/logos and wax spots are a trivial matter for professionals.
All of the reasons you state for not liking the blade are the same that makes it my favorite of the DE options. Well, that and the great performance I get from them.
So to each their own indeed
I recommend buying from a trusted source if you are worried about fakes.
Do a lot of people go into your bathroom and tamper with your blades? Then re-wrap them and return them neatly to the box?
Personally I like the uncomplicated, clean presentation. They could have done a clever origami thing with the wrappers, though, like with the Kai paper disposable razor.
Well doubt that about laser etching, that it is so easy as it probably is quite costly ... And regarding wax spots, production machines usually have a certain way of manufacturing ... I guess some blade manufacturer (counterfeit or not) has a certain number of blade packaging machines that operate in certain way. I doubt you can recreate all facets of any specific market DE product just by wishing it so. For instance even Gillete's own shifting of manufacturing DE blades from one line to the other is usually evident exactly by such changed properties.
As for the tamperproof design I was quite specific, that if somebody in the (low paid) distribution center, warehouse, delivery chain would want to use Kai blades it could do so and that would not be evident from the blade tucks or blade wrappings themselves. In case of such events such people are not professionals and have no possibility of recreating the previous state of the tamperproof designed blade tucks, but they easily do have access to shipment/parcel wrappings to make it seem tha parcel is intact. Just my observation, that I am always a bit uneasy using Kai tucks that I ordered because of that.
Everything is in tamperproof sealable packaging from the food down to other DE blades. That is why I question this way that Kai has chosen for their blade packaging.
Why would Kai blades be any different and held to another standard? Tamperproof packaging desing for a (frequently replaceable and changeable) cutting blade that does the cutting directly on the skin and inadvertantly comes frequently into contact with blood is something that should be the minimum norm, really. Dare I say it would be nice if manufacturers also sterilized such blades like Persona Medpreps ... but that is wishful thinking I know.
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I guess I'm going to have to start buying blades now that my conspiracy has been uncovered. Up until now I have been shaving exclusively with KAI blades that I open and shave with and then put back in the box before they get delivered to the customers.
I'll be honest....I don't even know or care how the 2-3 different blades I use are sealed or packed.
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
There are subjects about which some people have major concerns, while others don't give them a second thought; both sides are so entrenched that neither will ever be convinced by the other. Read any thread on the cleaning of vintage razors - some will simply rinse in warm soapy water, while others will insist on a 10 minute boil, a dip in hydrogen peroxide, 20 minutes in an autoclave, then finally nuke the razor from space just to be sure. Concerns about Kai blades are similar I suggest, if you have asked the question then you have already made up your mind and nothing will persuade you otherwise. Just use what you feel comfortable with is my advice.
The Kai blades are wider than the other DE-blades. Probably a more costly thing to copy than laser etching and wax spots.
As for the "what if someone in the distribution center wants to use the blades" thing, this line of thinking is so far away from anything I'd consider even remotely likely to happen that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it. It's probably not going to happen to you even once in a thousand lifetimes.
Man. Yall are making me laugh out loud too hard today.
Kai SS blades are my favorite blades. Like others, I have not given it a second thought that someone could have snooped through my blades prior to buying and used the blades.
Talk about anxiety
Kai SS blades are my favorite blades. Like others, I have not given it a second thought that someone could have snooped through my blades prior to buying and used the blades.
Talk about anxiety
