'Dud' blades. Can they really make it through the production line?

[JasonJT]

Good evening all.

As per my last shaving review the shave was pretty poor. However a member commented that it could have been a 'dud' blade (The blade in question is a King C. Gillette blade). Has anyone else experienced a poor shave with a certain blade even though it could be one's favourite?

As far as I can tell (based on a How It's Made video) the process of manufacturing blades is pretty much automated. So unless the machinery was playing up on a Friday afternoon; is this a possibility?

Not trying to insult anyone's intelligence but I've never had a 'dud' with the Nacet, Astra or the various 7 o'clock blades. In response to the member on this forum who suggested that the blade in question could be a dud, I even offered to do the same shave again and seeing if this holds up.

Jason

 

[Guido75]

Knock on wood Jason I have never come across a dud blade before. Or I might have but didn’t recognise it as such. I do experience differences from blade to blade - for example my first Gillette 7 o’clock black was average, my second blade was fantastic. Dud? Maybe. Different razor, different lather, different technique? In my personal case more likely.

As for the KCG. I think it’s one of my favourites and definitely top 3 material. I had the same suggestion as the other respected member - perhaps you want to give the KCG another go, even with another razor rather than dismissing it straight after one shave. But with blades it’s YMMV all the way.

Cheers,

Guido

 

[JasonJT]

Knock on wood Jason I have never come across a dud blade before. Or I might have but didn’t recognise it as such. I do experience differences from blade to blade - for example my first Gillette 7 o’clock black was average, my second blade was fantastic. Dud? Maybe. Different razor, different lather, different technique? In my personal case more likely.

As for the KCG. I think it’s one of my favourites and definitely top 3 material. I had the same suggestion as the other respected member - perhaps you want to give the KCG another go, even with another razor rather than dismissing it straight after one shave. But with blades it’s YMMV all the way.

Cheers,

Guido

I appreciate your comment when you say the KCG blade is one of your favourites. I will give that blade another go; perhaps in my Parker 22R Interceptor razor and see what happens.

Jason.

 

[lasta]

Production duds? Possible.

But I think a lot of things can happen after a blade leaves the factory and before touching our faces.

Many have complained about Bic QC, but I think shuffling inside the wrappers and premature dulling has more to do with it.

I don't like Gillette wax dots, but they are there for a reason.

 

[Possum092]

Look at the factories/countries where most cheap blades are manufactured; most are not known for turning out high-quality products.

 

[Frito Ray]

Yep, in my last Astra SP sleeve (20 tucks of 5), I got two maybe three duds. They weren’t all in the same tuck either.

That’s the reason when trying new brands I never buy a single blade, always at least a tuck of 5 or 10, to make sure I’m not testing a dud.

 

[thombrogan]

I’ve had dud Nacets and Bic CPs. They were duller than normal. More Bics were dull of the two. Made me totally unprepared for a regular one’s sharpness.

 

[Phoenixkh]

As I mentioned, I had a dud a the Personna Comfort Coated USA blade. It was obvious on the first WTG down stroke. I've been using Nacets and Perma-Sharp blades lately. I need to try another Personna soon.

 

[Old Navy_1]

When I received my new "Lupo .95 SB" I popped a fresh, new Astra SP 'Green' and started shaving. After 4 uses the blade started pulling, so, I tossed it in the Blade Bank. I thought maybe it had to do with the 'Aggressiveness', or "Blade Exposure" dulling the blade prematurely? This is my first 'Aggressive' razor. What's odd is I normally get a minimum of 5 uses from each blade. This was very unusual.

What makes me believe it was a 'dud' is it hasn't happened again and I'm back to my 'normal' 5 shaves per blade.

b/r

ON_1

 

[SydneyShaver]

Age also naturally dulls edges, especially when you consider how fine the edge of a razor blade is and the fact that none of them have particularly amazing steel. They are inherently designed to be consumable. Duds are definitely possible, they must make hundreds of thousands of blades on the same machines which are then packaged and sent around the world. I don't believe the country in which a blade was made dictates the 'quality' or even quality control. For instance Germany is known for quality manufacturing and even straight razor manufacturing but in my experience, there isn't a single razorblade that has 'made in Germany' on it, that I consider usable.

 

[Bobovata]

Astra Platinum 'Green' is the blade I have used the most by far, nearing 100.

They also gave me the only dud I have ever had, and it was obvious after 2-3 strokes. Real outlier.

All the other AP Greens have been quite consistent. No idea why that single one was so bad.

 

[BobbyB]

Of my 20 Bic Chrome platinum used to date, #18 lasted only 5 shaves, and was dulling by shave 3.

 

[Capt. Pat]

I recently had a dud (bad from the start) blade in a pack of Supply Black injector blades. Supply sent me a new pack of blades. IME dud blades do show up, though pretty rarely. OTOH experiencing variation in how long a given blade will last, 6 or 3 shaves is pretty common, in my mind those short-lived specimens are not duds.

 

[dotKomo]

I had some BIC blades in a sample pack some years back. Despite trying several of them, none worked for me - dull and constant tugging. A lot of my brothers on this forum love BIC blades. So either that lot was bad in manufacture, or they simply did not work for me.

I have not had a similar issue with the other blades I've tried. Some didn't perform well for me, but not as poorly as the BIC blades.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

“‘Dud’ blades. Can they really make it through the production line?”

Yes.

 

[ERS4]

Dorco st300.
I've been tempted several times by its price, but sure enough I've always been intimidated by the barrage of dud blades.

I've decided to try to avoid buying it when there are other options. Even rather sharpen a 1920's carbon steel blade with a "Stanford 5 Second Sharpener" first.