There is pain and there is knowing how (and when) to avoid pain. This is an extreme reduction that has served me well in my career and life in general.
Quest for less technology
- Thread starter blethenstrom
- Start date
True. An example for me would be never use a Laser Ultra blade again.
I was considering getting some. lolTrue. An example for me would be never use a Laser Ultra blade again.
Something that took me quite a while to figure out. You know... the old "Hold my beer..." thing.
Looks easy...right?
- Thread starter
- #2,265
Evening shave - 5/4/24
Razor: RazoRock Mentor
Blade: Derby Premium (4/5) (6)
Soap: BSS #1
Brush: Omega 10065 Boar
Aftershave: AV Musk
Rating: 9.75/10, DFS++
Top notch shave! It was a fantastic Saturday evening shave! Super smooth and not a lick of irritation. What a great finish on this blade.
Evening shave - 5/5/24
Razor: Matador de Luxe
Blade: Derby Premium (5/5) (1)
Soap: BSS #1 (single lye)
Brush: Omega 81052 Banded Boar
Aftershave: Skin Bracer
Rating: 9.75/10, DFS++
Back to the mighty Matador razor. This razor was awesome when I used it last and it sure did not disappoint this time either. Very efficient and it could easily be used as a two pass razor and do just fine.
It was a great weekend of shaves. I finished off the week with the Mentor and it sure did not disappoint. It was smooth and plenty efficient to yield a very respectable shave on Saturday night. I did face lather with the 10065 and that boar being a bleached boar brush broke in very nicely and is doing a fine job at face lathering.
On Sunday evening I put a fresh blade, the last in the tuck of Derby Premiums that I have been working on, in the Matador de Luxe. I was surprise to see that I have only had a few shaves on this razor and I had to do something about that. That brings me to that I am going to try to keep my razor at a fairly even number of uses each going forward. Of course this does not include the razors that I will be PIFing off in the future. That way all my razors will get a fair shake down and I will not ignore and forget how to use some of them. It also gives me the chance to see if the razor will stay with me going forward.
I have for the last couple of weeks been evaluating Noodler's X-feather black in my Pilot Prera F pen. I got a sample of this ink a long time ago and it was not until now that I was able to test it out. The X-feather line from Noodler's is specially formulated to not feather nor bleed on "cheap", "crappy" paper, which I have plenty of at work especially. After having used it for a while I can honestly say that this ink is not for me even though I really wanted to like it. It certainly does what it is advertised to do. Yes it does not bleed nor feather, but that comes at a cost. First, the ink is quite "thick" and some pens, including my Prera can have issues with flow. You see to make an ink less bleeding and feathering it has to be think so it does not penetrate the paper so quickly. This brings me to my second problem. It takes forever to dry, especially on better paper. Even on cheap copy paper it will take a good minute to dry, but on even marginally better paper it can be 5-10 minutes! I did not even try it on like Rhodia or something like it because it would be completely unusable. That is way too long. Still the reigning champion ink for poor paper, for me, is the Noodler's Black. Well behaved and reasonable drying times.
Happy shaves everyone!
Razor: RazoRock Mentor
Blade: Derby Premium (4/5) (6)
Soap: BSS #1
Brush: Omega 10065 Boar
Aftershave: AV Musk
Rating: 9.75/10, DFS++
Top notch shave! It was a fantastic Saturday evening shave! Super smooth and not a lick of irritation. What a great finish on this blade.
Evening shave - 5/5/24
Razor: Matador de Luxe
Blade: Derby Premium (5/5) (1)
Soap: BSS #1 (single lye)
Brush: Omega 81052 Banded Boar
Aftershave: Skin Bracer
Rating: 9.75/10, DFS++
Back to the mighty Matador razor. This razor was awesome when I used it last and it sure did not disappoint this time either. Very efficient and it could easily be used as a two pass razor and do just fine.
It was a great weekend of shaves. I finished off the week with the Mentor and it sure did not disappoint. It was smooth and plenty efficient to yield a very respectable shave on Saturday night. I did face lather with the 10065 and that boar being a bleached boar brush broke in very nicely and is doing a fine job at face lathering.
On Sunday evening I put a fresh blade, the last in the tuck of Derby Premiums that I have been working on, in the Matador de Luxe. I was surprise to see that I have only had a few shaves on this razor and I had to do something about that. That brings me to that I am going to try to keep my razor at a fairly even number of uses each going forward. Of course this does not include the razors that I will be PIFing off in the future. That way all my razors will get a fair shake down and I will not ignore and forget how to use some of them. It also gives me the chance to see if the razor will stay with me going forward.
I have for the last couple of weeks been evaluating Noodler's X-feather black in my Pilot Prera F pen. I got a sample of this ink a long time ago and it was not until now that I was able to test it out. The X-feather line from Noodler's is specially formulated to not feather nor bleed on "cheap", "crappy" paper, which I have plenty of at work especially. After having used it for a while I can honestly say that this ink is not for me even though I really wanted to like it. It certainly does what it is advertised to do. Yes it does not bleed nor feather, but that comes at a cost. First, the ink is quite "thick" and some pens, including my Prera can have issues with flow. You see to make an ink less bleeding and feathering it has to be think so it does not penetrate the paper so quickly. This brings me to my second problem. It takes forever to dry, especially on better paper. Even on cheap copy paper it will take a good minute to dry, but on even marginally better paper it can be 5-10 minutes! I did not even try it on like Rhodia or something like it because it would be completely unusable. That is way too long. Still the reigning champion ink for poor paper, for me, is the Noodler's Black. Well behaved and reasonable drying times.
Happy shaves everyone!
Boris, do you notice a difference between the Extras and Premiums?
The new inks I received have all been doing quite well. I haven't tried them on a lot of different papers but the two journals I'm using have been good. One has a poorer quality paper than the other and you can tell but it's not bad enough to consider not using the journal or any of the inks. The inks are: Endless Alchemy "Candy Sea", Pure Pens "People's Charter", Diamine "Grape", Robert Oster "Tranquility" and Pure Pens "John Frost".
Very happy so far and I have an "inkling" I'll be purchasing more...BADABOOM! Time to go.
- Thread starter
- #2,268
Hmmm very good question. I have not used the Extras in quite some time, but if I recall correctly, it was very similar. I do have a tuck of Extras on the books to be tested during 2024-2025. I will know more then, but I suspect that it will be comparable. What is your take on them? Do you find them similar or different?
- Thread starter
- #2,269
Did you get your Lamy 2000 yet? I am really looking forward in hearing your opinion on it.
The Premium seem a tad sharper to me but neither are allowed in my den. All YMMV, of course.
- Thread starter
- #2,271
I am wondering if there is just a coating difference between the two. That is my suspicion, but of course I do not know. Indeed it is a YMMV world.The Premium seem a tad sharper to me but neither are allowed in my den. All YMMV, of course.
I haven't used the Premium yet. I did use the Extra for a single shave and found it innocuous enough. There's a lot of negative feedback for the Extra and I wondered what the big deal was.
- Thread starter
- #2,274
and you as well my friend.
Extras and Premiums
They both say it’s tungsten ceramic, platinum, and polymer. The online ads say that, not the blades. I only have Derby Extra in my home at this time and they don’t talk about their coatings - they merely tell me to buy “silver” or “platinum” tequila and call out sick, but I don’t listen.
They both say it’s tungsten ceramic, platinum, and polymer. The online ads say that, not the blades. I only have Derby Extra in my home at this time and they don’t talk about their coatings - they merely tell me to buy “silver” or “platinum” tequila and call out sick, but I don’t listen.
There was a post several years ago, I believe the poster contacted the company. They said that the only difference was that the Premium are made with Swedish steel. There had been some pretty bad Extras in the past so I believe the Premiums stood out more back then.
- Thread starter
- #2,277
Yes there is a lot of negative feedback on the Derby Extra. Supposedly there seems to be a difference in pre 2016 production and post 2016 production. Pre 2016 seems to have had some issues. I am not sure if some of the negative feedback is from that time or.... This was before my time here on B&B and I do not think I have tried a pre 2016 Extra blade. The tuck I have used up of the Derby Extra, I had no issues with. I did get a full weeks worth of shaves with each blade so no real problems, but we will see next time I use them again.
- Thread starter
- #2,278
Yeah I think that shift happened around 2016 if I understand things right.
- Thread starter
- #2,279
Look at that! You can get a DE89 25% off if you...........subscribe? Yep I certainly need a DE89 monthly going forward. Makes perfect sense. 
Still probably cheaper than the latest heated, cooled, massaging cartridge
Similar threads
