Feather Carbon - Crow

**Gypped** · 06-24-2011, 11:47 AM

Does anyone have any experience with these particular Feather blades? I just got a pack of them from RB&M in the mail, but when I ordered them the forums were still mostly down. I've tried searching a few times, but haven't had anything pop up that was about the blades.

It's killing me that I'm going to have to wait until morning to actually shave with them, but I don't have enough beard right now to shave. I plan on loading them in my slant, since that's what I do with normal Feathers. In the meantime, I was just curious if anyone had an opinion on them.

**Confilo** · 06-24-2011, 12:37 PM

I use them and like them a lot. I prefer Carbon blades and today I shaved with a Balaka, that Gary from Shoebox sent me as sample. I read on some review that Balakas (carbon blade from India) are not even fit for a single pass, well i got a BBS this morning with the ill reputed Balaka. I'll try it again tomrrow and see if still performs.
Back to the Feathers carbon or crows, I find them long lasting, smooth and great shavers. I get 5 days out of one but I dip the head of the razor in alcohol when done shaving, I do this with all carbon blades I use.
The only thing against the Feathers IMO is they are expensive, but I prefer them to the stainless Steel version.

**Gypped** · 06-25-2011, 01:55 AM

All I can say is... oww, oww, oww, oww. I haven't had such an unpleasant experience since the first couple weeks that I started wet shaving. It pulled on every single stroke, on all 3 passes (because apparently I don't know when to quit). I was hoping that it would smooth out as I went, but that was apparently not in the cards. It was super sharp the entire time, and lasted through my entire face and head together, which normal feathers don't do. But it was hideously uncomfortable and for whatever reason, I simply couldn't get it to BBS. But surprisingly enough, when I ran my alum block over my face and head there was no burn except on my neck, which is a trouble spot under normal circumstances.

**Confilo** · 06-25-2011, 06:22 AM

One suggestion:
Try hand stropping the blade, it works better with carbon since they are uncoated

**deruitem** · 07-28-2011, 04:19 AM

saw these on one of our vendor sites. Has anyone tried them?

**Gypped** · 07-28-2011, 04:35 AM

Originally Posted by deruitem

saw these on one of our vendor sites. Has anyone tried them?

Well, as you can probably guess from my second post in here, I did in fact try them. For me, they were not a pleasant experience at all. However, I think that's simply because it's carbon steel and not anything to do with the Feathers specifically. I tried hand-stropping them, and that didn't do anything for me either. I had much the same experience when using carbon steel SE blades, so I think it's just the way it is for me.

I did get an actual decent shave out of them with no burn or irritation, it was just uncomfortable.

**Wil Dorenbos** · 07-28-2011, 04:41 AM

Originally Posted by deruitem

saw these on one of our vendor sites. Has anyone tried them?

Will try them this weekend.

**BroJohn** · 07-28-2011, 06:37 PM

Gypped --

When shaving with carbon blades, you need to make efforts for superior prep and build an excellent lather, and you need to slow your shave strokes. They will still tug a bit on the initial pass, but it's not painful. A re-lather and subsequent pass with unhurried, short, deliberate strokes will produce a fine shave, even with the NOS blades.

If you shave with the carbons for a couple of weeks straight, you'll find the somewhat rougher 'carbon experience' becomes 'normal' and you can get some great shaves with them. All without 'burn' from Alum or Aftershaves.

-- John Gehman

**Gypped** · 07-28-2011, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by BroJohn

Gypped --

When shaving with carbon blades, you need to make efforts for superior prep and build an excellent lather, and you need to slow your shave strokes. They will still tug a bit on the initial pass, but it's not painful. A re-lather and subsequent pass with unhurried, short, deliberate strokes will produce a fine shave, even with the NOS blades.

If you shave with the carbons for a couple of weeks straight, you'll find the somewhat rougher 'carbon experience' becomes 'normal' and you can get some great shaves with them. All without 'burn' from Alum or Aftershaves.

-- John Gehman

Or, instead, I can simply use normal coated stainless steel blades and not go an excessive distance out of my way. :) I do my face and head all in one go, every other day, and I'd really prefer not to have to spend an extra 10 minutes of prep just to reach the same level of comfort. It's also nice not to have to worry about losing the blade to rust because I forgot to hit it with alcohol and a towel. Especially in a case like this, where the individual blades are nearing the $1 mark.

**Wil Dorenbos** · 07-29-2011, 12:55 AM

Originally Posted by Gypped

Or, instead, I can simply use normal coated stainless steel blades and not go an excessive distance out of my way. :) I do my face and head all in one go, every other day, and I'd really prefer not to have to spend an extra 10 minutes of prep just to reach the same level of comfort. It's also nice not to have to worry about losing the blade to rust because I forgot to hit it with alcohol and a towel. Especially in a case like this, where the individual blades are nearing the $1 mark.

I am a fan of carbon blades. Always get great results. Never have to do anything extra: no extra prep and no extra time.

**Wil Dorenbos** · 07-29-2011, 12:56 AM

Originally Posted by Gypped

Does anyone have any experience with these particular Feather blades? I just got a pack of them from RB&M in the mail, but when I ordered them the forums were still mostly down. I've tried searching a few times, but haven't had anything pop up that was about the blades.

It's killing me that I'm going to have to wait until morning to actually shave with them, but I don't have enough beard right now to shave. I plan on loading them in my slant, since that's what I do with normal Feathers. In the meantime, I was just curious if anyone had an opinion on them.

And how were they?

**Wil Dorenbos** · 07-30-2011, 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by Wil Dorenbos

Will try them this weekend.

First impressions. Razor: Enigma; brush : Vie-long barber pro horse, brown hair, extra, #1; soap: Valobra mentol with Vitos cream. First WTG pass not that smooth, but it did give a good reduction. Second XTG pass nice and smooth. Result: CCS in 2. Very good shave, no irritation. Will try this blade again tomorrow.