DE Blades - Close Up (Pic heavy)

I decided to look at what made a difference between each blade. This is the best I can do with my setup that I use for surface mount soldering it is a 150x Celestron Digital Microscope. I took pictures of the blades with the exact same vertical alignment and then one at an angle to show the differences in the edge. If anyone wants a blade with pictures taken let me know and I will see if I can get my hands on one or two of them to do this. Each blade is brand new and directly out of the wrapper. The cutting edges were not touched by anything even during the repositioning of the blade.

Feather (Yellow Box)



Shark Super Chrome



Derby Extra



Merkur Super



Astra_Superior_Platinum (Thanks Copierguy)



Wilkinson Sword (Thanks Copierguy)



Iridium Super (Thanks TallyShave)




Perma-Sharp Super (Thanks TallyShave)



Nanjie

hmm..looks like each blade has more of a "coating" on each blade..perhaps as the color of the edge darkens?..very cool

There are 3 distinct angles on the blades. The Feather and Shark blades were the two most difficult to notice the change in the angle. The feather's first two angles are very close in angle and the final edge is at a more acute angle and nearly twice as large as the shark. The Shark's angles are all very similar and the final angle is very smooth with very little flaws in the edge. Derby extra has the most flaws in the blades that I took the picture of mainly in the final angle where it will matter. The Merkur blade appears to be smoother very of the derby with a even more acute angle on the final 3rd edge, on closer examination it almost appears to have a 4th angle.

Darned interesting! If you have any Personnas, there seems to be the occasional confusion about them. If you don't have any, then, with your permission, I may post a few. Not sure if I can do such a spiffy job.

Brilliant! I'd love this to be done with other blades. I'm very curious to see the astra blades, as well as the Gillette 7'oclock blue "spetznaz" blades.

Cool, thanks for sharing.

Happy Shaving,

Patrick

It would be interesting to know how thick the blades are. Wonder if there is any difference as the edge bevels seem to go back farther on some of them...

Tom

It would be good to see a comparison of the blades that people think may be Super Iridiums in different packaging (Polisilvers, Perma-Sharps, Gillette Yellows, ?? I am sure I am missing a few)compared to the actual Super Iridiums. I would be happy to send a Super Iridium and a Perma-Sharp for the sake of science if someone can send the others. Also, would be good to see a comparison between the Personna "Labs" and "Meds" to see if they match up.

TallyShave said:

It would be good to see a comparison of the blades that people think may be Super Iridiums in different packaging (Polisilvers, Perma-Sharps, Gillette Yellows, ?? I am sure I am missing a few)compared to the actual Super Iridiums. I would be happy to send a Super Iridium and a Perma-Sharp for the sake of science if someone can send the others. Also, would be good to see a comparison between the Personna "Labs" and "Meds" to see if they match up.

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I am willing to take pictures of any blades. If anyone is interested in me taking pictures of blades with the microscope just send me a message (if you are willing to send blades).

Very interesting. Who'd a thunk that the merkur wasn't super smooth, just from those pics

Whoa! Very cool.

Cool!

I kinda felt the Derby in my Newbie sampler was mild and forgiving. Those photos make it look painful!

Excellent close-ups!

TallyShave said:

It would be good to see a comparison of the blades that people think may be Super Iridiums in different packaging (Polisilvers, Perma-Sharps, Gillette Yellows, ?? I am sure I am missing a few)compared to the actual Super Iridiums. I would be happy to send a Super Iridium and a Perma-Sharp for the sake of science if someone can send the others. Also, would be good to see a comparison between the Personna "Labs" and "Meds" to see if they match up.

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These are exactly the blades I would most like to see

lirijavdekje said:

Brilliant! I'd love this to be done with other blades. I'm very curious to see the astra blades, as well as the Gillette 7'oclock blue "spetznaz" blades.

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+1

The Iridium Super and Perma-Sharp went out today for evaluation.

This is great. Now I finally know why Derbys felt like a warped butter knife. I'm looking forward to see the results from the Iridium Super & Perma-Sharp comparison.

If the OP wants to and needs a med/lab and red IP for comparison, PM me with the info and I'll make it happen.

Just added Astra Superior Platinum. I also updated several blade images because of the static angle I feel that some were either over or under advantaged. This is because of the reflectivity of the metal & coatings as well as the specific angle of the grind. I just placed an order for some new blank glass slides so that I can sandwich the blades in-between them. I will more than likely be cutting the blades in half in order to mount them in the center of the slide. Before mounting them they will come fresh out of the package and both sides will be placed on a slide. The only blade that I can not do this with is the Merkur since it was used after the photoshoot

lirijavdekje said:

Brilliant! I'd love this to be done with other blades. I'm very curious to see the astra blades, as well as the Gillette 7'oclock blue "spetznaz" blades.

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Thanks so much for posting the Astra blade. I used to hate the **** out of this blade, and don't hesitate to admit it for a minute. Ever since I got my Futur though, that changed and changed enough for me to buy a 100 pack.

lirijavdekje said:

Thanks so much for posting the Astra blade. I used to hate the **** out of this blade, and don't hesitate to admit it for a minute. Ever since I got my Futur though, that changed and changed enough for me to buy a 100 pack.

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Not a problem, amazon says my slides to put them on will be here on Saturday. So I will be redoing all the pics and taking proper pictures of them.