The Feather blades blind test

So, here are the final results :


Buzzy
blade #1 (#B) : 6 shaves
blade #1.5 (#A) : 4 shaves
Preferred blade : #1 (#B)


CaptainBb
blade #2 (#A) : 10 shaves
blade #3 (#B) : 5 shaves
Preferred blade : #2 (#A)


stew503
blade #4 (#A) : 6 shaves - 5 CCS, 1 SAS (shave 3 and shave 5 close to DFS's) -->
blade #5 (#B) : 6 shaves - 1 DFS, 2 borderline DFS's, 1 CCS, 2 SAS (so closer to 1 DFS, 3 CCS, 2 SAS in the real world)
Preferred blade : #4 (#A)


driftwood
blade #6 (#B) : 3 shaves, but only one good?
blade #7 (#A) : 3 shaves
Preferred blade : #7 (#A)


aytri
blade #8 (#B) : 4 shaves
blade #9 (#A) : 3 shaves
Preferred blade : #8 (#B)


mblakele
blade #10 (#A) : 7 shaves
blade #11 (#B) : 5 shaves
Preferred blade : #10 (#A)




So, out of 5 people, 3 preferred blades #A from an official seller and 2 preferred blades #B from eBay.


I, surprisingly, preferred blade #B from eBay. I started this thread because I thought they were inferior, but yet I preferred them while blind testing them. Go figure!


I think we can safely assume that none of these blades are fake. Based on the picture provided by mblakele,
the variations are probably caused only by different production runs, slight variations with coating, etc.

buzzy said:

I, surprisingly, preferred blade #B from eBay. I started this thread because I thought they were inferior, but yet I preferred them while blind testing them. Go figure!

Click to expand...

That makes me feel a lot better about buying from eBay

I don't think there's enough margin available on DE blades to make any attempt to counterfeit them worthwhile. I think any differences are more down to QC - which could be at the individual blade, or batch level - and there's not a whole lot we can do about that!

I'll be starting with two more Feathers from a sample pack tomorrow - will report back if I notice any differences!

Thanks to all for taking the time to put this together!

I agree with are they both Feathers - yes. I said this at the end of my final shave;

"For me - they acted very much the same - Blade 5 dropped off quickly, where as blade 4 could have made a 7th pass (and likely an 8th). I would put blade 5's 1st DFS likely due to coating, but besides that the blades were the same producing pretty much the same shaves. If anything - I could even say both blades were from the same pack and my blade 5 was ... actually ... the same blade as blade 4 (so swapped - hence the waxing when the package was hairdryered closed), if not then I would say these blades are pretty much the same. Whether one pack is a "seconds" is unknown (Buzzy - have you contacted the manufacturer to ask what happens to 2nds), but are they both "Feathers" .. likely yes. "

Which as per mblakeley's pictures also show the same patterning. I would still follow up with Feather to ask "if" they have a seconds line and what happens to QC fails (are they sold off BUT always be branded as such, or are they discarded (unlikely)).

I agree it makes people better to buy of ebay and one thing I have found with the site is that some people use the same vendors, so they get a naming in B&B. I've spotted the 35count of Gillette Blacks from imazstore - India (which I've seen somewhere ) and i've seen prices of personna's (100) which have been mentioned for $12.20 (£7.44) on this site (although the receiver got 97). So some names have been mentioned (and some become reputable through B&B posters.)

buzzy said:

I started this thread because I thought they were inferior, but yet I preferred them while blind testing them. Go figure!

Click to expand...

And this is exactly the outcome I would expect for a whole lot of blades that people believe are there favorites, or the sharpest, or the worst, or whatever opinion they have - particularly if that opinion was set in their minds before they even tried the product because of hoards of posts they saw here first.

aytri said:

That makes me feel a lot better about buying from eBay

I don't think there's enough margin available on DE blades to make any attempt to counterfeit them worthwhile. I think any differences are more down to QC - which could be at the individual blade, or batch level - and there's not a whole lot we can do about that!

Click to expand...

In my opinion these blades were counterfeit, but caveat emptor. Counterfeiters are not always good at math. We know of at least one obvious case of fake Lord blades, and it is not difficult to find companies offering to make blades with any artwork you like.

@buzzy Thanks for the opportunity to try these blades.

mblakele said:

In my opinion these blades were counterfeit, but caveat emptor. Counterfeiters are not always good at math. We know of at least one obvious case of fake Lord blades, and it is not difficult to find companies offering to make blades with any artwork you like.

@buzzy Thanks for the opportunity to try these blades.

Click to expand...

Seconded, thanks buzzy!

I'm not sure - I can see there being a case for producing counterfeit cartridge blades, as there's enough margin in them to make their production worthwhile. I find it hard to believe that it could be worth producing counterfeit DE blades when the margins are already so small for real blades. I imagine that most DE blades are sold at a very small markup above cost, their production only being justified by producing them in the hundreds of thousands. I can't see anybody making enough of a return to justify the hassle - but I could be wrong.

Do you have a link to any posts about the fake Lord blades?

aytri said:

Do you have a link to any posts about the fake Lord blades?

Click to expand...

Sure: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...Counterfeit-Lord-Blades?p=1678957#post1678957 is a good place to start. There were also some fake Iridiums: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/188454-How-to-spot-a-fake-Iridium-Super-Extra-Stainless

I agree with you about margins, but... sometimes crooks are dumb. And the margins might look much, much better if the materials and use of the plant are free: that is, stolen.

With these, as the blade patterns were the same, then I would possibly go down the seconds route. I've seen many a second (crisps, biscuits, alum bars). However I thoroughly agree with fake blades.

With the likes of alibaba, you can pretty much get whatever you want. Having a finger in music, I see many fake SM58's to the point where pretty much 80% will be fake on ebay. I'm at the point and have the knowledge to know weights of mics as well as asking sellers to show me the unscrewed capsule so I can see wire colours .. etc.

I want to say thanks to mblakeley to post the pics and links to fake SI's as I almost bought 80 from ebay, but now i've seen your link, the packaging is definitely the fake one!!!

mblakele said:

I agree with you about margins, but... sometimes crooks are dumb. And the margins might look much, much better if the materials and use of the plant are free: that is, stolen.

Click to expand...

That's an good point. My criminal mind didn't work that far ahead!

Thanks for the links by the way.

Thanks Buzzy and well done guys. Interesting study and debate.

Had an awesome time! Thanks Buzzy!

Very interesting results. And thanks for the nice photos mblakely. I would add that counterfeiters seem to have problems correctly duplicating the fonts and design of the packaging, and I don't really see that issue here with the Feathers.