Treet DuraSharp Carbon are my favourite blade and they're my daily driver.
I find them to be the most comfortable blade on the market.
I find them to be the most comfortable blade on the market.
What are the advantages of a carbon blade?
- Thread starter Space_Cadet
- Start date
I sense a new "club/brotherhood" (carbon commandos?) coming 
Thanks Tadas! I gave the Treet "Black Beauty" a try in my AS-D2 with PannaCrema soap. Fantastic!
Very much my experience with Treet and vintage Gillette Super Blue blades. For me, they shave like a Derby with first pass pulling but I get a great irritation free shave.
I enjoy Treet Black Beauty carbon blades; I find them smooth and sharp and rather forgiving and for the price I now have 200 for the cost of 100 Astra SP. I get at least 5 shaves out of them and no issues with rust.
I like carbon blades for both cooking and shaving... I own a few just because. It's a cult thing, I guess.. In reality, carbon steel is much cheaper when you buy it by the ton, it is much easier to grind and hone to a fine edge (before modern edge forming machines were developed anyway). It's edge also wears out very quickly compared to fine stainless alloys. It also chemically reacts in a bad way to most anything in the environment. It begins rusting/corroding before you ever use it. When you do use use it, you engage in a losing battle. Cheap? Not any more. Curious people want them, only a few companies without the capital to update all of their lines make them, and you pay a premium for their lack of foresight...
But the mind is a wonderful thing! If you want to love the handling of a 1957 Chevy Nomad, you will!!!! Even though it DOESN'T handle at all... Go figure... We wish, and our wish come true!!! Funny thing is that people will spend a fortune on Personna 74 blades because they are sharp, and last for a month of shaves. Many of the same people talk about the virtues of carbon steel blades. Really??? Carbon steel was abandoned in the industry because it was terrible for the task at hand. Stainless steel, and it's manufacture into blades is far more expensive, not cheaper. It shaved closer, and lasted longer. Done deal...
The famous Personna tungsten blade was stainless steel... It was formulated with tungsten in the mix, but ALL stainless alloys are just that. Alloys.... A modern Astra SP blade is as sharp and smooth as any blade on the planet. It will last way longer than any carbon steel blade because it IS sharper, it IS stainless, and it IS a much more durable steel. The Personna superman blade added tungsten for extra hardness and durability. It was simply too expensive to produce since the only benefit it offered was that the consumer bought half the number of blades over a years time.... Bad for business....
Back to the stainless revolution though, every manufacturer with money to spend on plant works went with the more expensive stainless steel base material in an effort to produce the sharpest, smoothest, longest lasting blade at a reasonable price to beat the competition. As I said, I enjoy shaving with carbon blades, but when I want a great, drama free shave, it's my favorite stainless blades that deliver. And the difference in cost makes them far cheaper to use than even the awesome Personna marathon blade relics..
But the mind is a wonderful thing! If you want to love the handling of a 1957 Chevy Nomad, you will!!!! Even though it DOESN'T handle at all... Go figure... We wish, and our wish come true!!! Funny thing is that people will spend a fortune on Personna 74 blades because they are sharp, and last for a month of shaves. Many of the same people talk about the virtues of carbon steel blades. Really??? Carbon steel was abandoned in the industry because it was terrible for the task at hand. Stainless steel, and it's manufacture into blades is far more expensive, not cheaper. It shaved closer, and lasted longer. Done deal...
The famous Personna tungsten blade was stainless steel... It was formulated with tungsten in the mix, but ALL stainless alloys are just that. Alloys.... A modern Astra SP blade is as sharp and smooth as any blade on the planet. It will last way longer than any carbon steel blade because it IS sharper, it IS stainless, and it IS a much more durable steel. The Personna superman blade added tungsten for extra hardness and durability. It was simply too expensive to produce since the only benefit it offered was that the consumer bought half the number of blades over a years time.... Bad for business....
Back to the stainless revolution though, every manufacturer with money to spend on plant works went with the more expensive stainless steel base material in an effort to produce the sharpest, smoothest, longest lasting blade at a reasonable price to beat the competition. As I said, I enjoy shaving with carbon blades, but when I want a great, drama free shave, it's my favorite stainless blades that deliver. And the difference in cost makes them far cheaper to use than even the awesome Personna marathon blade relics..
Yes, stainless steel is more maintenance free than carbon. And SS will hold an edge longer than carbon. But us it a "better" edge? I have tried over 50 brands of blades, mostly stainless. YMMV comes into play here. I have gotten a much higher ratio of smooth, Nirvana like shaves from carbon than stainless blades.
Let's face it, the reason that safety razors replaced straights, carbon DE blades got replaced by SS blades, which in turn was replaced by cartridge razors is because of convenience. People generally want less maintenance, less hassle, easy of use.
Straight razors that are still being manufactured are mostly made of carbon. High end chefs knives, carbon. Majority of bushcrafting knives, carbon.
My opinion is that the industry didn't abandon carbon steel because it was inferior, they were reacting to the market that wanted "dumbed down" products. No worries about taking 10 seconds to dry your carbon blade, pay more for stainless steel blades and save a whole 10 seconds!
Don't think this is an anti stainless steel rant, I love my Polsilver and Personna Med Prep blades. In my humble opinion, these two blades are head and shoulders above other stainless blades, Astra SP included. YMMV, but I get "meh" performance at best with Astra SP blades. Not the smoothest, not the sharpest, and I always get noticeable stubble after a few hours when using SP. SI, Med Preps, and even the "obsolete" Treet Black Beauty give me a much more enjoyable, long lasting shave.
Let's face it, the reason that safety razors replaced straights, carbon DE blades got replaced by SS blades, which in turn was replaced by cartridge razors is because of convenience. People generally want less maintenance, less hassle, easy of use.
Straight razors that are still being manufactured are mostly made of carbon. High end chefs knives, carbon. Majority of bushcrafting knives, carbon.
My opinion is that the industry didn't abandon carbon steel because it was inferior, they were reacting to the market that wanted "dumbed down" products. No worries about taking 10 seconds to dry your carbon blade, pay more for stainless steel blades and save a whole 10 seconds!
Don't think this is an anti stainless steel rant, I love my Polsilver and Personna Med Prep blades. In my humble opinion, these two blades are head and shoulders above other stainless blades, Astra SP included. YMMV, but I get "meh" performance at best with Astra SP blades. Not the smoothest, not the sharpest, and I always get noticeable stubble after a few hours when using SP. SI, Med Preps, and even the "obsolete" Treet Black Beauty give me a much more enjoyable, long lasting shave.
- Thread starter
- #29
Space_Cadet
I don't have a funny description.
Interesting ideas here...
Most high end Japanese chefs knives I know of (Global, Shun, Misono) are stainless. Higher carbon content than standard stainless, but stainless nonetheless.
If I had to guess, most straights continued as carbon because by the time stainless gained traction there wasn't enough consumer demand to reinvent the wheel.
If I had to guess, most straights continued as carbon because by the time stainless gained traction there wasn't enough consumer demand to reinvent the wheel.
I picked up a few Treet DuraSharps from the Great Blade Exchange. My normal blade is either a Feathers or a Polsilver. I have now had 2 great shaves with the DuraSharp - smooth and easy shaves. Is it as sharp as either the Feathers or Polsilver? I don't think so. Is it smoother than either of my two standards? I believe it is. Is it because it is made from carbon steel? I don't know and I don't really care. All I care about is that I may have found another great blade to add to my armory.
Has anyone else experienced issues with black beauty products variability? I had one that I used in my feather AS-D2 and it was great and another one that was like pure agony. Both were first shave on the blade experiences. Prep was same for both shaves.
+1 Same results for me.....
Wow, all this time I thought I really liked the Black Beauties, and thought I was getting great shaves using them, I was actually wrong. I was lying to myself. I didn't really like them, and my shaves weren't really good shaves.
Well, learn something new every day. I guess.
-s
