Blade trial

Just recently I decided to do a blade trial. I change my blade every Sunday. I am a one-pass WTG shaver, therefore 1 blade = 7 shaves. First day I notice any new blade is a bit edgy and with each successive shave I notice it gets smoother. Even after 7 shaves most blades could go further, but I change it anyway. Best shave are days 2, 3, 4, and 5.


For the longest time I have been using Astra SP...mostly because they provided me the fine balance of smoothness and sharpness and it suited my skin. Just recently I have decided to experiment and I am going to do one-week trials with the following blades:
1. Gillette 7 o'clock Super Stainless (green)
2. Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
3. Derby
4. Blue Bird
5. Gillette Silver Blue
6. Feather
7. Astra SP

My razor is a constant: Gillette Heavy Tech. I know...blades are the ultimate YMMV...but I am interested to see if Astra SP is still "king of the castle"...or if a new king is to be crowned. Just thought I would share my journey...

I will be following!

Nice! Sounds like a fun experiment. So what made you go with 1 pass only? I originally went from 3 pass to 2 pass (touch ups if necessary).

I always feel that 1 pass just give me CCS instead of DFS or BBS level of shaving.

sskim3 said:

Nice! Sounds like a fun experiment. So what made you go with 1 pass only? I originally went from 3 pass to 2 pass (touch ups if necessary).

I always feel that 1 pass just give me CCS instead of DFS or BBS level of shaving.

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I say one pass, but I do a lot of buffing (short strokes) and I often shave like I mow the lawn, with half the razor going over the part I just shaved/mowed. So I am going over each part likely more than once. I can tell by the feel of the razor when its a clean shave. I sometimes do two passes, but most of the time its one and I get a great shave. Always WTG. Any more than that (and in any other direction) and I end up with irritation.

I do two passes, first WTG, then ATG. I shave every day except (most) Saturdays, so 6 shaves each week times 2 passes plus cleanup. Derby Extras work well for me. Once a darling of the forum, now much-maligned. I have a few blade samples from tryablade.com that I'll break out at the end of the year. I'm participating in the annual purchase sabbatical, so I'll save the new blades until the end of the year to minimize the chance I like one of them better than Derbys and decide to order a tuck. Have fun with the experiment! Bluebirds are on my list to try next year.

Enjoy your trial.

A blade a week on a single pass for me as well!
I find this way, anything but Dorco has been well lasting, some for weeks!

Excellent idea! I will follow your experiment!

First Week Update:

I have completed my first week of shaves with the Gillette 7 o'clock Super Stainless (green). I evaluate these blades as most do, in terms of sharpness and smoothness. I also tend to evaluate a blade in comparison to the Astra SP, since I am so familiar with this blade. I won't evaluate these blades in terms of cost, because as far as I am concerned they are roughly in the same ballpark, i.e. pennies per blade. In the grand scheme of things...very inexpensive.

After one week with the Gillette 7 o'clock Super Stainless I found it to be very sharp, even edgy and it remained that way during the 7 days. Normally, when I use a blade I expect that edgey sharpness on the first or second shave but then I expect it to get smoother with each subsequent shave, but this did not happen. The blade retained its edge all week and it was not smooth. It was very sharp and it gave a very close shave. No complaints there. I didn't draw blood all week, so I consider that a bonus. I did feel some irritation from the blade post-shave, much more so than I would normally get with the Astra SP. Overall, this lack of smoothness made it undesirable for me. I prefer a smoother shave. I throw away the blade after one week, but I am sure with this blade I could easily have stretched it to 10 days or more. But I don't know if it would have been any smoother. This would require a more detailed comparison and a longer trial.

Sharpness: 8/10
Smoothness: 3/10
Comparison to Astra SP in terms of overall performance and comfort: sharper than the Astra SP, but not as smooth. Astra is more comfortable.

This week I am on shave #3 with the Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge. Will report next week after my 7 shaves are done.

Rusty Blade said:

I say one pass, but I do a lot of buffing (short strokes) and I often shave like I mow the lawn, with half the razor going over the part I just shaved/mowed. So I am going over each part likely more than once. I can tell by the feel of the razor when its a clean shave. I sometimes do two passes, but most of the time its one and I get a great shave. Always WTG. Any more than that (and in any other direction) and I end up with irritation.

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That makes sense! Thanks for the info! I guess I do something similar but with 2 passes.

Rusty Blade said:

First Week Update:

I have completed my first week of shaves with the Gillette 7 o'clock Super Stainless (green). I evaluate these blades as most do, in terms of sharpness and smoothness. I also tend to evaluate a blade in comparison to the Astra SP, since I am so familiar with this blade. I won't evaluate these blades in terms of cost, because as far as I am concerned they are roughly in the same ballpark, i.e. pennies per blade. In the grand scheme of things...very inexpensive.

After one week with the Gillette 7 o'clock Super Stainless I found it to be very sharp, even edgy and it remained that way during the 7 days. Normally, when I use a blade I expect that edgey sharpness on the first or second shave but then I expect it to get smoother with each subsequent shave, but this did not happen. The blade retained its edge all week and it was not smooth. It was very sharp and it gave a very close shave. No complaints there. I didn't draw blood all week, so I consider that a bonus. I did feel some irritation from the blade post-shave, much more so than I would normally get with the Astra SP. Overall, this lack of smoothness made it undesirable for me. I prefer a smoother shave. I throw away the blade after one week, but I am sure with this blade I could easily have stretched it to 10 days or more. But I don't know if it would have been any smoother. This would require a more detailed comparison and a longer trial.

Sharpness: 8/10
Smoothness: 3/10
Comparison to Astra SP in terms of overall performance and comfort: sharper than the Astra SP, but not as smooth. Astra is more comfortable.

This week I am on shave #3 with the Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge. Will report next week after my 7 shaves are done.

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Nice review! Looking forward to the rest.

Well, as you know I have selected 7 blades to use, each for one week of my blade trial. I am going to add an 8th blade just to make this a two month focus. So my final list of blades are now as follows:

1. Gillette 7 o'clock Super Stainless (green)
2. Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
3. Derby
4. Blue Bird
5. Gillette Silver Blue
6. Feather
7. Shark
8. Astra SP

Why did I add the Shark you might ask? Well, I looked through my zip lock bag of blades and these were the only ones I have not tried yet. I read mixed reviews on these blades (as is the case with most blades), so in the spirit of keeping an open mind, Shark is now my final entry. It was either Sharp or Merkur...and I didn't want to go down that road...

Just out of interest, I had my 4th shave with the the Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge this morning and it is retaining its sharp edge nicely and is getting smoother with each shave. It reminds me very much of the Astra SP. Three more shave to go and then its on to the Derby!

Rusty Blade said:

Well, as you know I have selected 7 blades to use, each for one week of my blade trial. I am going to add an 8th blade just to make this a two month focus. So my final list of blades are now as follows:

1. Gillette 7 o'clock Super Stainless (green)
2. Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
3. Derby
4. Blue Bird
5. Gillette Silver Blue
6. Feather
7. Shark
8. Astra SP

Why did I add the Shark you might ask? Well, I looked through my zip lock bag of blades and these were the only ones I have not tried yet. I read mixed reviews on these blades (as is the case with most blades), so in the spirit of keeping an open mind, Shark is now my final entry. It was either Sharp or Merkur...and I didn't want to go down that road...

Just out of interest, I had my 4th shave with the the Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge this morning and it is retaining its sharp edge nicely and is getting smoother with each shave. It reminds me very much of the Astra SP. Three more shave to go and then its on to the Derby!

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My two cents... From a sharpness standpoint, the Shark is nothing special like some of the others on the list. From a smoothness standpoint, I thought it was a very smooth blade and gave me a comfortable shave. I always considered it as a nice blade for a beginner since the smoothness provides "less room for error". I also found it to keep it's edge and smoothness for a long period of time. In your case, it should make 7 shaves no problem. Would love to see if you have similar or varying thoughts.

sskim3 said:

My two cents... From a sharpness standpoint, the Shark is nothing special like some of the others on the list. From a smoothness standpoint, I thought it was a very smooth blade and gave me a comfortable shave. I always considered it as a nice blade for a beginner since the smoothness provides "less room for error". I also found it to keep it's edge and smoothness for a long period of time. In your case, it should make 7 shaves no problem. Would love to see if you have similar or varying thoughts.

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I know some of these blades I have selected have a poor reputation (esp. Derby and Shark), but I will them a fair trial. Who knows I might even find a winner among them! Something to entertain myself with.

Hey Rusty, if you would like to extend your testing further pm me and I can send you a pair of Kais, Voskhods and PolSilvers.

If you are open to trying another option, I suggest one of the better (IMO) Personnas, such as med preps, lab blues or (my favorites) reds.

Funky 34s said:

Hey Rusty, if you would like to extend your testing further pm me and I can send you a pair of Kais, Voskhods and PolSilvers.

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Thanks for the kind offer. I have a few buddies at work who are offering me different blades as well. Let me get through this list first!

Second Week Update: Gillette 7 o’clock Sharp Edge (Yellow)

I have completed my second week of shaves with the Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge (yellow). I evaluate these blades as most do, in terms of sharpness and smoothness. I also tend to evaluate a blade in comparison to the Astra SP, since I am so familiar with this blade. I won't evaluate these blades in terms of cost, because as far as I am concerned they are roughly in the same ballpark, i.e. pennies per blade. In the grand scheme of things...very inexpensive.

After one week of shaving with the Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge I found it to be a top quality blade. The blade is very sharp, especially on the first three or four shaves. I found it retained its sharpness for the full 7 day trial. Indeed, I could easily have continued shaving with this blade for several more days. It was a bit edgy for the first three shaves, and then it very noticeably got smoother for the remaining shaves. The 6[SUP]th[/SUP] and 7[SUP]th[/SUP] shaves were a delight.

No complaints with this blade. No nicks, cuts or weepers from this little charmer. And I didn’t experience any post shave irritation from this blade. Overall: this blade provided a nice clean shave and provided a good post shave feel.

Sharpness: 8/10
Smoothness: 7/10
Comparison to Astra SP in terms of overall performance and comfort: The Yellow is slightly sharper than the Astra SP, but the Astra SP is slightly smoother. Astra may have a slight edge in terms of comfort perhaps because it is not quite as sharp or edgy for the first few shaves. A very close race. I could see myself switching to this blade.

This coming week I load up the Heavy Tech with a Derby Extra blade. This is one of those “love it/hate it” blades, so I am anxious to give this a whirl on the dance floor. I will report again next week after my 7 days!

Great job with the reviews so far. Interested in reading some more.

Week Three Update: Derby Extra
I have completed my third week of blade trial shaves using the Derby Extra blade. I evaluate these blades in terms of sharpness and smoothness. I also tend to evaluate any blade in comparison to the Astra SP, since I am so familiar with this blade. I won't evaluate these blades in terms of cost, because as far as I am concerned they are roughly in the same ballpark, i.e. pennies per blade. In the grand scheme of things...very inexpensive.

My assessment: I like this blade…a true gem among blades! But as you will read, it has limitations. My first day with the Derby I found it a bit edgy, but nothing more than I would have expected first day with any new blade. I managed to pick up three micro-weepers on my first shave. In this instance I blame the archer, not the arrow. By the second shave and for the next 4 shaves the blade was smooth, sharp and very pleasant. I used the blade for 7 days as part of my trial but I would not recommend using it beyond 5 days. After the 5th day I could detect problems with sharpness.


Sharpness: 6/10
Smoothness: 8/10
Comparison to Astra SP in terms of overall performance and comfort: Very similar in terms of sharpness (at its peak) but one notch smoother than the Astra. The problem with this blade is it lacks staying power. I can easily get 7 sharp and smooth shaves with an Astra SP. This is why I give the Derby a 6 for sharpness. If someone is satisfied changing their blades every 3, 4 or 5 days then this is a wonderful blade. I do, however, like the Derby Extra and I will keep some in my stock to use once in a while. Based on this trial, however, it will not be crowned "King of the Blades."


This coming week I load up the Heavy Tech with a Gillette Silver Blue blade. I am anxious to give this one a try. I have read many good things about this blade. I consider it a serious contender for the Crown and I haven’t even loaded it in my razor yet! I will report again next week after my 7 days!

STOP THE PRESSES! Hold the front page!! This morning was my first shave with the Gillette Silver Blue and I was absolutely blown away. This blade is nice and sharp and very smooth. In fact at one point I had to check to make sure I had a blade in the razor. Effortless and the post shave feel was amazing. No irritation, no weepers, no blood. I usually expect a new blade to be a bit edgy, but not with this blade! Smooth sailing all the way.
I called the Proraso White Team into action this morning. An awesome combination of products. If only every day could be this magical!