Dorco Prime vs Dorco ST-300 vs Dorco ST-301 vs Dorco Titan

[Rhody]

Hi Luc, Just notices your post here. We've a long thread with most of the latest information on Dorco blades. Link below. In a nutshell:

• All production was moved to Vietnam a few years ago in a new plant with modern equipment resulting in great quality blades vs. the older made in Korea production. Note there is still some of this older production floating around for sale at some vendors.
• The ST300 and ST301 are the same Dorco Stainless blades. Only difference is the paper vs. plastic tuck
• The STP300/301 Prime blades are the are the Dorco Stainless with an extra coating of teflon.
• Limited information on the STL300 Titan blades is available. See post #55 in the linked thread for the latest. Best guess is that there may be a difference in how the blades are coated. Note that the STL300s are often given different brand names, like Dorco Klass, that will resonate better in different countries.

I personally use ST300, ST301, STP300 and STP301 blades (Stainless and Prime) and have found them to be excellent. My best blades versus my Astra SP and Derby Extras. Haven't noticed much difference between the Stainless and Primes other than that the Primes can be slightly rougher on the first shave. Possibly due to the need to wear through the tip of the extra coating.

Feel free to reach out with any additional questions.

Dorco Double Edge Blade SKU Changes & Clarifications

Hi everyone. Just received a new shipment of 100 STP300 Dorco Prime double edge blades and discovered a stock keeping unit (SKU) change confirmed via a review of their latest product catalog. The ST301 stainless Dorco blade package is no longer listed in the catalog, only the ST300, Primes and...

www.badgerandblade.com

P.S. Sense from their catalog that they are moving away from anything in plastic tucks and just using cardboard going forward.

Post 10 references HST300 barber. What do you know of this? I couldn’t find a listing for that. Does it exist? Is it the same as something else and/ or something else to possibly buy

 

[Lane101]

Post 10 references HST300 barber. What do you know of this? I couldn’t find a listing for that. Does it exist? Is it the same as something else and/ or something else to possibly buy

Yes these are real. They are half blades for shavettes, a relatively new addition to the Dorco blade assortment. See post #81 in the Dorco thread linked to above where I added in what we know about these blades. Not a lot of information from Dorco.

They come in red and blue boxes with some showing up with an HST300-1P SKU number though with no consistency across vendors. Maggards claims the blue ones use Japanese steel unlike the red ones though that may not be accurate. There is no evidence from Dorco of different steel being used for any of their DE blades and they only show the single HST-300 SKU on their web site. Could be as simple as they just changed the box color. My best guess is that these are the ST300/301 blades split in half as the Dorco site HST-300 copy is identical to that of the ST300 DE blades noting a "longer life to shave" and "smooth touch and clean cut"

 

[Rhody]

Yes these are real. They are half blades for shavettes, a relatively new addition to the Dorco blade assortment. See post #81 in the Dorco thread linked to above where I added in what we know about these blades. Not a lot of information from Dorco.

They come in red and blue boxes with some showing up with an HST300-1P SKU number though with no consistency across vendors. Maggards claims the blue ones use Japanese steel unlike the red ones though that may not be accurate. There is no evidence from Dorco of different steel being used for any of their DE blades and they only show the single HST-300 SKU on their web site. Could be as simple as they just changed the box color. My best guess is that these are the ST300/301 blades split in half as the Dorco site HST-300 copy is identical to that of the ST300 DE blades noting a "longer life to shave" and "smooth touch and clean cut"

Oh ok thanks. Something I wouldn’t need but appreciate the details! I have all of their DE offerings. Was glad to discover Dorco as something new and and alternative to what was previously available.

 

[Luc]

@Lane101, big thank you for the information. I looked at post 55 specifically and I'm wondering if the difference with the Titan Big head vs Small head is related. I mean, I believe they are the same but who knows, they might be different. If they are, I did not notice a difference.

 

[Stikeyoda]

@Lane101, big thank you for the information. I looked at post 55 specifically and I'm wondering if the difference with the Titan Big head vs Small head is related. I mean, I believe they are the same but who knows, they might be different. If they are, I did not notice a difference.

I felt zero difference between big head and small head. I suspect packaging supplier screw up and Dorco used the free packages.

 

[Lane101]

@Luc and @Rhody , Some updated information that I just posted on the longer Dorco thread linked above FYI:

I just pulled the latest version of the Dorco .pdf catalog. Here is some new information from the latest DE and SE blade descriptions:

• Dorco Prime STP300: Advanced Diamond Hard Coating
• Dorco Stainless ST300: Chromium Ceramic Coating, no longer any mention of Platinum on the package
• Dorco Titan STL300: Long Lasting Stainless Blades, also the blade package no longer states "Double Coated". It just states "New Cutting Edge Technology"
• Dorco For Barber HST300 half blades: Same Performance and Quality to ST300

This does confirm that the HST300 half blades are the same as the ST300s. Unclear if this means that Dorco changed how it coats its blades or if the new marketing messages are just a device to differentiate what are really the same blades.

The catalog only shows paper tuck SKUs. None of the 301 plastic tuck SKUs are shown.

 

[Rhody]

@Luc and @Rhody , Some updated information that I just posted on the longer Dorco thread linked above FYI:

I just pulled the latest version of the Dorco .pdf catalog. Here is some new information from the latest DE and SE blade descriptions:

• Dorco Prime STP300: Advanced Diamond Hard Coating
• Dorco Stainless ST300: Chromium Ceramic Coating, no longer any mention of Platinum on the package
• Dorco Titan STL300: Long Lasting Stainless Blades, also the blade package no longer states "Double Coated". It just states "New Cutting Edge Technology"
• Dorco For Barber HST300 half blades: Same Performance and Quality to ST300

This does confirm that the HST300 half blades are the same as the ST300s. Unclear if this means that Dorco changed how it coats its blades or if the new marketing messages are just a device to differentiate what are really the same blades.

The catalog only shows paper tuck SKUs. None of the 301 plastic tuck SKUs are shown.

Thanks for that info
I was also reading the thread devoted to blade testing and saw the speculation that the prime blades may be copied with lesser quality Chinese blades. Have you heard that?

 

[Lane101]

Thanks for that info
I was also reading the thread devoted to blade testing and saw the speculation that the prime blades may be copied with lesser quality Chinese blades. Have you heard that?

Not with the full Dorco name and brand logos. Have seen knock offs with similar packaging and slightly different names.

The testing approach is great and appears to be reasonably accurate. That said since only one of each blade is tested and the testing method after each shave with nylon line will also wear the blades there is a chance of the results showing some natural variability. Still the overall scope of what is being tested is very impressive.

 

[abies]

Is there an obvious way to tell if a pack is from Vietnam or remaining stock from Korea?

 

[cranewarrior]

Is there an obvious way to tell if a pack is from Vietnam or remaining stock from Korea?

I believe the tucks marked HQ technology mean they are the newer stock from Vietnam.