Iridium Panic

dawgvet · Post by **dawgvet** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:39 pm

Kirasdad, I, too, have become a fedora afficionado over the past few years. Being that we both wear the almost impossible to find 7 5/8 hat size I thought I might share a recent find of currently manufactured hats from the Akubra company. They make a model that is a direct copy of the vintage Stetson Open Road as they were the contracted manufacturer for Stetson in Australia until Stetson pulled out of that market. The hat I'm speaking of is the Camp Draft model. It comes as an open crown that you shape to your liking. You can find them at www.hatsdirect.com . You may also enjoy www.thefedoralounge.com forum for discussion of hats, both vintage and modern.
Regards,
Jedidiah

Mitsimonsta · Post by **Mitsimonsta** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:33 am

There seems to be a Facebook page now regarding the Super Iridium blades no longer being available.....

Kirasdad · Post by **Kirasdad** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 3:26 pm

dawgvet wrote:Kirasdad, I, too, have become a fedora afficionado over the past few years. Being that we both wear the almost impossible to find 7 5/8 hat size I thought I might share a recent find of currently manufactured hats from the Akubra company. They make a model that is a direct copy of the vintage Stetson Open Road as they were the contracted manufacturer for Stetson in Australia until Stetson pulled out of that market. The hat I'm speaking of is the Camp Draft model. It comes as an open crown that you shape to your liking. You can find them at www.hatsdirect.com . You may also enjoy www.thefedoralounge.com forum for discussion of hats, both vintage and modern.
Regards,
Jedidiah

Jed,

Yeah, it can be tough to find nice vintage hats for those of us who are melon-heads

Thanks for the reference to Akubra, I've known about their hats for a few years but didn't know about the Camp Draft. I have an Open Road already, so I'm not really looking for a replacement. I'm currently looking for a vintage grey or camel fedora with a higher crown and a brim at least 2 - 2 1/2 inches wide. Thanks also for the reference to The Fedora Lounge, I've been browsing that site for quite some time now.

Best,

Andrew

infotech · Post by **infotech** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:13 am

Are those blades this thread pointed to on ebay the fake Iridiums that I've been reading about on B&B? I had contacted Paul before reading this thread and he confirmed that as far as he could tell, the Iridium blades were gone.

At any rate, I was really freaking out about this Iridium problem because after the Gillette Platinum it was my favorite blade. Nothing compared. As it turns out, I was over on TSD when I started reading about this Russian blade called the Voskhod. The pusher was going on about how they were like Iridiums. Figuring it was a ploy to get razors out there I initially ignored it, but after a week or so I decided to pursue a sample. I'm glad I did. For me, at least, they do perform just like an Iridium. I only used one blade, but 4 years into DE shaving my technique is to the point that I'm confident in saying this. The only thing that remains to be seen for me is consistency. I'm taking a gamble on this because I just ordered 200 of them. Not only do they provide a smooth shave, but I had used an Astra Superior Platinum and Derby the week before which left me with some razor rash - red bumps a bit of burn - and shaving all week with the Vishkod didn't make this worse and it in fact cleared up. Iridiums were the only blade that I could acomplish that with before.

This was easier than finding my Gillette Platinum relacement.

alcx77 · Post by **alcx77** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:06 pm

Are fake blades something new or has this practice had a storied history?

Alan

Pauldog · Post by **Pauldog** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:45 pm

A link from an eBay seller pointed to russianrazor.com, which sells Voskhod and Ladas blades. They're out of the Ladas blades right now. This isn't an endorsement; I'm not familiar with these blades or with the seller.

Who manufactures these blades?

James, have you tried any of the Gillette 7 O'Clock blades? Because of your skin, you seem like a good comparison person for blades.

infotech · Post by **infotech** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:24 pm

I have tried both the Green and Yellow Gillette 7 O'Clock blades, but they weren't as good for me as the Iridium blades. I can't compare them with the Voskhods because it's been too long. However, I do have a 6 pack of the Yellows coming so I can try them out again.

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 5:17 pm

There seems to be a minor flurry of activity regarding the Voskhod Russian Blades. What's up with this, if anybody knows? I'm currently distracted by the Personna Hospital Use blades, and am cautious about rave reviews of previously unknown products.

infotech · Post by **infotech** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 5:54 pm

brothers wrote:There seems to be a minor flurry of activity regarding the Voskhod Russian Blades. What's up with this, if anybody knows? I'm currently distracted by the Personna Hospital Use blades, and am cautious about rave reviews of previously unknown products.

I had the same reaction to the blade reviews.. made me very skeptical and then I go and do the same thing.

I was just pretty surprised by the blades performance and posted a heat of the moment review. We'll see if they hold up to my expectations... If the first blade is any indication, I"m not worried.

infotech · Post by **infotech** » Wed May 25, 2011 10:15 am

Thought I'd come back after having posted such a great review of Voshkods blades after only using them for a short time. It's been four months now and they're still my favorite blade.

A couple of notes -

1. They have some kind of coating on them that takes about 4 strokes to get through before they start shaving. Very strange. At first I thought it was due to the way they were sitting in the razor, but after using them for a while I noticed what was really going on.

2. They rust. I started taking them out of whatever razor I use for the shave, dry it off, and put it into a dry razor. Kind of a hassle but it's worth it.

Other than those two problems they shave great. They are my go to razor blade even though I have about 35 Iridium Supers, quite a few Feathers, and a few other blades.

I've read a bit about some price gouging going on now which is a shame. Glad I stocked up.

John Parker · Post by **John Parker** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:23 pm

brothers wrote:There seems to be a minor flurry of activity regarding the Voskhod Russian Blades. What's up with this, if anybody knows? I'm currently distracted by the Personna Hospital Use blades, and am cautious about rave reviews of previously unknown products.

I tried one Voskhod, piffed two to someone who wanted to try them, and am about ready to pif two more I just received in a sample. Not smooth for me.

rubberduck · Post by **rubberduck** » Sat May 28, 2011 3:36 am

Me and a friend of mine have also tested the Voskhod's due to the enthusiastic reports lately.

Well... it's not a bad blade..... it's a good one, but to be honest.... it is nothing special. It provides close shaves but it is not the sharpest blade out there and it is far away of being the smoothest. In fact... it is not nearly as smooth as I expected it to be due to the enthusiastic reports which made me want to try the Voskhod's. Due to my decreasing stock of DE blades of Astra Superior Platinum I am going to bunker a big number of blades to serve me for the rest of my life and I thought that the Voskhod could be the one I was looking for - unfortunately it is not.

Well.... no drama at all, I have 5.000 blades to come (will be shipped on Wed.) and I am happy I finally found what I was looking for