Razor and Blade Reviews

[brothers]

Re: Schick Proline P-30 (Artist Club size) blades

I used the General with the Schick Proline blade on Wednesday. Over the past few days I've been using a disposable cartridge Schick Slim Twin (SII) on and off in rotation with the General. I was startled to find that this long discontinued blade provides an unusually close and smooth shave that heretofore had been reserved to the General 2nd version from Colonial. As a matter of fact, the Slim Twin was actually providing better results than the General when trying to remove the whiskers on my chin and particularly the strikingly handsome dimple on my cleft chin. This is the most difficult area on my face, judging from the frequency of cuts and blood that usually occur there. I had seriously considered using the SII as a permanent chin tool in tandem with whatever other razor or blade was sailing along on the easy face parts. General or straight razor. After today's General/Schick combo to very carefully shave the chin with all of it's complications I must have subconsciously learned something about technique from using the SII because the Schick Proline provided the best results there, identical to the results from the SII.

[brothers]

The Barbaros TR series are a classic of classics among the most recent safety razors.



This TR2 razor is simply a great joy to use, specially, if like me, you have medium or soft hair. It's very smooth but quite efficient.



And also is stunning. One of the most beautiful razors made in the last 10 years.

Teiste, thanks for posting this video and review!

I would love one of these Barbaros Handles to go with my General SE razor head. What a beautiful thing!

[brothers]

There's always a supply/demand phenomenon when it comes to the long-discontinued Personna 74 DE and SE injector blades, and rightfully so. They are still available at a price, and there's absolutely nothing new or wrong with that. We should absolutely be able to have the blades we want, Personna 74 or otherwise! The fact is that the Personna 74 blades outlast most (if not all) of the currently available Double Edge thin blades by leaps and bounds. Example: as few as 1 shave as compared to 30 shaves or more!

Speaking of longevity! Good Grief! If I was still using a double edge razor, I'd be all over the Personna 74. Of course, Personna also manufactured traditional Single Edge blades for the injector razors we all know very well. I presume the single edge Personna 74 blades lasted just as long as the DE version or longer because it was not as thin as the DE version.

Excluding any discussion of DE blades: Enter the Cobra safety razor that used the same blade as the Feather AC blade which was originally made for the disposable blade straight razors. The AC is longer than the old style forerunner SE blade which dictated the Cobra's larger AC width. Over time the industry has evolved into several competing safety razor manufacturers including Cobra, Hawk and others including but not limited to the SE General by Colonial Razors, which I currently use exclusively. Because of the popularity of these SE safety razors the blade industry has also evolved. Amazingly, these relatively recent blades (in my personal experience) last as long as the Personna 74 blades regardless of the razor in which they are used. Thirty shaves at a minimum if used in the individual user-compatible razor. It must be emphasized that Personna never made or sold the 74 blades in the Feather AC version. If they had, of course they would find themselves among some very stiff competition these days.

My point is this: long life and outstanding smoothness is not limited to the expensive Personna 74 blades. Many manufacturers make and sell these blades in two sizes, one to fit all of the early-day styled single edge razors as well as the larger AC-length SE razors. Bottom line, at this point in time a single edge razor blade does not have to bear the Personna 74 brand or nostalgically motivated price tag to last a very long time through many great shaves. SE blade brands include Feather, Kai, Schick, and probably others of which I am not familiar. My advice is simple - check out the SE safety razors as well as the old style injector razors and the prices for both sizes of SE blades available on the market.

[brothers]

Here's a shaving forum review of the V2 General. The description of the most important improvements is exactly what I've experienced, and stated much better than I could have. I have no idea how the designer did it, but it seems cuts and nicks from very sharp blades are a thing of the past. Day in and day out, the V2 seems to be one of the smoothest and safest razors I've ever used. Very little has been said about the handle, but it's a great match for the new V2 General head. Not slippery, nice weight and length. Very well done.

The V2 General has been my daily/every other day driver for the last few weeks and overall, it's hard to find a fault with it. The results are great, I like the tapered handle, the smaller header is just right, it glides very smoothly. It just kind of boringly works extremely well - no fuss.

I've tried it with Prolines (they're great) and now with Feather Super Pros and it seems that it really pair well with the Super Pros. It takes the "heat" off the blade and no worries about shaving too close or accidental nicks, great results. I am a big fan of the aluminum General but for me, there was still a little heat on the Super Pros.

I've enjoyed many vintage/modern SEs and the new V2 General is now right up there with other top razors. Between the V2, Vector and Paradigm - it seems like they are all "perfected" AC SEs - it just comes down to preference, budget and availability. It might be interesting to go back to older/other designs but they'll be compared against the V2 General.

[fallingwickets]

is the v2 new? i went to the website and theres no mention of it, unless as per usual, its there and i just dont know how to see it

clive

[brothers]

The General came out in 2016. Two or three years later Colonial improved the design but didn't stop calling it the General. Discussing them both in the same conversation would be confusing without verbage to identify which General one is referring to.
Thus, v2 became the most common fabrication to avoid confusion. A good example would be the Corvette. It's been redesigned over and over about 68 times since 1953 and it's still just a Corvette.

[brothers]

Posted by jgreenepa - 11-08-2019, 09:50 AM

Just wanted to post my review of the Silversmith. One of the issues I have with any razor, being in my seventies, is how well it does with ‘old man’ neck. As we age, our skin thins and wrinkles, particularly in the neck area. So I’m always looking for a razor that’s both mild and efficient, yet also capable of handling a dome shave as well. There are few DE’s that meet that dual threshold for me (of course with the proviso YMMV). My current gotos that meet my threshold are my Seki AS-D2 and my Blackland Vector. In any case let’s get to the review. The review was performed on two days growth of whiskers. I have heavy, dense whiskers.

The razor is crafted of 316L SS in the US and weighs in at 95 grams. It is a three piece razor with very slight blade tab exposure. I used a Polsilver for this shave. The balance is up near the head and worked very well for me throughout both the face and the head shave. What concerned me early in the face shave was the very low amount of auditory feedback. In fact, I initially thought it wasn’t cutting on my first WTG pass which was clearly counter to the visual and tactile feedback. After finishing that first pass, it was clear that I could have gotten away with a very smooth, comfortable, two pass DFS. Nevertheless, after the second XTG pass, I was just left with some minor ATG buffing of the swirly areas at the rear of my jaw and in the front of my neck. A check with the alum block at the end of the face shave revealed no burning or irritation and a extremely close, smooth and highly efficient BBS.

I normally do not use DE’s for my head shaves because of the the bumpy terrain there and my practice of only doing a single ATG pass. I have tried a variety of different DE razors both vintage and modern with little success. A borrowed Blackland Vector delivered my first bloodless, irritation-free BBS on the dome. That experience led me to purchase my own Vector. The Silversmith matched my Vector in that regard. I expected a few nicks, but completed a two pass [ATG and XTG] (yes, first time) BBS on my head. The alum block revealed some slight irritation in the rear upper part of my head. I will confess at this point that I had borrowed a friend’s Silversmith back in September so I was not surprised by this shave. I’ve always been a ‘try-it-before-you-buy-it’ guy. Needless to say, I really like this razor!

[fallingwickets]

razor lust went out the window when the feather arrived

Hope youre enjoying the silversmith Gary

clive

[brothers]

razor lust went out the window when the feather arrived

Hope youre enjoying the silversmith Gary

clive

Clive, that was Jeff's review, not mine. I didn't buy one when they were selling them. My SE General's absolutely the best performing razor l'll ever use, hands down. Your Feather seems to have a lot of dedicated enthusiasts from what I've read. You might want to post a review!

[fallingwickets]

Clive, that was Jeff's review, not mine

understood....i thought you had reposted because you also got one and shared the sentiment

clive

[brothers]

Got it! It seems that the membership just aren't posting reviews of their razors these days. Except Teiste and myself.

[Sam]

Got it! It seems that the membership just aren't posting reviews of their razors these days. Except Teiste and myself.

I see that. Also there is an explosion of new razors on the market since this forum started. No Rockwells, no Parkers, very few Chinese imports. Certainly no synthetic brush was ever discussed. Heck, Chris Moss designed his scuttle and it exploded in popularity. Discussions of High Mountain vs Manchurian vs SIlvertip bristles. Shvaemac and Simpson were kings until Rooney came on the scene. QED shave sticks were the bomb

Now it seems that when I go to other foums, like Basenotes for colognes, some posts show their shave setup and everyone talks about DE blades.