Hey guys,
do you ever read Joel's reviews of his razors? See here

He seems to have ranked his razors in order of most difficult to find being the best, and moving down the line with what is easier to obtain being less good

1.) Chronik (hands down)

2.) Tie between my very, very old Japanese Tamahagane Steel Straight Razor and another very rare Japanese Straight razor made by a very famous swordsmith Ikkansai Kasama Shigetsugu.

3.) Puma Gold, Tosuke (ZDP 189 steel), Coller a Nogent (REAL wootz damascus)

4.) TI LE Hammer Forged, TI LE Horn Tang, RW's, Maestro's, Standard Tosuke Steel Japanese Straights, Dubl Duck Wonderedge, Sta-Sharp, Craftsman

5.) TI LE Frameback AKA Square Back, Dovo #41 Stainless Blades, Dovo Specials, Genco/Geneva, Waterville, high end TI's

6.) Henckels Friodurs, Henckels, Wackers, and so on and so forth.

7.) Thiers Issard Damascus, run of the mill TI's/Dovo's, misc off brands, etc

I know some people laughed at his 'chronik' story as he toted it to be a mysterious metal of near unobtainium character, which I do find amusing when I hear what some people say... Now I've got another question (not about the Chronik)

...In this review he's proclaiming his puma gold as a phenomenal shaver, ranking it #3 behind probably what are custom made razors from Japan. Basically, he's stating that of Western razors, it's the best 'production' razor he's ever tried. He justifies the $400 he spent on it because i) it's a puma, 2) it's a hard to find puma, and 3) you can't get anything better for less than $400. Then he goes on to say that he's had a couple of puma golds and they were good shavers, but this one is "amazing".

I have had multiple Puma Golds, some with different blade patterns/gold washes, etc - however the best of 'em has been the 6/8 model in the blade style shown. The others were good.... but the one in that review is amazing.

How does quality between a single-maker's single-model razor vary? wouldn't all puma golds be the same? And does anyone else have any experience with puma gold's quality of shave?