Thread: Just about to try Dorco ST301

Well, being unable to hone my own razors, having email account difficulties (what is a POP3 server anyway?) and thus being unable to contact Neil to arrange honing, I bought a Merkur Futur.

Used Wilkinson swords and Personna blades and found them to be decent, father in law keeping me in blades there. Chucked after 2 shaves as I don't want to risk hacking face to bits.

I was doing a search on ebay and came across the Dorco ST301's. 50 for a fiver (5). 'Nice little stock for similar situations with my straights in the future' thinks I and bought them. I did this without ever having tried them, doh!

What do we think of this blade chaps. It's not the end of the world if they're poo, but I'll have a few boxes knocking around for a while if that's the case.

I have the same setup in chrome, and several packs of Dorco 301's. These are among the best low cost blades. I recommend a low setting of 0-1.5 on the Futur for your first shave. The weight of the razor gets some getting used to. Settings above 2.0 start getting aggressive and may cut you. I can get three or four multi-pass shaves from the Dorco 301.

When you really want the best, then get your father-in-law to spring for the Feather. They are the best for me.

Dorcos don't have a very good reputation, but that is, as ever, very personal. I got a sample pack with a few and my girlfriend likes Merkurs and Dorcos, but dislikes something as sharp as an Astra. I hate the blunt Merkurs, heard that Dorcos are similarly blunt, and love Astras and Feathers.

Let us know how you find them! Once I receive the 200 for $15 from China for my girlfriend, I'll pop one in my shavette and see how I like them. I don't have a good feeling about it, but I'll try

I have only used an astra blade (yup one), I don't use my D/E much . But I did like it enough to buy 100 from the bay, it seemed to much of a saving per blade to only buy 50, though from a post I just did with the maths in it, I have bought between 20 and 35 years worth of blades.
If the blades don't suit you, you can always give them out as Christmas presents, they come individually wrapped too.

I think I may be getting a slap if I encourage him to buy feathers and pilfer them. He turned his nose up at some dorcos in return for all the wilkinsons. From what I can gather, that's what he's always used, 40 years worth, so I'm not sure I'll sway him. Worth a try though

I've only gone for them as I don't use a DE all the time, just between posting off for a hone and the return.

Dorco makes the ST300's for the third-world market that also have less dense whiskers overall. The ST300's are not good blades. However, the ST301's are much better, and for the price very hard to match. Perhaps the negative comments against Dorco are referring to the ST300's, which I agree are not good blades.

Originally Posted by Gammaray

Dorco makes the ST300's for the third-world market that also have less dense whiskers overall. The ST300's are not good blades. However, the ST301's are much better, and for the price very hard to match. Perhaps the negative comments against Dorco are referring to the ST300's, which I agree are not good blades.

Ah, good point, I don't know which one I have, but I just checked and ordered the ST300 for my girlfriend.

Originally Posted by Laurens

Ah, good point, I don't know which one I have, but I just checked and ordered the ST300 for my girlfriend.

In that case lets hope your girlfriends whiskers are less dense

I have not used the ST301 in about 4 years but I remember them being a very good blade. Much better then the ST300 which most of the stores sell under their brand name.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

In that case lets hope your girlfriends whiskers are less dense

Seems I got the right ones, she uses ST300s now.

I must say, I did the shaving a couple of times and the hairs are quite tough. I guess she just uses quite a bit of pressure, as she was used to doing with the ridiculously cheap Venus cartridges. Despite that, she (and I) enjoys the soft feel of her skin and has much less irritation than she used to.