DE Blade ranking

I just ordered a Gillette Superspeed --TV Special-- Safety Razor (D-2 1958) and an assortment of blades. Looking forward to receiving it two days from now and trying my first DE shave.

I am assuming it would make sense to start off with the less aggressive blades and work my way to more aggressive blades as I gain experience with DE shaving. Accordingly I am wondering if anyone would be able to rank the following blades from least aggressive to most aggressive.

Rapira Super Stainless
Voskhod Teflon Coated
Shark Super Stainless
Shark Super Chrome
Persona Platinum
Astra Superior Stainless
Astra Superior Platinum
Topaz Platinum
Laser Platinum
Racer Super Stainless
Derby Extra
Asco Super Stainless
Treet Platinum
Gillette Wilkinson Sword

Thanks in advance and Happy Thanksgiving.

Peter

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Originally Posted by Peter57

I just ordered a Gillette Superspeed --TV Special-- Safety Razor (D-2 1958) and an assortment of blades. Looking forward to receiving it two days from now and trying my first DE shave.

I am assuming it would make sense to start off with the less aggressive blades and work my way to more aggressive blades as I gain experience with DE shaving. Accordingly I am wondering if anyone would be able to rank the following blades from least aggressive to most aggressive.

Rapira Super Stainless
Voskhod Teflon Coated
Shark Super Stainless
Shark Super Chrome
Persona Platinum
Astra Superior Stainless
Astra Superior Platinum
Topaz Platinum
Laser Platinum
Racer Super Stainless
Derby Extra
Asco Super Stainless
Treet Platinum
Gillette Wilkinson Sword

Thanks in advance and Happy Thanksgiving.

Peter

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I don't think I could rank them all individually. But your least aggressive will probably be the Derby. In fact, many people say they are simply too dull for them. Your shark and Wilkinsons will be middle of the road and quite good. Treet gets sharper in my opinion and (for me) delivers a very nice shave. YMMV. Astra will be in the same category or sharper. If you want a starting out point, go with Derby.

What is your opinion on feather DE blades?

One last thing. The middle area on the sharpness scale is crowded. It also the area where you are most likely to find the best blade for your shave. Some people will swear that one brand is utter crap while it works like a charm for another guy. But most people will say that Derby is the least sharp and Feather the most sharp. My personal preference is for Kai and Treet Classic. You can tell us what yours is later.

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Originally Posted by Chalito

What is your opinion on feather DE blades?

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If you're asking me (you might not be), I think Feather is a good blade but overly aggressive. It delivers a rough scratchy shave on my face. I prefer one notch down in Kai. Both are Japanese blades and quite sharp.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OCDshaver

If you're asking me (you might not be), I think Feather is a good blade but overly aggressive. It delivers a rough scratchy shave on my face. I prefer one notch down in Kai. Both are Japanese blades and quite sharp.

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Oh sorry, yes I was asking you. I have used Derby, Feather and Shark. Shark was a very unpleasant shave, felt almost painful. Derby was comfortable but the feather felt much sharper.

Thanks for your input!!

Thanks for the feedback. I think I have a plan now. Appreciating that there's a large measure of subjectivity to all this, I wanted to at least try to test them systematically.

My approach after reading about the somewhat subjective blade characteristics was to start slightly down from the top of the sharpness scale rather than near the bottom.

I choose Astras (and now like them). If they had been too sharp I would have gone down a notch.

Feather seems to be at the top of the sharpness scale and Derby at the bottom.

Let us know what you end up with!

My only experience is with Merkur blades. They stay sharp for quite long, but I always dread the first few shaves with a new blade, as it leaves my neck full of nicks. I guess it is too harsh and sharp at first. Fortunately, I no longer have to deal with this problem with my straights.

Thanks. Straights are coming for Christmas. Baby steps ...

I'm a beginner with DE blades, I'm working on a 14 sample pack. By far, the Feather has been my best blade so far.

I like the Feathers after a couple shaves. I have a Fatboy so when I put on a new Feather I set it at 1 and do a few very light passes.
The Merkur and Shark blades seem about equal to me in sharpness but the Merkurs are smoother. Both last me quite a few shaves.
The Wilkinson Sword blades they self around here are horrible. Functional but scratchy and I am lucky to get six decent shaves out of a blade.
I like all the varieties of the Gillette 7 o'clock blades I've tried. Super smooth and quite sharp (not as sharp as the Feathers).
The Personna platinum blades rank a bit higher than the Wilkinson blades I've used but I don't go out of my way for them. Red box or blue, they both shave pretty well and are smooth but not amazing.
I have a box if Astras but I haven't tried them yet.

When I started, I was (quite graciously) given an assortment of blades from Obie. I bought one of his extra Edwin Jagger DE razors and he threw in a nice array of differing blades. MY experience has shown me that Derby's are quite mild, but dont leave me with much irritation. Astra's and Gilette's (7 O'Clock blue, I believe) are extremely nice and leave me nice and smooth.

But none of that matters. He gave me a box of Feather blades and I haven't been able to bring myself to use anything else since then. At The Great Shave event in Chicago last year I purchased a dozen boxes and I'm still making my way through them. Yes, they're extremely sharp, but coming from a straight razor, my skin welcomes it. I love the smooth feeling I get from Feather's. This may also be due to the tone of the Edwin Jagger, so I must preface it with "YMMV".

Isn't trying out new blades one of the best parts of shaving? If you don't like the blade, just wait a day and try another. It's beautiful!