To be honest, I was on the fence on purchasing a Blackbird for a while. While I knew it would be high quality and it is a super-cool looking razor, it was a fair chunk of change. The more reviews I read and videos I watched on it, made me think that the blade feel would be something like shaving with a full throttle lawn mower. I don't enjoy Harsh blade feel so I even tossed around the idea of purchasing the Lite version, but there was so much talk about the excellent efficiency of the standard model that I decided to try my luck and order a standard, machined Blackbird. The first time I shaved with it, I braced myself thinking it was about to peel off my face like peeling an apple. I could feel some blade for sure, but not bad.. let the weight of the razor do the work... wait a minute... it was very smooth. First pass was done, swiping off 3 days of stubble like it was never there. Not much was left for a second pass, but after I went over everything a second time, it was one of the closest shaves I've ever had. ZERO nicks and no irritation. Very happy with this razor and it just keeps getting better as I continue get more familiar with it.

This is an absolute home run of a razor. I have very coarse hair and prefer a distinct "blade feel" for guidance while shaving. This razor checks every single box. I use it to shave both my head and my face. On my face, it provides an incredibly close shave that feels amazing, cutting through coarse hair cleanly without any pulling or tugging. Right now, I’m running a Feather blade in it, but because it feels like a razor that can handle absolutely anything, I'm excited to start cycling through the rest of my blade collection to really put it to work. I loved the standard version so much that I already went out and purchased the open comb base plate. Honestly, I think my search is over, I can finally stop buying razors. This feels more like a "forever razor" than anything else I’ve ever owned. That’s not to say my previous razors were bad, but this is absolutely the one for me. Wish they were selling top caps so i could use my standard bar as a travel razor.

Very efficient razor, superb workmanship and presentation.Will I like the handle design I must say that I find it very slipper and I think a slight redesign possibly with some knuckling on the raised machined planes.Hence the 4 Star rating instead of 5