Blackland Blackbird

[MrK1]

In August 2015 I took a punt and backed a Blackland Blackbird on Kickstarter. What attracted me was it was available in a black oxide finish and looked cool.
That's it.
9 years ago today, the Blackbird was delivered. Thankfully, it shaves as good as it looks. Many many razors have come and gone, but this one still remains. It is now the only DE razor I use. I love how the coating has worn over time. Excuse the crap phone pics.

Did anyone else back it? Have you still got it?

 

[p.b]

Yes, I backed it - I had never backed a kickstarter before and decided purely based on its aesthetics.

I now have three: closed comb, open comb and a ti closed comb and I can’t see myself ever not owning a BB - I love it.

 

[Chris]

The shave from the Blackbird wasn't for me but I do love the way it looks, especially in black oxide, and it just gets more beautiful as it wears.

 

[hdb3326]

I have a few of Blackland’s offerings including the Blackbird, cracking razors.

 

[Bauhaus]

Good story! I didn’t know Shane launched a Kickstarter for Blackland. That’s pretty cool.

P.S. Sorry for throwing in my two cents, but was it really necessary to create a separate thread with a name that at least 2-3 other threads already have? It’s making the forum more cluttered by the day. Nothing personal—just sharing my thoughts, I’ve also experienced difficulties searching for specific topics due to duplicated threads.

 

[Chris]

Good story! I didn’t know Shane launched a Kickstarter for Blackland. That’s pretty cool.

P.S. Sorry for throwing in my two cents, but was it really necessary to create a separate thread with a name that at least 2-3 other threads already have? It’s making the forum more cluttered by the day. Nothing personal—just sharing my thoughts, I’ve also experienced difficulties searching for specific topics due to duplicated threads.

Having just done a quick search the majority of threads with "blackbird" in the title are BST listings, and there is only one thread with "blackbird" in the title in the first five pages of the DE razors section.

 

[Bauhaus]

Having just done a quick search the majority of threads with "blackbird" in the title are BST listings, and there is only one thread with "blackbird" in the title in the first five pages of the DE razors section.

Well, fair enough. I just use the "Search" feature for specific queries, and there are a few more threads about the Blackbird besides BST—but that’s not the point. Look, I didn’t mean to come off as an @sshole. I love this forum and really enjoyed the topic starter’s story about the old Blackbird. I just wanted to point out that it would be great if ANY threads didn’t get duplicated occasionally—it would make searching much easier overall. Just my suggestions.

@MrK1 sorry for the spam here. I'm leaving. Have a good day!

 

[Chris]

Well, fair enough. I just use the "Search" feature for specific queries, and there are a few more threads about the Blackbird besides BST—but that’s not the point. Look, I didn’t mean to come off as an @sshole. I love this forum and really enjoyed the topic starter’s story about the old Blackbird. I just wanted to point out that it would be great if ANY threads didn’t get duplicated occasionally—it would make searching much easier overall. Just my suggestions.

@MrK1 sorry for the spam here. I'm leaving. Have a good day!

Unfortunately there's no easy answer to this one. I'm a member on another forum where there was quite the debate on necro-posting because people were tagging onto existing threads rather than starting new ones, this then bumped the threads up to the top of the page and people skim-read them and started answering questions that had been asked five years ago by members long departed.

The alternative is to start a new thread, but then with a razor as popular as the Blackbird you are going to get similar thread titles as you really need to mention it in the title so that people know whether to read it or not.

The other forum never managed to reach a universally satisfactory solution either.

 

[MrK1]

Well, fair enough. I just use the "Search" feature for specific queries, and there are a few more threads about the Blackbird besides BST—but that’s not the point. Look, I didn’t mean to come off as an @sshole. I love this forum and really enjoyed the topic starter’s story about the old Blackbird. I just wanted to point out that it would be great if ANY threads didn’t get duplicated occasionally—it would make searching much easier overall. Just my suggestions.

@MrK1 sorry for the spam here. I'm leaving. Have a good day!

Its all good. Don't leave on my account.

 

[Zorro]

Just use Google to do your searching, its way superior to any forums built-in search.

Use the search prefix site: followed immediately by the website then a space followed by your search term, to focus search terms just onto one particular website or forum.

Like this;

 

[Nishy]

Yes still have an early blackbird but didn't back the Kickstarter gutted. I remember some of you guys getting a lovely presentation box yonks ago. Still love the razor need to dig it out haven't wet shaved in a very very very long time this razor may get me to start again though.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Unfortunately I did not know about it back then.
I do now own a Blackbird in Titanium with both handles and all the plates, it's an absolutely beautiful razor and at some point I might try and pick up a stainless steel polished version.
Not yet but later.
Your a lucky son of a gun to have an original, I am pea green with envy as I love Blackland stuff.

 

[MrK1]

Unfortunately I did not know about it back then.
I do now own a Blackbird in Titanium with both handles and all the plates, it's an absolutely beautiful razor and at some point I might try and pick up a stainless steel polished version.
Not yet but later.
Your a lucky son of a gun to have an original, I am pea green with envy as I love Blackland stuff.

Not many people knew about it then. It was on Kickstarter twice. The first time, it had 69 backers and Shane cancelled it. The second time it had 153 backers which was enough to fund it.

As I mentioned, the selling point for me was that it was available in black. I don't think I would have risked it if it hadn't come in Black Oxide.

I have the original base plate which had sharp edges. I bought a new one as soon as Shane fixed the problem. I have tried the OC plate, it wasn't for me. I have the lite plate which rarely gets used.

The SS feels right for me and I haven't even considered going for the Titanium version.

 

[MrK1]

Yes still have an early blackbird but didn't back the Kickstarter gutted. I remember some of you guys getting a lovely presentation box yonks ago. Still love the razor need to dig it out haven't wet shaved in a very very very long time this razor may get me to start again though.

It came in a metal tin.
I'll try and find it to and take some pics.

 

[slapo]

I seem to recall that Shane is now reluctant to share the blade gap and exposure, but the Kickstarter listing has them:

Blade Gap: 0.58mm
Blade Exposure: 0.101mm
Shallow Shaving Angle: 26°
Steep Shaving Angle: 28.9°
70 mm Razor Weight: 90g
101 mm Razor Weight: 110g

I don't know whether they've been tweaked since the Kickstarter campaign, but it does feel about as bladey as the blade exposure would suggest.
The built-in angle guide and relatively slim top cap make it a lot nicer to use, IMO, especially because of the relative lack of blade support from the bottom, although the OC head I have is still only an occasional one for me.

I do wish they'd make an OC Lite plate, though.