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I have a love-hate relationship with Feather's DE safety razor blades.

On the one hand, these Japanese safety razor blades are far and away the sharpest I've tried -- even in a mild-mannered razor, these things'll peel your skin off and leave your face feeling like you're four years old again.

But every time I've tried the Feathers, in every DE from Feather's own plastic DE razor to Gillette adjustables to the Merkur Vision, l wind up swearing I'll never touch these blades again. Because they're just too damn sharp for my skin. I know, I know, a blade is supposed to be as sharp as possible, to get all the whiskers and leave your skin feeling like a baby's butt. But there's sharp, and there's sharp. These Feather DE blades are sharpity sharp sharp.

The same thing happens every time I shave with these blades. The first shave is amazingly close, and I faceturbate (the stroking of one's face throughout the day after a particularly great shave) like a madman. But then on the second shave, everything goes to hell -- a nick here, a nick there, red dots on my neck, and my skin feels raw for the next few days.

I decided awhile back I just wasn't a Feather DE blade guy, so I went back to the Merkur Platinum blades I'd been using since I got my first safety razor. The Merkurs are plenty sharp but they're much smoother and more forgiving than the Feathers, and suit my skin better.

But of course, I can't let sleeping blades lie. And since I've been catching such amazing shaves with the Gillette Super Speed razor, of course I had to haul out the Feathers to see how the two of them got on. Why should I enjoy more than a week's worth of perfect, uneventful shaves without trying something potentially stupid? How much shaving bliss can one man take?

The Super Speed, being a non-adjustable DE, is quite a bit mellower as a shaver than Gillette's adjustable DEs, or especially the more aggressive Merkurs. It shaves close, but never too close, and you can go for as many passes as you like without beating your skin up. So I figured if any DE could tame the Feather blades into something I could use on a regular basis, it had to be the Super Speed.

The first shave with the Feather blade in the Super Speed was amazing. Lathering up with Trumper's Violet shaving cream and a Vulfix badger brush, the shave was nutty good. The clean swath this duo left in its wake was incredible. The scary-sharpness of the Feather blade, couple with the Gillette's mild blade exposure, was a match made in heaven, and I got the best shave I've had in weeks. Could the Super Speed be the One? The Tamer of the Feather DE blades?

'Course not! Sunday I shaved with the exact same rig and felt the sting of defeat. The shave was plenty close, but the skin did pay. A nick here, a nick there, redness on my neck, and a feeling of rawness that lasted through the entire Sunday Times and even the frenzied Google search the Style section sent me running to the Web for that turned out to not be a real product at all, dammit. I would've paid serious money for one of those.

I know some guys can shave with these Feather DE blades every day of the week and never miss a beat. But I can't. My skin can't take it. I wish it could. Because these blades are ungodly sharp, and in a class of their own. I don't like not being able to shave with the sharpest DE blades out there. Doesn't sit well. Sticks in my craw, frankly. But such is life.

The good news is, Saturday I got a package in the mail from Auravita -- the Swedish Gillette DE blades recommended by my pal Andy in the UK, the celebrated father of the Featherjector. Andy swears by the Swedes in his DEs, and now he's got Gordon hooked on them too, so it's time I gave them a serious try. The Gillette DE blades sold in the US are horrid, but the Swedes are made in a different factory and are said to be another animal entirely. This week looks like a perfect time to try them.