Thread: Fin: fact or fiction?

Originally Posted by poona

Well if you have included my quote of 'fin' within a few of my late posts, I was simply referring to the fin as the bevel.

Maybe different people are using the same word to mean different things. A V bevel is a good thing, a Y bevel is probably not so good.

Gosh, anyone from Helsinki wanna chime in???

We'd have to agree on nomenclature first. "Fin" to me is equivalent to "burr" is equivalent to "wire edge". In regard to razors I see all three descriptors as bad.

Chris L

Originally Posted by poona

Well if you have included my quote of 'fin' within a few of my late posts, I was simply referring to the fin as the bevel.


When you analyze it, surely it would be impossible for an edge to achieve the Y shape due to the spine not allowing a perfect parallel plane. It is always going to be V shaped no matter what you do with the hone.

Nope! Wasn't singling you out at all. I've just heard the term for a long time. The only post that I can think of is when Pam (Yuzuha) on Knifeforums (that lady is an amazing source of info, btw) mentioned the "fin" as straight razor users term it.

The only way to get the Y shape, to my knowledge, is to go way to heavy on the lower grits and form a burr that will flip flop all over the place.


Chris, I completely agree. They are all bad. Every great now and then I see things that refer to "fins" as good things...

I really don't mind what you call it but there is something going on at the extremity of the bevel. The perfect V argument just doesn't explain away what my experience has seen.

Stropping smooths something.

A burr is formed from a very fine edge on the extremity of the bevel rolling up into a coil.

If the edge was a perfect V I can see no need to strop because the perfect V shouldn't ever distort.

I believe that the word "Fin" describes perfectly the edge of the bevel that:

can be over honed to form a burr

can be stropped smooth after it has been knocked about during the shaving process.

can be virtually removed by the use of various honing pastes

when perfect, provides a long life to a blades edge.

I have not seen any other explanation that helps me understand under or over honing, finishing honing, burr creation and removal or what pasted or ordinary stropping is doing.

So I believe in the fin in the absence of any other explanation of what is going on.

Ben325e is kickin ass and taking names! Busting myths in the quest for truth and justice (or at least a decent shave...) for all!

I don't believe there is a Y type edge fin that is of any use in shaving. If it does exist, it won't matter if you can straighten it out or not, as it wll be so unsupported as to be useless.

I believe in the V edge bevel. I also believe that stropping somhow does something to that edge involving quantum mechanics, alchemy, and perhaps hocus-pocus.

I believe there is also the dreaded U edge bevel which will not shave worth a damn and means its time to hit the hones again!

Originally Posted by Seraphim

I believe there is also the dreaded U edge bevel which will not shave worth a damn and means its time to hit the hones again!

If my razor has a W edge is that a double bevel?

I've never seen a fin on a razor yet (that I know of).

But then again:

• Elephants paint their toenails red so they can hide in cherry trees.
• Ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?
• Works good, don't it?

..And you guys looking for it are using the SEM?Could be that I read too much into that paper or with too little understanding, however even with stropping he says there is a deposited bur.

quote"4 Stropping of the waterstone sharpened blades on a leather strop loaded with chrome
oxide compound produced a significant change in the edge geometry of the blades. The
abrasive grooves from the waterstone sharpening were smoothed out significantly. The
edge bur width was not reduced significantly below the 0.5 micron level of the
waterstone ground blades, but it was perhaps a bit more uniform along the edge.
However, the burs on 600 grit pre-sharpened blades were reduced significantly, to the
same level as on the pre-sharpened waterstone blades. The overall geometry of the
stropped edges compared favorably to the razor blade standards.

See it's not a Y it's not a V. it's a U that we are making. aka edge bur-that rounded portion that keeps us from sharpening to 0 edge dimension.

I kind of agree with English. I also think that the "fin" is what makes a "sharp" razor draw on a strop while a dull razor does not.

I think the "Y" analogy is really terrible. I think, if anything, it would be a big giant V like the size of a house, and the "fin" is like the last inch of the very top of the last series of shingles.

If "fins" don't exist should we come up with a different term other than "rolling" the edge? Should we describe it more like "deforming the V"?

I didn't vote though :-), cuz I've got no stinkin' clue.