Thread: Fin: fact or fiction?

If there really is a fin I think one would have to know how to apply one and would be cognizant of its existence. You would have a really good shaving razor.

I think you can have a good razor without a fin.

It would be all too easy for some guy that "thinks" he knows how to hone to create very, very sharp razors that shave without ever having produced a true fin.

We have to be very careful about deciding that they don't exist even if we look at them and fail to see them.

I would suggest that only a razor that truely passes the genuine TPT test of "feeling sticky" are the only razors that we (I've) ever produced an honest to God "fin" on (if we agree they exist).

I'm also concerned that a "fin" and all its characteristics that are important could simply exist at the edge of the edge of the bevel. I mean a "fin" would simply be a thin section of metal honed on both sides of the bevel right?

I keep envisioning this gigantic flagpole of steel off the edge that I'm sure doesn't exist. A fin is not a physical extension beyond the bevel (I believe). Again I don't know if it exists independently of a bevel enough to have its own name.

Perhaps it, and its resulting properties exist and we just don't understand what it really is, how it gets consistently created, how it keeps an edge sharp for months, or how easily it "rolls".

I also think we have to be careful and remember that everything we don't understand isn't "magic". Just because we don't get something doesn't make it "magic". We really aren't as smart as we think and we also don't have to act like straight razors users are witch doctors. I think we spend a lot of time stumbling onto great edges that shave. That doesn't make us experts at this art. Scientifically, we should all be open to our own ignorance, despite the fact that we feel so confident in our mastery.