Thread: Fin: fact or fiction?

Originally Posted by Bart

Even for those that choose to dismiss these facts, the very edge has a part that is thin and weak enough to be malleable. One turn over the edge on a strop is enough to bend over this part. That is a known fact. And it can be seen with magnification. The strop does not abrade that part away. It usually breaks off when you try to bend it back. It is my understanding that the fin is also the part of the edge that is abused by the shave, and a strop is what we use to restore it, as good as possible.

So this I've wondered about a bit. I shave around a beard. Right at the bottom edge of the beard I come in at almost a 90* angle. The first part of the stroke begins with pretty much a scraping motion until I'm able to angle the blade. Given the above, I would expect that to completely dull/ruin my edge by folding over the malleable part. It doesn't seem to as I subsequently shave the rest of my neck both WTG and ATG without noticeable difference from the rest of my shave. The only explanation I could come up with is that when one rolls an edge on a strop, the edge cuts into the strop and as the blade is rolled over the edge gets "leveraged" by the strop surface on both sides of the edge that is sitting in the cut.

Originally Posted by Quick

So this I've wondered about a bit. I shave around a beard. Right at the bottom edge of the beard I come in at almost a 90* angle. The first part of the stroke begins with pretty much a scraping motion until I'm able to angle the blade. Given the above, I would expect that to completely dull/ruin my edge by folding over the malleable part.

Doesn't it take quite a bit of force to roll a razor edge on a strop? More than you use when shaving, surely