Thread: My razor is too sharp???? I like a duller edge??

I routinely hone a razor up to the 8k level and then shave test. If it is up to my personal spec I will go to a finisher or series of finishers for the next shave. If not up to spec then back to the 4/8 or the equivalent until I dial it in. If I didn't have all of the other hones and didn't enjoy playing with them I could be completely satisfied with the edge I get off of an 8k Norton.

So if I wasn't crazy about stones the Norton 4/8 and maybe chrome ox on balsa or diamond spray on felt would be all I would need..... but I sure do like fooling with the finishing stones just for the sport of it.

What I am saying is some time I go through the whole pyramid on my King 4000and 8000 and the razor is not as sharp as it should be or the shave does not feel right.

I then back stone as for an over honed razor. I hone as I was taught by my barber some 50 years ago. The saw tooth feel was the indication that the razor was honed and it was time to strop.

I do not think we were getting as sharp as what is looked for now. I have recently received a coticule and only honed 2 razors on it so I don't know if I will over hone on it.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

But to call a razor "too sharp" because you either don't like that type, or you don't have the touch to wield it that just doesn't make sense to me....

Try shaving with a baseball mitt on your hand and see if it makes more sense :-)

I have done the experiment you suggest, pretty much any time I get a new finisher that's how I test it, on one or two razors against a representative flight of my other finishers. I agree the feel is different, but I'm not sure that this demonstrates any sort of bifurcation between "sharp" and "smooth". And I don't think that the blades I dislike are overhoned. I haven't overhoned a blade in years, and since the amount of sharpness I prefer in a blade is dependent on the mass and stiffness of the blade this leads me to believe it really is sharpness that I'm reacting to.

I've got two Feather AC's, one stainless and the other brass. The stainless one is lighter, and gives me less trouble with skin thinning. I can happily get away with one or two fewer strokes on the cork for a blade going into the stainless AC.

If I haven't made you understand throughout this mammoth thread why I might prefer a duller blade, then return to my happy morning shaves with my less-than-maximally-sharp edges, and let the rest of you argue it out, because I'm tapped out of arguments.

Originally Posted by mparker762

If I haven't made you understand throughout this mammoth thread why I might prefer a duller blade, then return to my happy morning shaves with my less-than-maximally-sharp edges, and let the rest of you argue it out, because I'm tapped out of arguments.

You're kidding right ??? You're giving up already ??? ..... I'm just joking .... I would have given up long ago. Personally I think the issue is semantics. "Duller" is the word that generates the conflict. My edges are smoother off of a coticule or an Escher than off of a Shapton 15k although the latter may be sharper ...... please nobody argue with my edges. YMMV. Point is smoother is the word... not duller. IMHO.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Point is smoother is the word... not duller. IMHO.

I quite confident that "duller" more accurately describes the type of the edge that I prefer shaving with.

oh great. I hope nobody starts charging newbs to make their razors duller

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

oh great. I hope nobody starts charging newbs to make their razors duller

I am offering free razor dulling to any new members. Send me a PM if you're interested. I'm looking to establish my credentials as a dullmiester.

let me guess, the first dulling is free, but future dullings are $10 a pop.

This preference for relatively dullish razors isn't something I just kind of decided to go for one day. Like everybody I was getting better hones and better at honing, and eventually started getting edges that had the feather effect on my skin (thinning skin over a week or two). So I switched to the little 5/8 full hollows and things were better, but I still had to really be careful every second of the shave, and I'm *really* not a morning person and not even coffee fixes that. But it was really a lot of fun shaving with those sorts of edges, and I got to play with my nakayama and newspaper and 0.1 micron diamond etc. All very fun and educational.

Then shortly after honedright's "Stropping is King" thread I started on an experiment where I just stuck to one razor day after day to see how long I could make it last, even if it started getting dull I would just double up on the linen and keep going, until I just couldn't go any further. The razor was a 6/8 worked-back barber notch TI, from their seemingly endless supply of century-old blanks. It started out honed on the Shapton 30k with a little bit of 0.1 micron diamond for good measure, and things were fine, wicked sharp and smooth, like shaving with a shadow. Spent the next few weeks tiptoeing around my face every morning getting good shaves and having fun, then after about three weeks the edge had dulled a bit and I didn't have to tiptoe around my face as much and the alcohol sting dropped to near zero, and I kept getting BBS anyway. The blade kept silently toppling hairs on my arm mind you, but there was a bit more tugging than before, yet less (none) burn after the shave.

And this went on for months, as that blade slowly dulled, and I kept getting BBS and zero alcohol burn, and eventually I realized that it wasn't a fluke, that although it wasn't as much fun to shave with this sort of blade I was nonetheless getting objectively better shaves - same BBS, less razor burn. After repeating this same process with multiple razors (5/8 Sta-Sharp, 6/8 Heljestrand #32, and 7/8 Friodur) I'm quite comfortable admitting that I don't like really sharp edges. I don't dislike them mind you, but I feel about them roughly the same way I feel about wedges, quarter hollows, and sheffield choppers - fine for a change of pace, fine that other people love them, but just not the sort of thing I'm interested in shaving with every day, because ultimately I prefer to have a better shave even if it means enjoying it less. And that's the reason I got into straight razors to begin with, not for the fun, not as a hobby, not for the machismo or the way women spontaneously ovulate when the hear about it, but because I wasn't getting the sort of shaves I wanted any other way and my beard was getting piebald.

And, if MParker762 had tough skin that didn't thin out with sharp razors, and he didn't get excessive alcohol burn, he would be saying "The sharper the better; what is this dull fetish about?"

The skin has to be factored into this conversation more than it has so far in my opinion.