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Hi everyone,
I’m new to the straight razors. I currently have a Dovo Bismarck and a cheap eBay shavette. My question is, will a straight razor be as sharp as a shavette? I can’t get it close at the moment.
I’m honing with a 3,000~8,000 whet stone and a thiers issard double sided paddle strop.
Any help or information would be appreciated. I’m really curious if the straight blades get that sharp?
Regards
YoYoHenry
If your experience honing straight razors matches your forum join date you may not be getting all that is possible in sharpness from the razor. As far as comparing a straight razor to a shavette I'm no help there never having used a shavette.
Bob
Welcome to SRP!
DE or SE used in shavettes are machine made whilst straight razors are hand made, I do not believe a straight razor can be as sharp. I do however believe that you can get just as close a shave. For me a well honed straight razor is far more comfortable too.
It also comes down to the hand honing the razor as to its sharpness.
It will take a while to get the hang of using a straight, I see you are taking a lot on in one go, learning to hone, strop and getting shaving technique down is a tall order.
May I suggest you have your razor honed by a professional, you will then have a base point to go by.
Read through the library too Shave Library
It is a wealth of information and will set you on the right path.
Mark
A shavette blade is designed to be replaced every few shaves, so it is designed to be sharp and then coatings may be used to make it smoother. With a straight razor, we have to make the edge, yet smooth and it needs to last a lifetime or longer. We may not be able to get it quite as sharp as a machine make blade.
If you want a straight razor to have an edge nearly as sharp as a shavette blade, you are going to need to use something finer than an 8K stone as a finisher. Although some people can shave off an 8K edge, most people use either synthetic or natural stones that are 12K or finer.
Another option is to use very fine abrasives such as Chromium Oxide, Cubic Boron Nitride, Cerium Oxide, or Diamond sprays and pastes on a strop to refine the edge you get off your stones.
Then some people further refine their edges with pasted strops. I have been using 0.5 micron CBN and 0.25 micron CBN and recently added 0.1 micron CBN to get really sharp, yet smooth edges. CBN is Cubic Boron Nitride, an abrasive that is nearly as hard as diamond, but which has a crystal shape that seems to be less harsh than diamond when used on steel edges.
Welcome, This is my opinion on the subject so take it how you like :)
Shavettes use disposable blades as already stated. The blades used in a shavette is manufactured, they are super thin, they have multiple bevels usually around 3. It is my belief that its difficult to say whether a SR and a shavette can be the same level of sharp. Really we are not comparing apples to apples. We have 2 different blade designs, the blade used for a shavette is super thin hence the need for multiple bevels. The multiple bevels are there to give the edge support, with out these bevels the edge would likely crumble as soon as it touched a wisker.
SR has a very fine single bevel with the support of the hollow grind so while the edge of a SR is thin, it is not as thin as the blades used for a shavette.
Now, a lot of can a SR be as sharp as a shavette? comes down to a couple things, technique and honing. You can have the sharpest SR ever but if you don't have the technique it will not seem to do what you want. Secondly, as stated above, a properly honed 8k edge is a great edge, if done correctly. They can produce a close, comfortable shave. Is it as sharp as a shavette? I would doubt that, A 12k edge is a fantastic edge and produces a killer edge IMO, I have never went above that level because I don't feel the need to. But I would say a 12k edge done right is probably close to the sharp level of a shavette, close :) But again with out technique it does not matter how high it was honed or whom it was honed by. There is a pretty good learning curve to honing, especially if you are teaching yourself. That is how I did it and it took me awhile to finally realize what I needed to do, little ah ha moments.
So, prep, face stretching, technique all play a big part in what shaves like what. DE blades are just crazy sharp there is no doubt but is a SR edge to match obtainable? I don't know, but getting the same quality of shave is obtainable, plus SR's are more forgiving than shavettes. Once the moons align and everything comes together you wont bother with your shavette any more.
Thanks everyone for your replies.
It looks like I’m needing a 12K stone. We don’t really have anyone here in Sydney, Australia who I can find that hones straights so I will be continuing with the wiki tutorials.
your not looking very hard , Oz is one of the great ones when it comes to honing,, look up members in Sydney, Onimaru is his screen name here ,, I think there is some numbers on his name to, but we have a members directory. its really hard to tell if a straight and a shavette can match each other in sharpness. it really boils down to how smooth the edge is when it comes to shaving, I believe it can be done, but when a straight is that sharp its usually rough also. and if you really want to know, you have all the stone you need if its a good 8k razor hone, its just up to you to learn to max it out. it takes time to learn, its not a knife that anyone can make sharp cause you don't shave your face with a knife. Tc
you don't need a 12k till you can get the 8k working, as a matter of a fact until the bevel is truly set all your doing is polishing a turd , a 12k will only smooth out an 8 k finish,, and the 8k wont really be good until you have set the bevel and progressed thu the grits lining up the edge .
In short, a shavette is a DE without a guard. Reallt all it is goog for is muscle memory when first venturing into straight razors to see if you really want to get into the club.
And luks non pint out if you join date matches the time you have spent honing. Than tou might want to send your dovo out for a pro honning so you'll know what to look for when honning.
There are a few very good hones in Sydney
Turn your spell check on bruv...Quote:
Originally Posted by whoever
Yes, there are a few very good hones in Sydney. Pretty sure they are all at Oz's house...Quote:
Originally Posted by Substance
This question comes up every so often and I reply with the same answer every time. First of all YES it IS possible to get a straight razor edge as sharp as a DE edge. The Verhoeven. Papers clearly show this as he compares the thickness of both edges. Here is a direct quote from his paper Page 7- “Measurements of the edge width averaged out at 0.4 microns, which was essentially the same as found for the Gillette blade of Fig. 7.” He is referring to a German straight razor hereby. I shave daily with razors that, IMO, shave better and are sharper than a DE blade. They are my own edges along with two other members here. I have went back to a shavette to compare in the past and the straight razor was a much better, closer, and smoother shave. It also had less irritation. I shaved with a shavette for years and I would have gladly went back long ago if the straight razor’s shaves were “less then”.
That being said, I have shaved with many other peoples edges and am pretty certain only a few people enjoy shaves at this level. Either the ones that have put the time into their stones to learn how to hone to that level or the ones that spend the ca$h to have their razors professionally honed by a REPUTABLE honer. Because of this, there is a misconception that a straight can never be as sharp as a DE. You don’t know until you know.
Its more like auto uncorrectQuote:
Originally Posted by Grazor
Absolutely. See also the pictures and discussion on Science of Sharp.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel