Thread: My razor arrived

Hello,

I took delivery of a Revisor 6\8 razor yesterday. Bought on German eBay. Actually I'd already been thinking that 6\8 might be a big of a handful as a first razor and now having handled it (not shaved of course), I'm thinking I might be better off with a 5\8 foir starters. There are always plenty of NOS razors on German eBay, and the seller seems to have a large stockpile.

I still have no strop, and I will order one asap. But a 5\8 may be a better staring point. What do you think?

5/8" and 6/8" are both good razor widths to start out, IMHO.
Grind comes in to play as well, but a 6/8 is generally a bit heavier than a 5/8, which can be an advantage with a coarser beard. Due to the greater momentum, a heavier blade is less likely to hangup on a hair and change direction, with a nick as result. A second advantage of a wider blade is that the shaving angle is easier to control. Lifting the spine 1 mm higher results in a smaller angle increase than doing the same with a smaller blade.
The disadvantage of a wider blade is that the scales are usually a bit wider too, leading them to blocking your vision more during some parts of the shave. A smaller blade can be a bit easier to maneuver on your face, in particular under your nose while shaving the mustache area.

All those difference are far more obvious between the extremes of the spectrum (4/8 or less, and 8/8 or more) 5/8 and 6/8 are not that far apart, so what I described has to be taken with a grain of salt. You'll be fine with that 6/8". There won't be a single problem you 'll encounter while learning to shave with a straight, that can be solved with using a 5/8".

Revisors are considered high quality razors. I believe you made a fine choice.

Best regards,
Bart.