Hi all,


It may be because I'm (i) a beginner, (ii) not a native english speaker, or (iii) not good at searching online, but it is very hard for me to get a list of all properties or characteristics that an edge can have, and how they interact with or depend on each other.

From my limited experience, it feels like an edge can be evaluated on 3 dependent scales (relevant to the shave):
1) sharpness: from sharp (100%) to dull (0%) ; capacity of cutting or slicing things, in particular facial hair and whiskers.
2) smoothness: from smooth (100%) to harsh (0%) ; capacity of shaving without irritating, burning, or damaging the skin.
3) indulgence: from forgiving (100%) to unforgiving (0%) ; capacity of providing a close, safe, and good shave despite a less-than-perfect shaving technique(s).

My questions are:
- are there other edge properties (relevant to the shave) than these three?
- how do they interact with each other? (i.e. is there any trade off between 1, 2, and 3?)
- is "keenness" a synonym for "sharpness"? If yes, where would "sharp" be on the "keenness" scale, or, conversely, where would "keen" be on the "sharpness" scale?

I think a wiki page dedicated to this vocabulary would be very useful for beginners, in particular when asking questions on the forum or learning to hone. Unfortunately, I'm not knowledgeable enough to start one. That's why I invite anybody who feel like it, to create one following this thread, where each scale definition and interactions would be expanded.


Thank you,
Christophe