Thread: Thick, Wiry Beard = Bigger, Heavier Blade?

I'm one of those who had thought my beard type was just too stiff, or what ever for a hollow or extra hollow ground blade. Yesterday I debunked my own belief in this. I have a Boker 6/8 Extra Hollow Ground that I had put up almost a year ago because I just couldn't get it to shave well. In my mind it was just too thin and I had written it off. I started using 1/4 hollows, and my favorite razor for quite a while has been the Wacker Keilschlief Wedge, and I still like it a lot. Yesterday as I was checking on razors and cleaning off oil and applying Renwax I came across that Boker and thought, I haven't looked at this razor in almost a year. So, I decided to inspect it. I looked at the edge with a lighted loop and if anyone could have seen that edge right then I would have shrunk back with embarrassment. I had tried to hone it back then on my brand new Norton stones, and just plain didn't have any idea what I was doing! I could tell I had used way too much pressure on that thin of a blade, hadn't got the bevel set except for maybe one or two small areas and really hadn't done much polishing at the 8k either, which was a moot point anyway. So, yesterday I reset the bevel on the 1k Chosera, moved to the 4k Shapton, then 6k, 8k and finished on the 16k. I stropped it with CrOx on polywebbing, then with a Neil Miller real linen and Horween Cordovan strop. This morning I had as good a BBS shave as I've ever had with any razor. No tugging, no digging, no nicks, just a great shave. It never was the razor or the grind, just me!! Bad technique, I was using way too high of an angle, stropping? and for sure my honing. Whether there are beards too tough for a hollow grind, I don't know, but mine sure isn't one of them and that Boker is definitely back in the lineup, 1st String!! You might try getting yours rehoned and go with a much flatter angle and see if it improves. Good luck!!!

Best Regards,

Howard