Thread: How sharp is sharp?

Hello all, I just started using a straight razor yesterday. I had been interested in getting in to straights, but then I found out that my dad had tried them out a couple of decades ago and found that he didn't like them. So he gave me his old razors. The blades do hit the handles when closing sometimes, and the handles appear to be slightly warped, but the blades seem to be high quality, and the brand was listed among the "good razors" section here. So far I'm pretty impressed with straights (I did cut myself a few times, but I'm learning), and I think I'll be switching over to them from now on. My question is, how do I know that the razors are sharp enough? I keep reading about the difference between factory edges and "shave ready" razors, but what indicators can I use to test sharpness? I sharpened these with Edgepro stones and tapes (a sharpening system I use to put polished edges on pocket knives), and they seem pretty damn sharp. But I'd like to hear what a true enthusiast considers to be sharp enough. Thanks in advance!

A pic of the razors I received:

Sharp is a relative term and very hard to explain in words. The gold standard would be to have one of your razors sharpened by a pro honer so you could compare for yourself, rather than trying to interpret what people try to explain to you here on the forum. That's my best advice - I now turn you over to people who are better equipped to explain what shave-ready means in words.

Good luck, and welcome to SRP

James.

a lot of people think of sharpness as some mystery, although they have plenty of experience with the sensation of moving a sharp blade down their face from other razors. The sensation should be very similar. For most people this means a realization that their straight is in fact, dull, by comparison.

What is proper sharp? To me it means when the razor slides down your face you feel...absolutely nothing, and the whiskers are totally gone. You might hear some feedback depending on the grind but if you can feel the razor working on your face it can use some work.

First, congrats on the razors. Your dad had exquisite taste in straight razors. Both are of very high quality.
I'll add my voice here to those who recommend a pro hone your razors. There is no way a straight noob can know what shave ready sharp feels like.

Generally, when you find yourself wondering whether a blade is shave ready it probably isn't. When you shave and get great results with minimal effort, you have just shaved with a shave ready razor.

When I first started straight shaving I honed my own razor using the same process I used (Spyderco Sharpmaker) for knives plus stropping on an old belt pasted with Flitz and I 'could' shave but it was not particularly comfortable. I had nothing else to compare to so the two things I did to figure it all out were:

1) Pick up a razor from the Classifieds here.
2) Grab a $20 portable microscope from Radio Shack.

When I shaved with the razor I got from the classifieds it was smooth and I did not have to back up and go over spots like I did from my hone. From looking with the naked eye I could see no difference. However, under Mag I could see that the Classified's Razor was truly smooth and shiny with a very even edge and bevel. Comparatively, my hone job had a good bevel but the edge appeared ragged/toothy in comparison.

I am still fine tuning my process but I can now get my edge as sharp as those I've purchased. But, I am still always learning something new nearly every time I log on here!

Originally Posted by Tsujigiri

The blades do hit the handles when closing sometimes, and the handles appear to be slightly warped, but the blades seem to be high quality, and the brand was listed among the "good razors" section here. So far I'm pretty impressed with straights (I did cut myself a few times, but I'm learning), and I think I'll be switching over to them from now on. My question is, how do I know that the razors are sharp enough? I keep reading about the difference between factory edges and "shave ready" razors, but what indicators

"sharp enough" is indeed a relative term but bigspendur gave a pretty good description.
btw, the bits that touched the scales are no longer sharp.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

What is proper sharp? To me it means when the razor slides down your face you feel...absolutely nothing, and the whiskers are totally gone. You might hear some feedback depending on the grind but if you can feel the razor working on your face it can use some work.

Best description ever!

I have been thinking of this a lot recently, also being new to the straight razor. I agree completely that a baseline of shave ready needs to be established by a pro but, and this has been said before, a professionally honed razor in the hands of a new user will provide mixed results. I actually think now that the thumb pad test is possibly more useful than evaluating the actual first shaves. For reasons too common to mention, I have already had to touch up my professionally honed razor after a couple of dozen shaves. The thumb pad is so much simpler than the face. Do you think there is anything to this?

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Sharp is a relative term and very hard to explain in words. The gold standard would be to have one of your razors sharpened by a pro honer so you could compare for yourself, rather than trying to interpret what people try to explain to you here on the forum. That's my best advice - I now turn you over to people who are better equipped to explain what shave-ready means in words.

Good luck, and welcome to SRP

James.