Thread: edge thickness

Anybody know how thick straight razor edges are, as well as commercial DE and cartridge edges? I found a patent that discussed 200-300A thicknesses before PTFE deposition, 3000-4000A after chrome and PTFE deposition, and ~500A after the initial shave had stripped off excess PTFE. However, I don't know if that's typical or outstanding for commercial blades, much less how it compares to a well-sharpened straight.

That History Channel show discussed edge thickness, but I can't remember the number right off.

Check out the Verhoven article on knife sharpening. I believe he had a measurment.

Divide the angstroms by 10 and you get nanometers. For reference, visible light is in the 400 to 700 nM range.

Rick

Prof. Verhoeven measures straight razor's edge at 0.35-0.45 microns across, as well as commercial DE blade.

Nenad

Originally Posted by superfly

Prof. Verhoeven measures straight razor's edge at 0.35-0.45 microns across, as well as commercial DE blade.

Thanks! So 3500-4500A is typical, and the patent I found describes a particularly sharp edge (~300A) indeed!

Interesting that both straights and DE's have same objective sharpness. This tends to confirm that the coatings on disposable blades increase their "felt" sharpness by reducing cutting friction.

This is interesting -- are a lot of commercial blades Teflon-coated, or is this patent for some special kind?

If you go to the Schick website they have an article on how they make their blades. They mention chrome sputtering and teflon coating. The entire article is pretty interesting, even though it was obviously written by their marketing department.

Schick's website has several other interesting articles on it. Gillette's website by comparison is incredibly weak and bad.