Thread: question regarding size and grind?

hello everyone,

in reading these forums regularly for the past few months i have come to understand that there is a tradeoff between size and grind with regards to blade stiffness and shave quality.

therefore, everything else being equal, does the following logic hold true:

8/8 full hollow shaves like a
7/8 three quarter hollow shaves like a
6/8 half hollow shaves like a
5/8 quarter hollow shaves like a
4/8 full wedge

thanks,
mike

Not really, no. you'll just have to try them and see for yourself, it's not a linear scale like that.

Keep in mind there's a lot of variation between different grinds with the same name, there's no standardization at all.

It also depends on the steel, the tempering process and as mp mentioned, grinds aren't really standardized. I've seen some fairly heavy full hollows.

Although the weight of the blades as you describe them might have something in common to the feel in your hand, there is a critical difference between the ammount of flex you will experience with a full hollow as compared to the rigidity of a wedge regardless of blade width. Needless to say, a half hollow will tend to have a feel in between those two extremes.

Is yours the Depew shown in your avatar and is it a wedge?
What do you like about it?
What are you interested in experiencing with your next?

X

I got called away last night by the dog, but to get back to your question...

For the most part, similar grinds shave like each other even in different widths, an 8/8 Friodur will shave like a 5/8 friodur, only heavier.

The reason 8/8 or wedges are recommended for heavy beards is largely because the weight itself helps when you get into the tough areas of the face, and because most of the 8/8 razors running around right now are the old english blades with very thich grinds even in "full hollow" and the big NOS friodurs that use a stiff grind and very hard steel. But these two styles shave very differently while accomplishing the same end result.