Thread: A totally non-scientific experiment...

Hey folks,

I was inspired by a thread Glen posted a while back where he honed up three razors for a member here but honed them in a different way and challenged the member to guess which hones were used on each razor.

I won a triplet of Hill & Son razors on eBay a while back and Glens idea got me thinking: If I were to hone the razors up the same way to a point, but then finished each of them in a different way, would it be possible to tell the difference and which one would feel best on the skin?

So thats what I did! All three razors are honed the same way to begin with on 1/4/8/16k Shapton ceramic on glass stones, but then I finished them on different naturals.

One razor is finished on a Nakayama Maruichi, one on a Charnley Forest and one on a coticule, then stropped on an SRD 3" Black Latigo with webbed fabric.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to shave with each razor, guess which razor is finished on which stone and post back here with your thoughts. Let us know which edge you liked best as well..!

After everyone on the list has shaved with the razors and commented, I'll post back here to let you know which razor was finished on which stone.

They're numbered 1, 2 and 3.

I'm interested to see if anyone is suprised by the edge they liked best or if they had any preconcieved ideas about a particular hone or anything..!


Now the small print:

Initially I'm opening this up to senior guys only. Not because I want to do the new guys out of their fun, but because the senior guys will have tried a fair few razors, will be comfortable with stropping and will most likely know a reasonable amount about honing as well. So I figure they will have the experience to do a really thorough review.

Depending on how this first round goes, I might do another round which is open to all but we'll see how this goes first!

We'll start with ten people at first and see how popular this is. If more people want to try it out, we can add more on..!

I'll mail the razors via insured post to the first volunteer and by signing up you agree to mail the razors to the next member in the list, also via insured post.

Please dont hang on to the razors for weeks at a time, just enough time to shave with each of them and get a feel for each edge. A week or 10 days should be enough time to do this, so please aim to mail the razors on to the next member after that time.

Also, probably an obvious point, but please dont use any pastes or touch up hones on these razors. Each has been finished on a particular hone and if you use a paste you'll replace an edge with the feel of that particular paste. Daily strops only please!

Lastly a disclaimer: This is NOT in any way a scientific experiment. Its not designed to show if one hone is better than another, or that one edge is better than another. Its purely a bit of fun and a random experiment for us to enjoy!

The first ten members to PM me their details are on the list!

Have fun and keep us posted!

i accept your challange.
let me know if you are agree . i will send my mailing address.
if i guess right should i get something for it?
if i miss something i would give 1 razor for srp giveaway.?
how about that?

Hi Stu,
As a noob, I would very much be interested to find out the results of this rather interesting experiment.

If I may be so bold to suggest, in order to make this a little more scientific, you'll need what we, in the scientific community call an "internal, positive control" or "baseline control". This, in brief, is something that will allow you to semi-quantitatively compare the performance of your 3 test shavers/razors.

Include with these 3 razors, one additional razor that will act as the base line. Then all subjects will compare the shaves of the 3 "experimental" razors to this "baseline" razor. This will be important since you will have the razors go through 10 shaves each and each time, you will get deterioration of the edge and this internal control will serve to eliminate the variability of edge deterioration from test to test.

Just my $.02, literally .

Sign me up dood

edit: rather, I am willing to participate should you choose to accept my willingness

PM sent.

Sham and Lee are signed up so far!

Anyone else interested?

I think I'm a senior member by this time, though probably not as experienced as some other guys. Anyway, I'd love to do it. Phil

I wish I was experienced enough, but I'm very interested in the results. This is the type of stuff that makes me glad to be a member of this forum.

The list so far!

1) hi_bud_gl
2) Hoglahoo
3) pcb01
4) Kingfish

I've been stupidly busy at work this week and havent had a chance to get to the Post Office, but I am planning to mail the razors out today or tomorrow.

EDIT: Mike (kingfish) has mentioned that it may be a good idea at this time of year to oil the blades as well, especially if you are in a tropical/ sub tropical climate, so could you please oil the blades if you think they need it? Thanks!

Sham has recieved the razors, shaved with them and these are his thoughts.

1) Coticule
2) Charnley Forest
3) Maruichi

More to follow..!

What would have been icing on the cake would have been a shapton 16k, but that would have taken it off the natural theme. I only say this because I'm ordering a shapton 3-stone set from srd today...