Thread: Shave ready?

I can shave my cheeks WTG with damn near a butter knife. When it gets to the sides of my chin, the knob of the chin, areas under the jaw line and hollows around my windpipe, the proof is in the putting (this is a pun, spelled correctly). My super good shave technique (not bragging, just the facts) can get me a shave with a sub par honing on a razor, but when I get to the aforementioned areas it is going to be evident that the razor ain't "there." With a good shave ready razor ...... to my standards ...... I will go through all of it like poop through a goose.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

but when I get to the aforementioned areas it is going to be evident that the razor ain't "there." With a good shave ready razor ...... to my standards ...... I will go through all of it like poop through a goose.

Well said. That's how I judge my honing. The aforementioned areas. New phrase. Kinda like provisionally shave ready.

On a roll, Jimmy!

Shave ready to means bevel set, polished up to whatever finisher, and stropped . To me it's a static term. The dynamics of hair type, facial structure etc etc shouldn't come into play. Each razor is a bit different as is each face

There are other factors to consider, the razor and the user. If for example the razor was a Cell Rot Restore or a chip removal where it was honed aggressively with Diamonds, the edge may crumble down the road. The razor is not cleaned and dried properly the edge will begin to oxidize and degrade. Or the owner unpacks the razor and one handed, slams the razor into the scales as seen on tv.

The biggest problem is the user and their ability to strop and what they are stropping on. If the strop is dirty or the user is lacking in skill they can kill an edge in one swipe.

Shave Ready is just that, when the user receives it… Shave with it, as is. It should shave and have been tested or the honer has enough experience to know when an edge is truly Shave Ready.

Once the user strops it…it may no longer be “shave ready.” It is not the same edge.

Shave Ready should be shave ready out of the box.

So one school is saying a shave ready razor means it should give a great shave to anyone even though it can be taken further. So shave ready doesn't mean the razor is at it's maximum potential but good enough to satisfy pretty much everybody.

Like Lincoln said you can satisfy some of the shavers all the time and all the shavers some of the time but you can't satisfy all the shavers all of the time. or can you?

Another school is kind of hinting that what characterizes shave ready are a group of factors ie; it has been shave tested and the edge under mag is up to snuff.

So, really since there is no mechanical device to give a really objective opinion and spit out numbers to quantify the result it is all subjective up to the opinion of the shaver.

So what I'm getting to here is can we establish an SRP standard for what a shave ready razor is. What qualities must it have. Besides the shaving qualities should it have to have physical characteristics say when viewed under a 10x magnifier? Maybe user A thinks the razor shaves like a dream but under mag the razor has numerous microchips or a crooked bevel or uneven hone wear or a frown. Should these things make a razor not shave ready even if it shaves great?

Maybe we should toss the term "shave ready" in favor of another term that says more about the razor. Maybe all that matters is the shave and nothing else. if that is great everything else in inmaterial.

I know there is more to say here but my wife says there's smoke coming out of my ears so I better stop here.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Maybe we should toss the term "shave ready" in favor of another term that says more about the razor. Maybe all that matters is the shave and nothing else. if that is great everything else in inmaterial.

No "maybe" about it. If you can cut your finger on the edge, you can shave with it. Way too many people think it's all about the edge; it's not... it's about what a guy can do with it (and we're not talking about "shaving" cheeks or neckline).

Maybe shave ready is like what Justice Potter Stewart famously said when asked to define pornography ....... "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."

I've received a couple of supposedly "shave ready" blades that were not even close. The only truly "shave ready" blade I've gotten was from SRD and honed by Lynn.

That said, I have a couple of blades coming from the SRP classifieds that I feel confident will be "shave ready" as advertised. After all, SRP sellers have a reputation to maintain. We shall see. The seller also is sending me certificates for three free hones.

Shave ready is truly a relative term, period. Like you stated, there is no way to accurately measure sharp. I have always thought this was understood in our community simply due to experience levels.

I personally use a 1-10 scale to rank edges in my "honing journal", with 10 being the absolute best edge I've felt from any razor, and any honer (professional or otherwise). A 7 is shavable, 8 is comfortable, 9 is a great shaver, 10 is sublime. Only the top of the scale means anything so I should have picked a different range
If I were sending out a razor and calling it shave ready I'd want it so be a 9. I've had razors from others that vary 8-10.
That being said, a "10" is subjective. But whatever your "10" is, I don't think it's reasonable to expect everyone that calls something shave ready to be a 10. You can't hit perfection every time.
Therefore when I receive a shave ready razor and it was an 8, I don't think the seller misrepresented, I just chalk it up to subjectivity.
Also I think someone honing their own blades has an advantage in that they can spend unlimited amounts of time figuring out how to squeeze every last ounce out of that particular blade. So although I've taken a 8.5 from a pro and got it to a 9.5, it may have taken me 5 diff sessions to do it. That's a luxury a pro honer just doesn't have. If they were to spend as much time as me they'd for sure do a better job than I could. JMO