Thread: Much Ado About Very Little

With all the talk about this finisher and that finisher and stones above 8k in grit, I had an experience this morning that I thought was worth mentioning here...

I'm in the process of moving; I was just shaving this morning and the razor was tugging a bit. I went to grab a stone to touch it up, and to my dismay realized that all of my stones were boxed and gone - all except a 2k Naniwa Superstone, which I somehow missed when packing the others.
"What the heck", I said to myself, "it can't be any worse than the tugging I have now..." 10 laps on the stone and 30 on leather and I finished my shave - it was perfectly comfortable - not just passable.

It's been mentioned here several times before, but I think is worth mentioning again... The higher you go in grit, the less difference it makes in the quality of the shave... If you're new or on a budget it's really ok to get a basic set of stones and learn how to use them well... The stuff that's talked about on here 90% of the time only offers a fraction of a percent improvement in the quality of the shave.

That, and proper stropping is way under rated.

Please don't strip me of my justification for H.A.D.

,,seriously,, the key words in your post are " learn how to use them well,,"

My favorite saying

90% of honing a razor is in the bevel set,, 9% is in the middle with sharpening / refining ,,, and the last 1% is what we spend all our time "discussing" on the forums, and most of our money on"

Originally Posted by gssixgun

,,, and the last 1% is what we spend all our time "discussing" on the forums, and most of our money on"

Glen, you make a good point. Perhaps many feel that 1% is the difference between a decent shave and a great shave? I don't know.
Logically, one would tend to believe that the majority of discussion should evolve around the bevel set, and not that final 1%. I suppose 'bevel setters' many not be that sexy as the wide range of exotic finishers...

Originally Posted by Kevin78

I suppose 'bevel setters' many not be that sexy as the wide range of exotic finishers...

That has been the consensus over the years when the Chosera 1k became popular there was a bit of "Sexiness" added to the lowly bevel setters hehehe

Well a lot of guys rated some of the barber hones, Swaty, itspeech, dubl duck and what have you at 12k when I first came around here. Randydance bought out most all of the stuff that American Hone Co made barber hones with, after the lady who made them died, and he became an expert on barber hones. I asked him what the deal was on the grit level and IIRC he said most of 'em are about 4k. So the barber who grabbed that little hone to touch up in the midst of a shave on a customer was finding his sweet spot for touch up at that level.

There's a lot to be said for shaving off all the hones you use, within reason - will need to give shaving of my DMT 325 a shot now it's very well broken in. I was really surprised a while back when I decided to work with shaving off my King 1K, a light went on and Glen's statement about the bevel being 90% of the work came into sharp focus.

Having said that I think many of us with an inclination to rub steel on stones aren't really too concerned with just getting the job done or getting 90% out of a razor. Getting a decent shave isn't too hard, reaching for the stars is a life long pursuit which on occassion leads me to evaluate everything from the ground up but most of the time I spend with my head in the clouds.

Tend to agree...

To my (twisted) way of thinking, the law of the diminishing returns applies.
The higher you move up the scale, the less noticeable the effects - as the word "finisher" for the 12k and "polisher" for the 20k in a way already implies.

Sometimes, we run the risk of attaching too much importance to the finer points of shaving (or any other activity we like doing) and not enough to the basics.
Kind of debating the effect of the curvature of the earth when you are climbing a mountain....

It's rewarding to put on finishing touches with a 12k and 20k, but ultimately that's all they are: "finishing touches".



B.

This thread makes me feel good about spending a year with 1k 4k 8k shaving. An idea I probably got from Glen. I do notice the difference going higher but 1% is about right :<0) If you can squeak another percent out of higher grits fine, just don't forget the basics. Otherwise your just polishing a turd.