Thread: Getting a straight as Sharp as an DE blade?

As you can see with the picture I took with the blade facing upwards, the bevel is not even and is larger towards the toe of the blade. It is better than before my honing but not as good as the other side. Also, there is extensive hone wear in the spine.

Originally Posted by MTLian

Ok so i shaved again with my DE razor at the gym. I've decided to go with a DE at the gym and keep my straight for home to skip the preemptive stropping required with bringing my straight to the gym (no way I'm stropping my razor at the gym).

So I'm still rather new at DE shaving and tried an Astra super platinum for the first time. As usual the shave was flawless on the first pass but man o man did I have some bleeding and irritation on my throat. A thorough washing and aftershave balm clean that all up. Chalk that up to incorrect use since I'm not used to the DE yet (second shave and 1st with that blade) but I must say that a DE doesn't give me the same feedback my straight does.

Although it eliminates the need for a second pass, maybe shaving with a DE isn't all that after all and my goal with sharpness has changed. Like others said above, matching the sharpness of a DE isn't necessary and perhaps not even all that desirable. My new objective is to get a blade that shaves better on the first pass rendering the second pass totally optional.

I've been wanting to buy a new razor for a while. Is perhaps a full hollow ground razor (compared to my semi hollow) exactly the kind of blade that will give me the sharpness I'm looking for?

A blade that has inherent sharpness is the Japanese wakamisori style. Single bevels are like that. Thinly ground full hollow westerns, close to that also. However, any well made & well honed razor will do the job.

I get a closer, longer lasting shave with my straights rather than my Merkur slant with feather blades. For me the DE only has convenience value so I use it mostly for head shaving. YMMV.

You will probably need to buy/try a few different straights before you find your ideal or maybe you'll be lucky on your next purchase.

Originally Posted by MTLian

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A razor with big bevels like that is always going to take more patience to get dialed in than a pin straight very hollow ground razor with tiny bevels. You have to work a whole lot more bevel to work the edge, unless you give yourself a brief vacation from the bevels and tape up the back of that thing so that you can work only the very edge.

Originally Posted by DaveW

A razor with big bevels like that is always going to take more patience to get dialed in than a pin straight very hollow ground razor with tiny bevels. You have to work a whole lot more bevel to work the edge, unless you give yourself a brief vacation from the bevels and tape up the back of that thing so that you can work only the very edge.

Could you elaborate? I have been using tape but I figured I should finish up without the tape for an even sharper edge. Is that wrong?

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I get a closer, longer lasting shave with my straights rather than my Merkur slant with feather blades.

I have the same setup and get the same results. My shaves with a straight are always better than my DE shaves.

I tested this recently in a very unscientific way. On day one, I shaved WTG first with my Merkur loaded with a brand new Feather blade. Once I was finished with that pass, I washed my face, re-lathered and did a second WTG pass with a SR. I rinsed the blade in a basin of water and found a crap-ton (forgive the scientific jargon) of whiskers that the DE missed. On day two, I repeated the exercise in the reverse order. The second pass (this time with the DE) produced almost no whiskers in the basin. Yes, this sort of scientific rigor isn't about to win me a Nobel Prize for grooming, but it helped confirm my experience with both types of razors. Of course, YMMV.

As far as I'm concerned, sharp is one thing. Close is something else entirely.

Originally Posted by MTLian

Could you elaborate? I have been using tape but I figured I should finish up without the tape for an even sharper edge. Is that wrong?

If you take the tape off, you still have to make sure your finisher is getting all the way to the edge to thin the bevel and then through it to smooth the bevel. I guess whether its bad depends only on whether it's keeping the finisher from getting all the way to the edge. The more metal there is to get through, the greater the chance that you have to give the razor a lot of extra attention to make sure the job is finished.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

A blade that has inherent sharpness is the Japanese wakamisori style. Single bevels are like that. Thinly ground full hollow westerns, close to that also.

What he said right there, read it again..

Also I am NOT busting on your razor that you posted pics of BUT

Originally Posted by MTLian

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You are trying to group SR's to a razor that is at best on it's last legs of life, that has been honed into the belly of the blade, and is out of geometry, to a Brand spanking new DE

Not really a fair comparison here...

Originally Posted by MTLian

Could you elaborate? I have been using tape but I figured I should finish up without the tape for an even sharper edge. Is that wrong?

If you have been using tape throughout, do not remove it on the finishing hone.

Instead, add another layer of tape if you like - this gives (with around 10 laps) a microbevel on the finishing hone. It might work for you with a decent blade.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

If you have been using tape throughout, do not remove it on the finishing hone.

Instead, add another layer of tape if you like - this gives (with around 10 laps) a microbevel on the finishing hone. It might work for you with a decent blade.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks, I'll try that. I've been using thin scotch tape, I'll switch to electrical tape. Also, when you say finishing hone, do you mean the 8k, or just the final touch on the 4k?

I agree with what Neil says. If I were going to do one step with and one without, I'd do the coarse work without, and the finishing step with. There's not really a honewear issue to protect against at this point.

It's nice to have a pin straight skillfully ground full hollow razor, but if I could tell you a low $ make of such a thing, I would. The japanese NOS razors of funny names that are over 20mm in size and that are under $100 are probably the best deal going right now (I guess they're probably only on ebay), but it's still $100. I've bought razors that were $200 with a known popular maker (kikuboshi, etc) and then some with some odd names like the harthy razor that I put in the classifieds yesterday (already gone) and found them all to be about the same quality if they appear on the surface to be neatly done. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the different "brands" were finished by the same finishers, they are done with skill. Not all japanese razors are, but the ones that appear tidy on the surface for me so far have all been excellent, and straighter on average than the german razors I've gotten. The semi sloppy looking japanese razors have been far from straight, though.