Thread: Is it possible that absolute sharpness in not always best?

Originally Posted by RobinK

Truer words were never spoken in this context. I had much rather shave with a "dull, but shaves" razor and high quality soap, than with a "scary sharp honemiester[sic!] edge" and some pedestrian soap.

Yes, soap makes much more of a difference than edge, if your lather is right.

Another simple experiment Ive tried.
Use a razor that shaves well, dont strop it and use a runny or dry lather. The resulting shave was no where near as good. Next day back to proper stropping and a good lather. Hey presto! Back to a great shave.

Originally Posted by RobinK

Truer words were never spoken in this context. I had much rather shave with a "dull, but shaves" razor and high quality soap, than with a "scary sharp honemiester[sic!] edge" and some pedestrian soap.

Yes, soap makes much more of a difference than edge, if your lather is right.

Dull razor?...Luxury...We used to have to hone the razor on the biggest rock we could find after we drained the lake, strop it on a wire rope, and for shaving soap all we had was mud...the only brush we ever had was made from a single budgie feather...I used to DREAM about a dull razor...But you try and tell the young people today that, and they won't believe ya...

I did something accidentaly a while back:

after honing on a 6k, i went back on a 3k.

the reason is I was new to honing and I had a new combination stone and I mistook 3k for 10k. And finished with the 3k.

this thing cuts through paper like butter and shaves beautifully but fails HHT test.

when properly honed in proper progression, it passes HHT but shave is ordinary. Nothing special really.

Is this possible, or was I drunk.

Personally, I much prefer sharper razors that require flatter angles for a comfortable shave. YMMV

It has never been about absolute sharpness. At 1k the razor is sharp enough to cut hair, anything after that is for comfort.

You can absolutely make an edge so sharp it is uncomfortable and/or the edge will not last.

Honing a razor is about, keen enough to cut hair, smooth/comfortable enough, for your skin and at an angle or edge thickness that it will last.

Your experience also demonstrates that hair test does not pre-determine shave quality, at best it is a guide for edge keenness, not quality.

Personally I don't experience such a black and white line between "yeah it shaves" and " no this is terrible". I have a bunch of blades they all shave and can coax them to eventually clean all the whiskers off my face. But usually a blade freshly honed and stropped will in my experience take off hair quickly and completely where as other razors in various stages of use may take more passes or gymnastics to get the same job done. So I don't completely buy into the idea of that razor shaves and its equal to all others that also shave and the problem is prep or some other technical short fall. Razors degrade in performance and the threshold is rather long. How many of you experience a blade in optimal condition take one pass and are surprised how clean your face is as opposed to other razors where you have to fuss more to get the same result, even though the razor is still shaving comfortably. Just an observation ymmv as usual.

Originally Posted by Razorfaust

How many of you experience a blade in optimal condition take one pass and are surprised how clean your face is as opposed to other razors where you have to fuss more to get the same result, even though the razor is still shaving comfortably.

I've often wondered if this was just me. With most of mine, the first pass seems a little questionable, leaves more whiskers behind, is not quite pulling, leaves me wondering "am I getting close to the need to refresh?" But second pass all is clean and close and comfortable. This is my usual shave. I always end up with the same result, CCS. A few of my blades better approximate the finished result after the first pass, but most do not. These edges perform like this for months. Perhaps that is what a coticule provides... sharp enough to do the job, smooth enough to yield many comfortable shaves.

It is like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart when asked to define pornography, he said, (paraphrasing) I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.

When a razor is shave ready I know it when I shave with it.

A bit of light reading for the " My razor is too sharp crew"

http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...ller-edge.html

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/downloads...nifeshexps.pdf