TLDR: Coticule + Wedge = Happiness
I recently picked up two circa-1890 Wade and Butcher straights from the same seller on the Bay. One's a near wedge in its original blonde horn scales and the other an old regrind to full hollow on a square point.
All my other (four) razors are hollow-ground and I knew they'd be some adjustment to working with a wedge. Both razors had been finished by the seller the same way: on a Gokumyo 10k and smoothed with CrO.
Now, I completely failed to regard the very good advice given by experienced members on this site and went right ahead and bought a fine, 'La Veinette' coticule shortly after realising this straight-razor-shaving-thing was for me. I've been happily touching up my main razors and have been progressively honing a razor I've been restoring to get the feel of the stone.
Once I started shaving with the wedge, I found it very unkind to my skin. While the hollow-ground W+B was smooth as silk from the get-go, I found the wedge left me with irritation and bumps reminiscent of my first days using a straight (last year :p). I committed to practising with the wedge, thinking it might just be that I hadn't yet adapted my technique to account for the weight of the blade, but to no avail.
While inspecting the edge after a disappointing shave, I noticed two tiny chips near the toe of the barber's notch. Now, I'm not sure whether these came with the blade or I'd inflicted them on the edge at some point. I knew these weren't the reason the thing wasn't shaving me right, but it did give me an excuse to try and re-hone the thing ;)
I did some more reading, put two layers of tape on and spent an afternoon going through the Unicot method (I don't count strokes; thinking I'm starting to learn the feedback from my coti), finishing with water-only and three layers of tape.
Attachment 259271
I stropped and stored the wedge and forgot about it for a while, getting to know my new hollow-ground.
When the wedge came up in my rotation next, I was taken-aback to find it gave me a better shave even than the hollow, navigating the nooks and crannies of my neck and jaw-line beautifully and leaving me smooth and satisfied. It's quickly become my favourite razor of the moment.
Seems that for my skin, a coticule edge on an old wedge makes for a silky smooth shave.
Anyone out there had a similar experience?