Thread: HHT off the Coticule

this is a very interesting discussion and I am following it with great interest.

Personally, I agree with Vijay's ideas of personal adaptation to specific sharpness / smoothness and a optimal comfort edge range (for a particular person). I also use HHT all the time, with varying success (=varying shave quality correlation), and in combination with other tests.

Now: a *crappy* blade and 5-6 good shaves without stropping? - maybe I myself was never thrilled that much with DEs, but I didn't try many, and probably technique was a big hurdle. (Actually, I have used a DE or a multi-blade for many more shaves than that, like 1/2 year - but in reallity for very infrequent shaves). It may be very possible to get 5-6 or more good shaves without stropping a straight too (as Vijay says) - but I like the shaves better when I strop right before I use the razor. Not several days prior to use, not the previous day, not 3 hours before the shave. On the other hand, I think the Germans are famous for using very little stropping, like 10 or fewer passes on leather, and I am not sure if they do it every shave. I find I prefer a different approach.

Logically, we must accept the possibility that if we were stropping the DEs or re-coating them - whatever, they may serve even better, and longer - no?

Old timers say leather stropping only dresses the edge - this may be the equivalent to the DE coatings (and possibly - even the inspiration for these coatings, for all I know)

I had some other points and ideas but I forgot them, lol

Cheers
Ivo

Ivo,

Don't know if it helps, but when I have my barber shaves in India (with my Henckels JT-1 - equivalent of a Dovo Shavette), the barber "strops" the blade on his palm a few times before starting. I don't know if this is because of some possible force of habit from his straight days, or because it really makes the edge perform better. Well, more data into the mix.

Originally Posted by izlat

Logically, we must accept the possibility that if we were stropping the DEs or re-coating them - whatever, they may serve even better, and longer - no?

Originally Posted by karkarta

Ivo,

Don't know if it is helps, but when I have my barber shaves in India (with my Henckels JT-1 - equivalent of a Dovo Shavette), the barber "strops" the blade on his palm a few times before starting. I don't know if this is because of his force of habit from his straight days, or because it really makes the edge perform better. Well, more data into the mix.

Vijay,

Cool

In a similar line - Tony Miller has shared how one worker from Honduras at his workplace was "stropping" a box cutter or exacto knife and also some other blades on various media (his palm, among others)...

Cheers
Ivo

Just saw a documentary on sharp things, the part on straight razors was a freaking joke

Anyway - there was a part on Schick. It turns out the human hair is as tough as copper in the same diameter - WOW. Talk about wire beard - we were 100% right. So the guy from Schick said the edge is very sharp but would take a beating like there's no tomorrow WITHOUT 2 edge coatings. The first is Ti, for strength. The second I didn't get but is for slickness.

The documentary also talked about the katana's convex grind, and the idea that if a blade is slick enough it would last much longer.

Btw, I wasn't aware that katanas are never sharpened - as they said - is this really true? Hard to believe. But there was also something on the concave vs convex edge: convex profile creates much less resistance, and material being sliced is pushed easily away. Not so with the concave edge.

Cheers
Ivo

Originally Posted by izlat

Just saw a documentary on sharp things, the part on straight razors was a freaking joke

Anyway - there was a part on Schick. It turns out the human hair is as tough as copper in the same diameter - WOW. Talk about wire beard - we were 100% right. So the guy from Schick said the edge is very sharp but would take a beating like there's no tomorrow WITHOUT 2 edge coatings. The first is Ti, for strength. The second I didn't get but is for slickness.

The documentary also talked about the katana's convex grind, and the idea that if a blade is slick enough it would last much longer.

Btw, I wasn't aware that katanas are never sharpened - as they said - is this really true? Hard to believe. But there was also something on the concave vs convex edge: convex profile creates much less resistance, and material being sliced is pushed easily away. Not so with the concave edge.

Cheers
Ivo

Not according to my Mother! My Mother, by the way, is a 76 year old Japanese woman whose very soul seems to come out of medieval Japan!

Thanks - I was doubting this myself. Together with what I saw in the straight section - I wonder now how much credible the Schick part is, too

Cheers
Ivo

Ivo - the dry human hair is tougher than copper wire of the same diameter - but when wet it is much softer. Hence all the hullabaloo about lather, softening the beard, method shaving etcetera. Of course that can be taken too far, since once saturated, the hair really cannot hold any more water. So beyond a point, all that stuff is just hot air... errr... water... ummm... lather.

And even khukuris are convex ground; I cut myself once on one as sharp as a razor - well - not shave ready straight razor, but say a used DE blade. They are incredibly tough knives too, and at least in Nepal, there is a lot of mystique that surrounds them. Unfortunately they don't yet have the western exposure of the katana, so they are inexpensive.

See http://www.himalayan-imports.com/ for khukuri info.

Vijay -

this may make sense for Schick then - because their users mostly use some crap from a can for several seconds before the edge hits the hair, not real soaking

Thanks for the info - I am fascinated with Everest, sherpas, etc. The fact that these khukuri are inexpensive is not unfortunate But I am not sure what I would use one for... Maybe hiking and stuff?

Cheers
Ivo