Quote Originally Posted by regularjoe View Post
Well yeah I guess that's what I'm getting at. It's not really a pulling sensation...It's just a sensation, and quite comfortable. But it's not like Sham's blade that just wipes the hairs off either. I might just have to start sending razors to people. lol. I'm to a point where I don't trust my own ability to discern good from bad. But ok, it's not done yet. Thanks! I don't use the higher grits as a crutch anymore really. I take the blade to where I can shave with it on the 8k, shave, strop, then come back to a coticule to see if I can improve it any more. I'll return to the 4/8 pyramids, and see what that yields. But just for me, the differences are so miniscule, so subtle, that I'm trying to pinpoint that improvement, while ensuring I'm not working backwards. I don't have that thing happen where the edge was good and now it's bad. If it's good it stays good, I'm just not sure it's getting better or staying the same.

Mack, you're right, stropping is king. But that's not what I'm trying for friend. I want an edge that doesn't NEED improvement through 160 laps of whatever material a person chooses. And you're wrong, experimentation is about the worst way in the world a person could become proficent at any new skill. If that were true, they wouldn't need to teach addition before multiplication, basic math before algebra, and algebra before trig. There must be a solid grasp of basic concepts, prior to experimentation. Without an expert to verify that what a person thinks is in line with basic concepts, all experimentation is likely to result in false/improperly interpreted results. Please take that lightly. I truly don't mean any offense. It's just my opinion, and just as likely to be wrong as any other.
Without experimentation we wouldn't have the razors we hone, nor the computers we're conversing on. The only way to learn is to experiment in what works for you. We can learn everything factually through expert opinion but that doesn't give us the skills we learn only from experimentation and hands on experience. Basic concepts are important as a ground rule whith experimentation, but that was a given.