Thread: What difference does the grind make?

I'm curious as to what effect the grind of a razor has on the shave. Clearly the blade cross section is different so presumably a full hollow will give or flex a lot more than a near wedge but I wonder how that effects the experience of using the razor and the end result?
My main reason for asking is that I am teetering nearer to buying a Koraat blade and I see he offers near wedge, quarter hollow and half hollow blades. The near wedge is least expensive the others progressively more so but still very reasonably priced.

I believe the corseness of the beard determine which grind is best from what I have seen in previous posts.

I do not agreed with regards to different grinds for different beards.

As noted, different grinds will flex differently. Grind also plays into blade mass, which plays into blade inertia; heavy grinds are often described as feeling like they plow through the beard. Of course, blade size also affects blade mass, and often heavy grind blades are larger blades.

I am not familiar with Koraat, but I would think a heavy grind blade would be easier to make, as it requires the removal of less metal, there is more metal to hold heat while grinding, and the thicker blade would give greater tolerances. I've never made a blade, so I'm just speculating (very old blades were heavy grinds, and, if you look back at earlier customs, few if any were full hollow ground).

I'll tell you what I've found.
I have fairly coarse facial hair.
My favourite grind is the 1/4 hollow. It works a treat on my face.
Recently I purchased a T.I full hollow, my first full hollow as I thought they couldn't handle my type of hair.
The first shave I had with , I was blown away. Although the thinness of the tang made it tricky to keep a grasp of.
The second shave was also good. The third was a fail , I had a weeks worth of growth and I did get through it but not to my satisfaction.
I think a full hollow wont hold up as long as a 1/4 wedge can, on a coarse beard.
I've also got a near wedge custom but I think its more for looking at than actually shaving with
Personally 1/4 wedge 6/8ths are the best for my facial hair....

They will all shave well if the edge is right no matter what grind I have full hollows half hollows and quarter hollows and can tell the difference with the feedback off many of my blades, but what I will say everyone of them will deliver equally good shaves if honed correctly.

Back in the day when barbers gave straight shaves they did not stock an arsenal of differing blades to be used with different facial hair types. You would see pretty exclusively hollow grind razors and mostly 5/8s and 6/8s size.

So every customer coming into the shop was shaved with one of those and I'd say they were satisfied with the result. If you needed to specialize the razors I'd think those barbers would have used a selection of grinds and sizes but they didn't and that's proof enough to me.

Different grinds will feel different for sure but from my own experience I'm with the barbers of old.

I think in many cases when you use these part wedges people simply use them differently and that combined with the different feel can cause differing results. Just a guess on my part.

Sharpness being equal, a hollow will make noise as you shave and will be easier to maintain, a wedge (or close to it) will be silent or close to silent when you shave and a wedge might take more time to refresh and will usually need 1-3 layers of tape. Both kinds seem to like my beard so it doesn't matter which I use but I prefer 1/4 to full hollow

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

They will all shave well if the edge is right no matter what grind I have full hollows half hollows and quarter hollows and can tell the difference with the feedback off many of my blades, but what I will say everyone of them will deliver equally good shaves if honed correctly.

Pretty much been my experience also.

Bob

The only ones I've had some issues with are the extra hollows, I can detect the flex in those

Originally Posted by BobH

Pretty much been my experience also.

Bob

Originally Posted by rodb

The only ones I've had some issues with are the extra hollows, I can detect the flex in those

Can't say I have had any real issues with those either. Biggest difference in use between the different grinds I have found is the level of noise produced by the blade when shaving. It runs the gamut from very loud with extra full hollows to near silent with near wedges.

Bob