Thread: stainless steel blade

i am looking at dovo straights and love stainless steel...

is stainless really that much harder to hone than carbon...or is it worth the money to get stainless...

I've always felt that carbon steel razors are true to what is more or less an old-fashioned hobby.

I've got a couple of stainless razors and I personally use the carbon steel ones much, much more. They're definitely easier to hone, and when you shave with them, they're quite different, I find. There's more "feeling" and more "understanding" from a carbon steel blade, if that makes sense (people who've used both might understand). It's like getting a massage from either a trained professional or one of those Shiatsu chairs from big box stores. A carbon blade is a lot like a professional maseuse you can speak candidly to for specific requests, so he or she can zero in on sensitive areas with care. Stainless razors are those chairs. They're not nearly as modifiable, you see. They're just not the work horses carbon razors are. They're their own little entities.

Stainless doesn't give a damn about you. It's cold, it's hard. It's mainly preoccupied with looking pretty and keeping its "cut" figure as long as possible.

In my own experience DOVO stainless blades are pretty good they do take a bit longer on the hones to get shave ready but the edge seems to last a bit longer. But I have to say that I prefer the carbon blades better.Paul

I have mostly carbon razors but I have picked up a few high quality stainless blades and they are very good. As previously mentioned they may take a bit more honing. Some find them to be a harsh shave but I didn't find that to be the case with my particular skin/beard.

The Dovo Stainless blades are actually pretty good. The main difference in honing them for me is to use a few more polishing strokes than for the carbon blades and that usually works fine.

Have fun,

Lynn

+1'ing with Lynn the only difference I have found in the SS honing combination is they like the higher grit stones a little more....

I have heard that some stainless blades can be harsher to shave with, but some are very smooth (Friodurs, Hess). It may be true that stainless blades give less feedback, but it's hard for me to say since my only stainless is a 7/8 Friodur. I can say that she's an amazing shaver; sharp as could be and very smooth on my face.

I’m on a stainless steel kick right now. Friodurs are so fine, one Hess 42 on the way, another high end stainless blade that is giving me fits but I don’t want to hijack this thread. In general, it takes me quite a bit more time to get that edge happening, you might want to have some carbon steel success first so you don’t kick yourself as hard wonder why nothing is happening. When it does, the shave is sort of wicked and noisy in a neat sort of way. Very clean shave, and I feel like I just risked my neck a bit more than usual – I can really feel like a rouge.