Thread: really an 11/16ths

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Just so there is no confusion on this, there are razors out there measured to the 1/16 most of these that I have seen are marked as 9/16, 11/16, and 13/16...

Absolutely correct, and I wasn't questioning your responses at all.

As far as razors being sold with measurements to the nearest 1/16, I'm 99% certain that I actually saw at least one razor when ebay trolling the last few weeks that said 12/16 on the box, even though that could have been reduced to 6/8.

It's the same as labeling a 6/8 razor as 6/8 instead of 3/4. 3/4 would imply that they only measured to the nearest 1/4, which would be pointlessly sloppy.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Cat Man:
Like I have a tendency to always say about this hobby of ours, "Watch it when you make a definite statement as you might have to eat those words later"....

Thats some of the best advice I have seen in a while. And it holds true in life in General.

Originally Posted by loueedacat

I bought a number of razors over the last year, including razors listed as

1. 5/8 friodur
2. 6/8 Goldedge
3. 6/8 C-Mon HF
4. 5/8 Puma 81
5. 5/8 Wusthof Trident Standard

Anyway, I lately measured them, and they are all 11/16.

And then I checked my 6/8 LeGrelot and it's really 7/8. And I haven't even measured the rest of them yet. Very funny.

I couldn't figure out lately whether I liked 5/8s more or 6/8s and now I know why - they were all the same! Anyone else noticed that even official measurements aren't so accurate. I mean how hard is it to just plop he thing on a ruler?

That's because they are not official measurements. Remember Germany is a metric country. All the blades are metric size blades. Different people adjudicate these into our more common English size system differently. I have recently started using x/16 sizes to be more accurate as I always classify them in the next x/8 size smaller - i.e.: a 21mm blade is approximately half way between a 6/8 and a 7/8. I used to call them 6/8 so people wouldn't bitch at me for steeling an eighth. Right now I am more likely to call it a 13/16 blade to make people happy, but the fact remains it is still a 21mm size blade.

John

Originally Posted by jnich67

I think some people measure from the top of the spine and some may measure from the start of the grind. Either way, I tend to agree a real 5/8 is pretty small. I think many are really 11/16. At the end of the day, as long as they shave well!

Jordan

The blade size is ALWAYS measured from the high point on the back of the spine to the cutting edge. Everyone is confused because the only razors made today are metric.

John

Originally Posted by mparker762

Those are metric 5/8ths, which are of course a bit larger than english 5/8ths...

A blade the Germans sell as a 5/8 should be a 16mm blade. Sometimes it is actually an 18mm blade.

John

Originally Posted by VeeDubb65

I think what you need to remember, is that we have degrees of precision here. ("significant figures" was the term we used in all of my physics/chem classes back in college)

We tend to think of 5/8 and 10/16 and 1710/2736 as all being the same measurement, but they're not. Even if the fractions reduce the same, using a larger denominator establishes a greater degree of precision in the measurement.

If something is sold as 5/8, that means that it is 5/8 when measured to the nearest 1/8. 1/8 is all the more precise the measurements are to begin with. If they were measuring to the nearest 1/16, then they would have been labeled that way.

Of course, glen's explanation is also dead-on, so that complicates matters even more. If you stick to measuring to the nearest 1/8, and a razor is just the tiniest bit closer to 6/8 than 5/8, the first time you hone it, it will drop down to just the tiniest bit closer to 5/8, so you could turn a 6/8 razor into a 5/8 razor by taking off 1/64. (in theory)

Think Europe - think METRIC!

John

Originally Posted by John Crowley

Think Europe - think METRIC!

John

Hey, don't get e wrong. I'm all for metric. Our 'standard' mathematics, and our currency, and many other things besides are in base 10. Following a system where all of the various measurements are factors of 10 of eachother makes infinitely more sense.

But, it's hard to get people to change.

I remember when I was in elementary school and learning about weights and measures. We spent almost 1/3 of the year working in metric, because our teacher believed that within 5-10 years, all of the US would be using the metric system, just like most of the rest of the world already was.

As a result, I frequently go back and forth, and use what ever form of measurement seems to be the most useful for the situation.

Of course, now I'm 28, and most people I know couldn't even give you a rough approximation of how long a kilometer is, or how heavy a gram is.

Of course, most people in this country couldn't actually tell you how many feet are in a mile either...

So just to clarify John all those Sheffield blades and Amercican blades are all marked wrong?????

Originally Posted by gssixgun

So just to clarify John all those Sheffield blades and Amercican blades are all marked wrong?????

Why are you being so obstinate? Or is it possibly a lack of gray matter? Or are you just trying to start an argument? I am pretty sure most other people knew what I was saying!

Just to clarify gssixgun they call it the English system of weights and measurements for a reason - you know, because it is English. We were a crown colony of - you know - England. Hence we adopted the English system of weights and measures. Last I heard neither Germany nor France had yet become a crown colony and use the metric system.


John

I don't think anyone is being obstinate or trying to pick a fight. I think the point was that American razor companies don't and didnt' use the metric system, so the inaccuracies can't just be a matter of mistranslating the metric.

My original point didn't just deal with manufacturing designations but also ebay seller designations (because I have German made razors that were pitched, I'm sure sincerely, as 6/8s in some cases and 5/8s in other cases, and all when I measured them were 11/16ths). So I think that's just people being lazy and pretty funny to me because I really thought the "6/8s" ones were bigger because once I was told they were 6/8s, well, I believed them and it imprinted in my mind and influenced my perception of them. I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't decide if I like them better than my "5/8s" which is why I thought this was so funny.