Performance and preference

[Bagpipe'n Bob]

I've been fairly silent about this topic but with a mere 3 years of SR shaving experience I am finally compelled to broach a topic regarding grinds. Different grinds seem to accommodate different beards. I say "seem" because with my beard, fairly light, I have found that the full hollow offers me the closest shave, and allows me to go for a couple of days between shaves, etc.. However, I have a 7/8ths Wade and Butcher 1/4 hollow that delivers an excellent shave for me whereas other quarter grinds and wedges just don't shave me close at all. I'm broaching this topic because I want to know, based on the veteran shavers experience here, does anyone find that identical grinds produced by different manufacturers perform very differently. To some extent they must, based on my limited experience, but do you think that that is due to different compositions of the steels being used, annealing processes, etc.. (Let me say, that to date, the most incredible performance I've been able to derive from a full hollow blade is with my Fritz Bracht Dovo. I've heard other members talk about the Bracht and didn't believe it till I used one. I can't imagine any razor producing a better shave. I wonder what they did differently to produce such a precision shaving instrument.)

[JimmyHAD]

I think any quality blade, assuming proper alloy, heat treating and tempering, is capable of giving a superlative shave if honed and stropped well enough. Some may feel better than others to one individual or another based on their skin and whiskers though. Some may like a full hollow and others a stiffer grind, Sheffield, Solingens, USA , Japanese ... all have their following. Just IMO.

[mparker762]

Assuming the blade is sharp I've never really found any performance differences between grinds. Nonetheless, I prefer full hollows because of lighter weight and because in vintage razors the full hollows (being generally of more recent manufacture) tend to have better steel and consequently take a better edge.

[BeBerlin]

Same here. I like my full hollows big, and my wedges 5/8.