Thread: Looking for a Heavier 5/8" blade

About the best example I can think of is the original TI Silverwing. They were supposed to be 6/8s razors but they had problems and made them as 5/8s however they are heavier than any 5/8s I've ever seen.

Do modern quarter hollows like the TI / LeGroot tend to get a thicker edge pretty quickly if they are honed too often or a little too heavy-handed ?

I wouldn't call the LeGrelot a modern razor, these blanks are decades old even if they're (re)finished in the last year or two. The only quarter hollow modern razors would be the hart steel and the various custom made.

I am not sure I understand your question though. Any geometry changes are a direct result of honing, so without quantifying what you mean by 'too often' or 'too heavy-handed', 'pretty quickly' is just as meaningless.

The edge thickness should be virtually the same, regardless of how much you hone a razor.

I guess by "modern" I really meant readily available for purchase, although I also assume the steel from the late 20th century is slightly better quality than the late 19th century steel (ie: less impurities & better consistancy across different areas of the blade, less change in hardness as the edge is ground down over many years, etc).

On quarter hollow razors, it appears from the wiki diagram that once the edge is sharpened back approximately 1.5-2mm's then it would be into the area of the blade that was still triangular, rather than the razor thin area that makes up the edge on full and half hollows (I think this area is called the "fin" ?). I could see this being important if I nicked the edge, or wanted it to last through many years of sharpenings.

I've circled some parts on the wiki diagram to show what I mean. It appears that the full and half hollow both have approximately the same length of "fin" (and useful life), but the quarter hollow has a very short fin. Is this really the case on actual razors, or just the way the diagram is drawn ?

Well, as you hone it the edge thins out. Not that it becomes more hollow, but rather than the quarter-hollow becomes more and more like a wedge. Still useful, just a heavier grind.

Ultimately, unless you put a BIG ding in the razor or are WAY over-honing it your lifetime will never last long enough-- even with the miracles of modern medical science-- to witness this transformation.

As far as I know the quarter hollow LeGrelots have become quite far from readily available. I am also not so certain about better technology translating into a better product. I have over 200 razors and I don't think a single one of them is current production, I have been able to compare the exact same models with about half a century difference in manufacturing and the differences were pretty clear.

You seem to correlate the thickness of the blade at the top of the bevel with how easy or difficult is to hone the razor.
I think you're on the wrong path here. There are far more important factors than that thickness, in how easy it is to hone a razor, but it is also the wrong question to be concerned with.
You would be either good at honing razors in which case that width wouldn't be of much concern, or you should stick to just keeping your razor remain sharp and in that case that width is also of no importance to you.