lol.. that thing is such a BEAST!
Size does not matter.... 12/8 from bill ellis it was a pain to strop not well balanced. i generally use 6/8 and 7/8 razors. i have an 8/8 williams that weighs in at 117.5grams a thing of raw beauty and shaves like a dream.
A while ago I bought, just for curiosity's sake, a new damascus razor. It was not very expensive, and therefore not very good. (Generalization! Usually Damascus is costly...) And when the thing arrived, its was HUGE!. It is certainly over 8/8 (i just measured: ~11/8) and its a good 11 inches long when open. HUGE. And unwieldily too, as one would expect. It looks nice with the pattern and all, but it makes me laugh when I see it next to my other straights. For my daily razor, I have a big old smiling chopper; an 8/8 wedge from sheffield, and it is made to look a dwarf next to this thing. I might actually snap a picture to give you guys an idea. You will laugh...
Mine is actually a very good shaver. Holds a great edge and is very well balanced. Only hard part is stropping.
Here's my 9/8's Kama. It comes into rotation around every 18 months and shaves like a dream.
This Herder is my largest at 9/8. I also have a W@B 8/8 barber's use and a Henckels 8/8 in my rotation. I dig the big ones! They are still a bit intimidating as they come up in rotation! :dropjaw:
I find them easy to use if I let gravity do most of the work!
I have one of those razors with GB and an Anchor. I believe mine is about 10/8 at the widest, and probably 8/8 at the heel. Honestly, it's not too much different than any other razor while shaving. And yes, I can shave under my nose with it without any problem.
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