Thread: Razor size. Is this 6/8"?

That's what I thought too, until I saw this lineup when I was trying to explain razors to my wife:

http://www.geocities.com/mparker762/...comparison.jpg

From left to right, arranged by increasing edge to spine size:

??? Friodur
5/8 Puma (NOS, Honed once, size ID'd by the sticker on the case)
5/8 Heljestrand (model #31)
6/8 Wacker (size from Crowley)
6/8 Friodur (current production)
??? Heljestrand (model #32)
7/8 Friodur (size from Crowley)

Looking at this photo, what size are the Friodur and the Heljestrand?

Measuring with a micrometer, the Friodur is barely a 5/8, and the Heljestrand is barely a 7/8. Except that I've owned 5/8 Friodurs before and they measured out at closer to 6/8. And the Heljestrand (a) looks and (b) shaves like a 6/8, and (c) is the next model number up from the identical style 5/8 Heljestrand and it's really unlikely that the manufacturer decided to skip a size going from #31 to #32. The small Friodur, OTOH, looks and shaves like a 4/8, *not* a 5/8.

Looking at the photo, it looks like the small Heljestrand is actually smaller than the Puma next to it, this is an optical illusion because the Heljestrand's spine is taller, but the size of the ground portion is the same. Same for the larger Heljestrand, it looks smaller than the 6/8 Friodur and Wacker next to it, but is actually larger because of the taller spine.

edit: Compare this with the photo lynn posted: Regardless of what the ruler in the first post seems to show, the first razor in Lynne's photo (which is apparently the same razor?) is *not* a 6/8, no way, no how, not compared to that 6/8 sitting next to it. I've long been suspicious of this x/16th measurements on new razors, on vintage well-used razors sure, but not on *new* razors. I think this is an artifact of the difference between the way we've been measuring razors vs the way manufacturers measure them.