Thread: My new 4/8: Is it just me?

yep, like they said if you are ok with a 5/8s a 4/8s should not make a difference. Look at the razor readiness state as the culprit.

So I got to the bottom of this. I brought the razor to the latest Chicago meet up. Utopian helped me see what was going on: From heel all the way to toe, the bevel wasn't reaching the edge. Definitely not a blade that should have shipped. Utopian honed it up in about 15 minutes.

Since I now had a shave-ready razor in hand, I used the non-destructive tests I know and took notes, so that I would have that "benchmark" later: arm hair of different color and coarseness; looked at under strong light; looked at under 60x scope.

Shaved with it today with my usual 2+ pass shave (the chin gets a 3rd pass). The 4/8 definitely struggles a bit with my coarsest hair (the chin) compared with a 5/8, but it all came off by the 3rd pass without irritation. The greater "mobility" of the narrower blade is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the narrow blade offers approaches to the upper lip and even the chin not available with the 5/8+. On the other hand, just as it's a bit harder to keep it flat when stropping, it's a bit harder to maintain the shaving angle. I'm sure that practice will take care of that though, since this was my first time with the 4/8.

Thanks to Utopian and to those who chimed in on this thread.