5/8 hop skip jump bleed. 6/8 bbs

[dmnc]

Bout fifty shaves in I think. Shaving almost exclusively with two razors. A 5/8 Kropp full hollow and a 6/8 wostenholm full hollow. Kropp been causing me bother so have spent even more time on hones, according to all tests: arm hair. 60× loupe. Treetopping etc kropp is sharper and smoother yet seems to want to stop whenever it meets a hair on atg pass. Then title says it all. Wostenholm just seems to slide on through and give lovely shaves. have also used other 6/8 razors with same ease as wostenholm. do others find the same difference between these sizes?
P.s. am going to sharpen up another 5/8 soon to see whether is just this razor.

[thebigspendur]

This is one case where size doesn't matter.

It just needs more honing or maybe because of the size you are wielding it differently?

[Anthonyb]

I too am about 50 shaves in and have several razors of different sizes. I always feel like I get better shaves with 6/8 razors or the 7/8 I recently purchased. What thebigspendur said is probably the difference. At this point in the game I feel as though I'm doing ok with the learning process so for right now I just keep on shaving and learning better ways to get better results.

Going to try a 5/8ths tomorrow and see how it goes. Good Luck with your new hobby!

[prodigy]

Seeing as to how you are only 50 shaves in there are a few questions I have. Do you have a razor that was professionally sharpened by a reputable vendor? If not, send it out to have one to compare to. I started out shaving and honing at the same time, and until I tried a true shave ready edge from a reputable vendor, it was apparent my edges were sub par. I personally don't use any 5/8 razors. I like the heft of larger razors. Personally when I was at 50 shaves there were too many variables that were not tweaked properly to be able to put the blame on a razor. Lather, razor angle, razor pressure, soap/cream used all play a big role in the outcome of a shave. What hones do you have? Some razors will shave awesome on a hone, and a different razor on the same hone can be harsh. Lots of factors at play,

[dmnc]

Am also improving lather etc but even including this the biggest difference is still just the two razors. With the wostenholm my shaves are consistently really really nice.

[yohannrjm]

It seems like the Wosty has an edge that works for you, but the Kropp doesn't. That's most likely because the Kropp wasn't honed as well, or was damaged by a user. It's unlikely to be the size of the blades that's the issue, though size could certainly have led to stropping problems that may have damaged the edge.

[dmnc]

Tomorrow will hone a bengall 5/8 that looks to be in sweet condition and see if that is any better. Face is taking a while to heal. Cheers for input guys.

[yohannrjm]

Wow! If your face needs time to heal, the edge must really be off. Maybe your Kropp suffers from 'toxic edge syndrome'. Sometimes the metal gets damaged chemically over time and cannot be honed to a shave-worthy edge.

I'll be curious to see how your experiment with the Bengall goes. I've had a few Bengalls, and they've been fine shavers. In fact, one of my favourite razors is a 7/8"+ Bengall.

Good luck!

[Euclid440]

Try lighting up on your stropping and doing more laps. It is very easy on a full hollow to use too much pressure and either chip the edge or cause the edge to lift off the strop, by flexing the blade.

Do at least 100 lite pressure laps.

Stropping is the most common cause of poor edges.

Look straight down on the bevel, looking for shiny spots (micro-chips), they will cause an uncomfortable shave.

[dmnc]

In the end did a henckels instead. Saving bengall for when more experienced. Got a lovely shave, only spots of blood were scabs from previous kropp shave. Cant figure out what it is. Kropp passed looking from all angles under magnification. Henckels didn't even shave arm hair properly. But lpoked good under magnification. Also didn't finish to as fine stones as wostenholm and kropp. Going to leave kropp on the side until I have some more experience. Cheers for chiming in gentlemen. Dmnc