Thread: Do thicker grinds require steeper angle?

I was wondering: do people find that a thicker grind razor require a steeper angle to achieve shaving closeness as a thinner grind razor?

I shaved with my full hollow Friodur, and my somewhat beefy hollow Renaissance at low angles, and they shaved my nice and close. However, when I went for the same angle on my 1/4 grind LeGrelot, it seemed to require a bit more touch-up work to get all the stubble erradicated.

I have a german 1/4 grind and a couple of wapis that are no more than 1/4 grinds. I find thay take a bit more honing than full hollows to get at all the stubble. However, when the edge is really sharp the 1/4's do provide a very comfortable and close shave with less effort.

So far the shave is easier with the 1/4 grind, but just doesn't seem to get as close without a bit more effort.

The edge seems to be as sharp as the thinner grind (I honed them both), as far as I can tell.

I was just wondering if anybody else found differences in blade angle as it relates to grind?

I have all kinds of grinds and use the same blade angle with all of them but to tell you the truth after awhile it becomes automatic as you shave to adjust the angle for the proper shave so I guess I would have to actually watch what I was doing to tell for sure but if I am adjusting the angle for different grinds it ain't by much. So I guess I can't really answer your question for sure but someone else will come along that probably is more aware of this than me.

Not really. A blade's bevel isn't going to look drastically different on a hollow-ground or on a wedge razor. And any difference that is there is going to be very subtle. I don't know about what other guys' razors look like, but the mirrored glint of the shaving edges on both my hollow ground and wedge razors is essentially the same and doesn't require much of an angle adjustment when shaving. If you look down the blade from the razor's toe, wedges, quarter and half hollows and full hollows look quite different nearer to the spine of the razor, but quite alike nearer to the edge. They have to, otherwise they probably wouldn't work too well.

But as Bigspendur says, as we shave we are constantly making adjustments depending on...well, lots of variables. I too would have to monitor myself to see what's going on there. I shaved earlier today, unfortunately, so it'll be a little while before I can have a look.

Not all razors have the same cutting bevel angle. They all vary around 15 degrees, but depending on spine thickness and blade width , there could be a a few degrees difference. In theory, the the desired shaving angle would differ too, but I doubt if one would notice that in his daily shaving practice.

Another variable is that just not all razors take the same edge with the same honing approach. My bet would be that your LeGrelot is slightly more polished. A condition that allows for a more comfortable shave, but at the same time might be more demanding to the exact shaving angle.
We all have noticed how an edge from a lower grit stone often performs the HHT better than the same edge after polishing on a higher grit stone. There has been much debate going on about this, but bottom line, it seems that the perfect shaving edge would be a comprmise between "toothiness" and smoothness.
I 'm afraid this may all sound a bit off topic, in relation to your problem, but it really isn't. That Legrelot might need a few laps less on your polishing stone, or a more aggressive pyramid that leaves at bit more lower-grit bite at the edge.

At another note: that razor being a bit demanding at the perfect cutting angle, might be a good challenge to fine-tune your technique and benefit from that later with all your razors.

Bart.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll pay closer attention myself and see what I can determine. This week is the Dovo Renaissance's turn again, so I'll see next week how the 1/4 grind goes.

Unless my Ebay W&B wedge shows up in the meantime!

I imagine there's an angular difference directly correlated to the bevel angle to a far greater degree than the grind of the razor itself. The correlation between the grind and the bevel angle would probably often be similar

This is all conjecture of course