DE vs. Straight observations
Preemptive disclaimer: I'm only recounting facts and not making any assertions regarding the sharpness debate or "can a straight really shave as close as a DE debate".;)
I have some DE stainless blades I bought at Walgreens within the last six months in case I ever felt the need to shave with an old Gillette DE razor my Dad used to use. I shave daily with a straight. I saw the little metal holding case of the DE blades in the medicine cabinet and thought I'd try an experiment this morning:
I shaved one side of my face with the DE and the other with a DD Dwarf that I had honed on my Shaptons from 2000 grit on up to 8000 grit (yes, as others have said, it's certainly possible to shave off an 8000 grit stone). Both razors gave an irritation free shave with no nicks or cuts. I decided as part of the experiment that I would do a single WTG pass with each razor because I wanted to monitor not only how each side of my face felt after the shave, but I also wanted to see if one side exhibited "shadow" sooner than the other. A WTG shave for me is BBS stroking my skin WTG and a light scratchy feeling that can't be seen when stroking my skin ATG.
Results: After 12 hours now, both sides show an identical amount of light stubble.
Conclusion: I don't have one. I just thought it'd be a fun non-scientific experiment, and it was. And....I can't share information about this short experiment with anyone other than you all since anyone else of course would consider me loony.:tu
Chris L