Thread: full hollow vs. medium hollow

I recently finished polishing, honing, and rescaling my dad's Wost & Son medium hollow ground barber point. It took a beautifully smooth edge. It appears perfect under the magnifier. More so than my DD Goldedge which has been my daily shaver. The Duk is a full hollow ground 6/8.

When I shave with the Wost & Son, I always seem to end up with 3 or 4 little micro nicks on my face for no apparent reason. I never bleed with the Duk unless I do something stupid. All I can figure is that the medium hollow grind is less forgiving of any bumps or irregularities that might be in my skin.

Comments?

The full hollow duck will have a bit of flex to the blade where the half hollow will have less if any. I don't know if that would make a difference. Assuming you are using the same grit progression and hones ? If I get one that is a bit harsh after the rocks I can smooth it out with chrom ox. I have also noticed that like the Feather DE blade a straight that might be harsh on the first shave will improve on the second and third go round.

Same stones, same progression. Like I said, it looks great under the glass and feels good as I shave but I keep getting those little bleeders for no apparent reason.

I haven't gotten around to trying chrome oxide on my razors yet but I may give it a try. I really like that razor and want to keep using it.

Its not the razors fault. Assuming its properly sharp and the edge is in good condition there must be something your doing that is causing you to nick yourself with this razor. Maybe you need to adjust your angle or maybe its a pressure thing.

I do not know the condition of your razors.

Once a full hollow has had a 1/8" of the blade removed via the honing process, it is more likely to feel and shave like a brand new half hollow razor.

The more an edge is worn down by honing, the more the flex is removed. Full hollows are more flexible than half hollows from the onset however.

A flexible new edged blade IMHO is less likely to cause nicks than a old heavily honed razor.

For the record, full wedges are more likely to cause nicks as well.

I feel the same, I have exactly 1 Wedge it is a Satinwedge DD I have shaved that razor 2 times and found that I did not like the results on my skin... My theory is that I don't know how to shave with a wedge, I must use more pressure, I don't think I am, but I must.....
Now I keep it as part of the DD collection, it looks very pretty in the cabinet ....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I feel the same, I have exactly 1 Wedge it is a Satinwedge DD I have shaved that razor 2 times and found that I did not like the results on my skin... My theory is that I don't know how to shave with a wedge, I must use more pressure, I don't think I am, but I must.....
Now I keep it as part of the DD collection, it looks very pretty in the cabinet ....

That's almost a crime!

May it be that the different razor-geometry makes you twist it ever so slightly in a different manner which then would cause a nick? You might not even notice you do it. Try making two videos of yourself shaving with the two different razors, and then analyze the particular part of the shave where you nick yourself with the half-hollow, seeing what you do differently.

If the blade is very worn it might be more of a quarter-hollow than a half as well, which would be even harder to shave with.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

That's almost a crime!

You are more than welcome to come up to the ranch and take that little filly out for a ride

Your Wost & Sons may actually be too sharp for your skin type. That's usually what can happen after a fresh honing. I had that happen to a couple of my razors--I hit them up on the white-pasted cavas strop for 50 laps or so, and next shave it was both sharp and smooooth!