Reflections on the 5/8" Blade

Ladies and gentlemen:

Lately I find renewed fondness for the 5/8" blade.

My initial razors were 5/8" and then I explored the 6/8" blades and liked them. The 7/8" came next, a beautiful Wacker with dreadnought point, but I soon gave it up, because the razor overwhelmed my small hands.

I have one razor that is a 6/8"-7/8", the Thiers-Issard "Dos Festonne" with white bone scales, but even that suddenly seems a touch uncomfortable in my hands.

Not that I plan to give up my 6/8" razors, no, of course not, but for now the 5/8" razors seem to dominate my standard rotation. No change in my fondness for the double edge, which I keep in regular rotation along with the straights, or when in a rush.

My brush preference, though, seems to be consistent. Although I have several silver tips, the coarser badger brushes still remain favorites. Boar brushes, I admit, have always been the outsiders for my taste, and still remain so. I'm just not fond of the boar brush. A good synthetic, I admit, I like just as much as the, say "pure" or "best" badger.

I can only attribute this new feeling toward the 5/8" blade, therefore, to another stage in my continuous adventure with straight razor shaving. Other stages are bound to follow and I will accept them as part of the wet shaving with the straight razor ritual.

Have you had similar experiences of these period preferences? I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thanks much.

Regards,

Obie

I agree, but I think I my case it is the size of the tang that makes the razor comfortable...
I actually target the 11/16 blade, but it has the same size tang as a 5/8, I love the way that tang allows for maneuvering the razor around the face and how easy it is to flip on the strop and the hone...

The 6/8 through 8/8 look mean, and have substantial feel, but my favorites are still the 5/8-11/16 size...

Thank the Razor gods we have so many choices :)

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Originally Posted by Obie

Ladies and gentlemen:

Lately I find renewed fondness for the 5/8" blade.

My initial razors were 5/8" and then I explored the 6/8" blades and liked them. The 7/8" came next, a beautiful Wacker with dreadnought point, but I soon gave it up, because the razor overwhelmed my small hands.

I have one razor that is a 6/8"-7/8", the Thiers-Issard "Dos Festonne" with white bone scales, but even that suddenly seems a touch uncomfortable in my hands.

Not that I plan to give up my 6/8" razors, no, of course not, but for now the 5/8" razors seem to dominate my standard rotation. No change in my fondness for the double edge, which I keep in regular rotation along with the straights, or when in a rush.

My brush preference, though, seems to be consistent. Although I have several silver tips, the coarser badger brushes still remain favorites. Boar brushes, I admit, have always been the outsiders for my taste, and still remain so. I'm just not fond of the boar brush. A good synthetic, I admit, I like just as much as the, say "pure" or "best" badger.

I can only attribute this new feeling toward the 5/8" blade, therefore, to another stage in my continuous adventure with straight razor shaving. Other stages are bound to follow and I will accept them as part of the wet shaving with the straight razor ritual.

Have you had similar experiences of these period preferences? I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thanks much.

Regards,

Obie

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mmmm....this is quite serious....you better send off your 6/8 to a newb like myself that only has 4/8's and large hands.....just to be safe of course.

I just finished honing a razor for a student--it was an Eyre FULL WEDGE and it was at least 6/8 if not 7/8. The thing was massive.

Got me thinking...I don't have a full-wedge razor…maybe I'll hunt one for my little tribe of razors…

I agree with Obie and Glen. It is hard to get dogmatic about things like size and grind when we have so many fun choices. My two favorite shaves in the last week have come from a 5/8 Clauss full hollow and a 7/8 W&B wedge. The only thing they have in common is that they both provide a clean, close, comfortable shave. Variety is indeed the spice of life. Having said that I do seem to find myself gravitating more and more to my 6/8 razors. For my hands and my face and my skill set those seem to give me good consistent results.

That keep us realigning the rotations. At almost 15 wks, I've been all over the map. for about a month, I couldn't stand to shave w/ a 5/8 full hollow. Now it's fine. I'm still drinking deeply the heavy grinds and the larger blades. Yet the favorite listing goes strangely: 6/8-1/4 hol. > Almost straight wedge > 6/8 full hol (like I couldn't stand previously - but hey, it's a Genco) > 15/16 full hollow.

Having larger hands, I like the larger shank, jimps all over. My only complaint about the Genco is a small smooth shank, and its very light - yet my 3rd fav.

The 6gunner is so right - thank God for all the variety - our tastes are so fickle.

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Originally Posted by LawsonStone

I just finished honing a razor for a student--it was an Eyre FULL WEDGE and it was at least 6/8 if not 7/8. The thing was massive.

Got me thinking...I don't have a full-wedge razor…maybe I'll hunt one for my little tribe of razors…

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I see RAD is starting to creep in,thats what happens.Hummm i wonder what a wedge shaves like,i better get one. What does a 1/4 hollow shave like?I dont have any Framebacks,and how do those shave?And Faux Framebacks?And a Jacques Lecoultre Frameback with a removable blade? How do i know this?? I have RAD too, Enjoy!!!

Well Obie, in your honor, starting Monday (I'm out of town over the weekend) I will shave every day with a 5/8 razor. Anybody who enjoys something that much deserves someone else saying, "Yeah, me too!" I think each day I'll reply to this thread with a description of the 5/8 razor and how the shave went, and why 5/8's are so great.

Isn't this just the most fun you can have with your pajamas on?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Obie

Ladies and gentlemen:

Lately I find renewed fondness for the 5/8" blade.

My initial razors were 5/8" and then I explored the 6/8" blades and liked them. The 7/8" came next, a beautiful Wacker with dreadnought point, but I soon gave it up, because the razor overwhelmed my small hands.

I have one razor that is a 6/8"-7/8", the Thiers-Issard "Dos Festonne" with white bone scales, but even that suddenly seems a touch uncomfortable in my hands.

Not that I plan to give up my 6/8" razors, no, of course not, but for now the 5/8" razors seem to dominate my standard rotation. No change in my fondness for the double edge, which I keep in regular rotation along with the straights, or when in a rush.

My brush preference, though, seems to be consistent. Although I have several silver tips, the coarser badger brushes still remain favorites. Boar brushes, I admit, have always been the outsiders for my taste, and still remain so. I'm just not fond of the boar brush. A good synthetic, I admit, I like just as much as the, say "pure" or "best" badger.

I can only attribute this new feeling toward the 5/8" blade, therefore, to another stage in my continuous adventure with straight razor shaving. Other stages are bound to follow and I will accept them as part of the wet shaving with the straight razor ritual.

Have you had similar experiences of these period preferences? I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thanks much.

Regards,

Obie

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What's great is that you can be dogmatic about 5/8s this week, but next week suddenly become adamant about 4/8s or 7/8s and then the next week suddenly the only razors that exist and are worth shaving with are wedges...

...no foul, no penalty, just fun...and smooth faces!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lazarus

I agree with Obie and Glen. It is hard to get dogmatic about things like size and grind when we have so many fun choices. My two favorite shaves in the last week have come from a 5/8 Clauss full hollow and a 7/8 W&B wedge. The only thing they have in common is that they both provide a clean, close, comfortable shave. Variety is indeed the spice of life. Having said that I do seem to find myself gravitating more and more to my 6/8 razors. For my hands and my face and my skill set those seem to give me good consistent results.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lazarus

Variety is indeed the spice of life.

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I was thinking about that very thing as I have been reading the thread.

I find myself "rediscovering" razors and their point styles, widths and grinds. It is like having dinner with an old friend I haven't seen in a while.

But I do the same thing with strops, brushes, creams and soaps.

Is it possible that straight razor shavers have an "I get bored easily" mindset? Might explain some of the aquisition disorders around here:)

Great post Obie - stimulates the mind!

I have fairly big hands so I tend to prefer the bigger blades (6/8"+) but I do have a couple of 5/8"'s and even a few 4/8"'s which I love as well.

I do like the variety thats out there and when I've been using my larger blades for a while its always a nice change to shift to a 4/8, and vice versa!

I only have the one brush though, so I use that all the time. Brushes are about the only thing I didnt get an AD for! :D

Remember the 5/8s was the most popular blade historically speaking and was always the barber's choice. The 6/8s was the runnerup. I've always liked 5/8s but to tell you the truth I prefer the 6/8s overall. Though I have several 7/8s and 1 8/8s they can be a pain to use. I find the scales get in the way and I'm always hitting my ears and nose with them and have to keep readjusting them

Hi,

Like quite a number of people, I started out with a 5/8 to learn the ropes.

I then used 6/8s, which I really liked, followed by 7/8s & 8/8s.
I felt that the 7/8s & 8/8s were too large for daily use for me, so I settled into using 6/8s as my favourite blade width.

I then found a mint 4/8 Puma and a 9/16 Grah & Plumacher and shaved with those for a couple of weeks.

What a revelation ! I really enjoyed shaving with those smaller razors :)

As Stubear has said, using a variety of blade sizes and grinds in the rotation really adds some further interest and enjoyment to the shaves !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

While I have come to prefer large full hollows, I do enjoy the maneuverability of smaller razors. Of those, I have a fondness for 5/8-11/16 wedges like the Red Imp 132.