Is it the Stainless Steel, the Sharpness or Me?

I've been shaving with a straight 6 times a week for over 2 years. I have an established routine with the primary variable in the day to day shave being the razor. I've noticed that I've tended to shy away from my several stainless blades because they are harsh and leave me with that raw burned feeling. BBS for certain, but also irritated.

Today, I was using a stainless Wacker and had to quit. I picked up a Robert Williams and it felt like I was shaving with butter it was so gentle in comparison.

Of course it can be the sharpness of this blade and the few other stainless ones I have. What makes me think not is that I keep all of my blades on the sharp side of shave ready and they all seem to pass the same subjective tests (fingernail, thumb pad, hair pop) and they all get more or less the same stropping.

Am I alone with my stainless problem? Do I finish honing these differently to achieve greater "smoothness?" Anyone else relate to this? I need to figure this out before I develope a phobia and have to sell thise beautiful razors. Hands down! They're not for sale...yet.

What is your honing routine of choice????

I dont think it'll be the fact that the razors are stainless. I've used stainless razors in the past and they feel exactly the same as carbon blades to me.

I've known at least one guy whose skin didn't get along with stainless. He was an expert with the hones and shaving with straights. He sold a custom stainless by Joe Chandler to me because he couldn't shave with it without experiencing irritation. He had that problem with stainless in general. I shaved with that razor and it felt smooth as silk to me. So that is one example that corresponds with your experience. I've got a handful of stainless razors and have no problems with irritation when I shave with them. Might be your particular skin.

I have the same problem. I have a stainless Friodur that I have finally gave up on & put away. I can hone any carbon to keen edge & get BBS shaves but not the stainless.

My honing routine, for blades that are already bevel-set, is to spend some time on a coticul beginning with a modest amount of slurry and diluting to just water, followed by 30 or more passes on a very slow Japanes natural (Asagi). Can't recall what I last did to the Wacker that was biting me this morning....it may be that I did the above or maybe I last took it over a barbers hone and followed by 6 or so strokes on a diamond sprayed felt strop (guessing this may be a culprit). A lot of "maybes" here.

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Originally Posted by jleeg

My honing routine, for blades that are already bevel-set, is to spend some time on a coticul beginning with a modest amount of slurry and diluting to just water, followed by 30 or more passes on a very slow Japanes natural (Asagi). Can't recall what I last did to the Wacker that was biting me this morning....it may be that I did the above or maybe I last took it over a barbers hone and followed by 6 or so strokes on a diamond sprayed felt strop (guessing this may be a culprit). A lot of "maybes" here.

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Send me one of your stainless razors to hone on me of course and let's see if it makes a difference. I won't tell you what I did to hone it until after you shave test it. It may end up the same, but you never know.

Lynn

I'll take you up on that Lynn. I'll get a good feel for it now so I can make the comparison. May take a few days. As the Susquehanna River spills its banks I've got to keep an eye on things. I should have about 3 feet flow under the house. The house was bult up for this purpose...but as this is my first flood, I'm a bit nervous.

Note the hammock!!

Now thats an offer you cant refuse..! :)

I got a Boker Edelweisse from Lynn and in the end I lent it to CERN so they could split atoms with it. :D

The issue some folks have with stainless for it being stainless really makes no sense. The only possible explanation would be a nickel allergy affecting the skin and the razor simply isn't in contact with the skin long enough to cause that. If the razor is truly shave ready and someone swears they can't get a good shave from any stainless razor I wonder if they haven't made up their minds about this and it's more a psychological thing. I guess the proof would be shave them with a few razors and switch off and see if they can tell the difference without them knowing which razor is which. That would be an interesting experiment.

That's a nice offer from Lynn. :idea: You could send it off to me too, of course, but that would solve nothing edgewise; however, then at least you would have options for comparison from both ends of the honing spectrum. :y

:beer2:

Thanks all.
I am ready to accept that my experience is serendipity. It may be that I've not done the job sharpening them as I thought. I only use 3 stainless in my rotation and becasue my stainless blades are biting I've developed this pre-conceived notion....a sort of classical conditioning ala Pavlov. Just wondered if anyone had a similar experience.

It's not a stainless thing, but when offered food I have been known to drool.

:beer2:

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Originally Posted by jleeg

Thanks all.
I am ready to accept that my experience is serendipity. It may be that I've not done the job sharpening them as I thought. I only use 3 stainless in my rotation and becasue my stainless blades are biting I've developed this pre-conceived notion....a sort of classical conditioning ala Pavlov. Just wondered if anyone had a similar experience.

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They are typically harder, right? Maybe more time on the finishing end? I know a guy.. a mentor.. he doesn't like shaving with 'em either.

Typically high carbon steel can be hardened to a higher degree than stainless of any type. It is also less ductile. This makes for a finer edge off the hone all things being equal. SS will typically roll over or bend on the microscopic level because of the chrome/nickel that makes it "stainless", whereas high carbon steel will break off that microscopic wire edge and sharpen up better. Think of an infinitely thin edge that is of relatively brittle HC steel. Bend it back and forth (hone it). It breaks off on the microscopic level whereas the SS being more ductile (able to bend without breaking) would just get pushed back and forth.

High carbon tattoo needles, if they are correctly tempered, will break if you bend them to a 90 degree angle. Stainless needles will bend but not break no matter the degree. I know that some stainless steels are used where abrasion resistance is desired. When I was an ironworker in my younger days it was used in industrial applications because of that characteristic. I imagine that the abrasion resistance is one of the reasons it sometimes takes more honing to get the edge where it is shave ready. OTOH, once there stainless is fine for shaving IME.

I have one stainless and I hardly ever use it. But that's not to say that I don't like the results. I do feel a difference during and after a shave SS vs HCS. The Carbon blades seem to go over the face softer. Where as, I feel my Stainless can give me an even closer shave than HCS, with ease. I have to work a little more for BBS with HCS. But the SS feels harsher during and after a shave.
Altogether the differences are so slight, It's not something that sells me on a razor. I like both.

Off subject.......I work at a Hydro electric plant below you and they are calling for 400K + C.F.S flow, hope you don't have to much trouble with flooding. I know it's keeping us busy here.

it'll be cool to find out the rest of the story when the razor's back.

and also that your house didn't become a boat :) good luck with the flood.

A few weeks ago, when I started researching shaving with a straight, I read something interesting about carbon steel and stainless steel razors. Carbon steel blades are easier to hone up but the stainless steel ones when hone stay sharper longer. Most of the stainless cutlery use a process known as Ice Tempering, where they immerse the SS into liquid nitrogen. Changes the composition into marsenite. With carbon blades it's kind of the opposite. They are heat treated and then heat tempered. The right temper to hold without becoming too brittle or chippy. Stainless cannot be heat treated. But if they are Nitrogen treated, they become very tough, and you may very well have not gone far enough in the honing to get to the same place as the carbon steel blades. Lynn will get it sharp for you, no doubt. With 30,000 some honed razors under his belt (he must have large pants..LOL) it's a sure bet he knows that stainless will need that extra touch. SS should shave exactly like any other blade when it's the same sharpness. One thing about it in what I had read. Once sharp, it stays that way for quite a while. I have noticed on better Stainless Steel knives I have sharpened, the Henckels, Tridents, etc that they are a tough critter to get an edge, and that's because of the special "Ice Hardening" they go through.