Thread: Canvas "heats" the edge: Fact or Fiction?

I just took a 5/8 Puma full hollow and gave it 50 round trips on an old Red Imp linen and then held it to my cheek. It wasn't hot or even slightly heated to a point where I was able to perceive a change.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I just took a 5/8 Puma full hollow and gave it 50 round trips on an old Red Imp linen and then held it to my cheek. It wasn't hot or even slightly heated to a point where I was able to perceive a change.

Ah, empirical data! Actually I think the only way the canvas heats the blade is by virtue of the increased length of time the razor is held in your warm hand.

Another thing I have been doing the past couple of weeks is holding the blade under hot tap water before I make my first pass and rinsing with hot as I go. My tap is not too hot to wash my face in so no metallurgical risk there.

I had read in the barber manual in the help files that it was advisable to do this. I can't say that I perceive a difference for sure. I think I do but it may be the good old placebo effect.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Another thing I have been doing the past couple of weeks is holding the blade under hot tap water before I make my first pass and rinsing with hot as I go. My tap is not too hot to wash my face in so no metallurgical risk there.

I had read in the barber manual in the help files that it was advisable to do this. I can't say that I perceive a difference for sure. I think I do but it may be the good old placebo effect.

Aha, but I think this falls under the category of looking far a shave that cuts whiskers like it is "a hot knife through butter"....

Now you see, that's why I love this place. Without reading this thread, I'd have blindly given in to the ancient wisdom about 'canvas heating the blade' just as I did the 'teeth or striations do the cutting' argument for a long time. The latter has been proven false, but the myth persists. After having read the posts here I am returned to my natural state, the sceptic.

Other than rubbing a honing compound such as wood ash into the linen to give it a purpose, I don't know what it does(so no vote), but I sometimes strop 12-20 times on linen before leather in my pre-shave stropping.

X

Originally Posted by xman

Other than rubbing a honing compound such as wood ash into the linen to give it a purpose, I don't know what it does(so no vote), but I sometimes strop 12-20 times before leather stropping in me pre-shave stropping.

X

Insofar as stropping on linen, this post right here and doing it made a believer out of me.

Thanks Jimmy, that post had somehow flown under my radar, and makes great sense. I do about 25 laps on the canvas usually, so I'll try to bump that up a bit and see if my edge longevity goes up.

Don't remember where I read it or the moral of the story but there is the tale of the feller than bought a new ax. In the super cold of the winter up there he chipped the edge so he returned it. They gave him a new ax and explained that it should be kept warm as this model has a very hard edge and can become brittle in the extreme cold. He brought that one back too and they traded him out a model that was tempered softer.
point is though in the old days the ole shave den might get pretty cold if geographically predisposed to harsh winters.

it's a stretch 'cause you need to strop anyway, but a frozen edge is more easily damaged.

Originally Posted by kevint

it's a stretch 'cause you need to strop anyway, but a frozen edge is more easily damaged.

Given the carbon (or stainless) steel we find in razor blades and a baseline at 70*F, at what temperature do you think the steel gets measurably more brittle? and at what temperature do you think it gets measurably softer?