Thread: The Grand Experiment

I think that when either one or both reach a point where the shave just starts to get uncomfortable which is when I would normally hone anyway thats the point to stop. If SRP 38 gives up the ghost first and I think it will it won't really prove anything because even though its a 6/8 TI like the SRPs the blade is a tad heavier and that could make the difference in increased shaveability over the lighter SRP. Actually I used SRP 38 this morning and it was pretty rough. I would estimate by this weekend it won't be useable. We'll see.

I think next comes phase 2 where the third TI will get just 30 before strokes (since it appears to be the winner here) and SRP 38 will get 60 before and SRP 39 will get 30 before and 30 after. Of course it could be argued that we have already proved that more honing is better so the third razor isn't necessary but I think the experiment needs to be duplicated as in phase 1 to keep it honest what do you guys think?

At any rate there will be a break before phase 2 starts as I sent SRP 39 out on loan to X Man so until I get it back probably in February with the crumy mail service up North we'll have some time to hash this out and decide just how I want to do it.

When you reach a resolution, you really need to reverse the treatment of the TI and 38 and see if you get a different result. 39 is tested easily by jus doing it with 60 or 30/30 and see if it holds up.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I think next comes phase 2 where the third TI will get just 30 before strokes (since it appears to be the winner here) and SRP 38 will get 60 before and SRP 39 will get 30 before and 30 after.

That sounds like a good counter experiment, but I support swapping the 38 & 39 is most important. Do what you will with the third. Currently we could make some assumptions (and oh we will)

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I sent SRP 39 out on loan to X Man so until I get it back probably in February with the crumy mail service up North we'll have some time to hash this out and decide just how I want to do it.

Thanks, I'm really looking forward to it, and you're right about the holiday mailing season. I don't know if you know about winter shipping here. I mean it is Canada you know, very cold, very snowy, ice can kill, right? It could be months before you get it back for that reason alone and considering the overall inconsistencies with Canada Post, it could be June before you get it back. . . or July maybe. Nothing I can do about it either, "That's Canada Post for you" as we say.

thebigspendur, cheers to you for doing this kind of research work for all of us! To be honest, I lost count of this thread at page 2 or 3, it becamed too complicated for me to follow it at a quickie stop to the PC, with all that 38 and 39 and third razors names I kept forgeting which one got what tratment... Since you have reached the end of usable cycle on all of the razors (need for honning), can you please give us a summary of the things learned, or the Bottomline. What metod of stroping will give you the longest holding and sharpest edge? Thanx for all the effort,

cheers,
Nenad

p.s. I might do this experiment myself in the near future, since I now have 2 new DOVO's 6/8 specials...

Originally Posted by superfly

I might do this experiment myself in the near future, since I now have 2 new DOVO's 6/8 specials...

Yes, do! We might surmise that TI's respond differently than DOVO's. The steel might be a factor in whether stropping should be done after. I think that the German or regular (unleaded) steel would be more responsive to the strop and I've been wondering if they would benefit more from stropping after.

X

For this weekends update I'll gather my thoughts and post a summary. Based on my shave with SRP 38 this morning I think she's headed for the final roundup. Ouch, my face still smarts from this mornings shave!

Well its come to an end.

For those of you who haven't followed this thing let me recap.

About two months or so ago I decided to do this stropping experiment the point being to see if more stropping is better than less stropping and if stropping before and after shaving is superior to stropping just before.

I used three razors all TI 6/8s. Two were SRPs #38 and #39 and the third was a Wolf and Sheep brand. I originally thought the third TI had a heavier blade than the two SRPs and it does but not in thickness but is about a quarter of an inch longer.

SRP 38 was stropped 30x before shaving and 30x after shaving. SRP 39 was stropped 30x before shaving only and the third TI was stropped 60x before shaving only. All razors were stropped 6x on linen before shaving only and initally were stropped on a DD Horsehide Strop but later switched to Tony's number one strop. The razors were alternated every day and I did shave every day.

After a month SRP 39 though still giving a great shave just became too uncomfortable to continue to use and after another month SRP 38 became too uncomfortable to shave with. I don't want to say the third TI won because it wasn't shaving all that comfortable either. In fact last week I shaved with my TI damascus and it was only when I used it I realized the two TIs had really been deteriorating at a very similar rate. Only this past week the SRP took a more sudden downturn so yea TI #3 won but not by any real big degree.

So what is the real outcome here. Well lets hear the opinions. For me I think its clear that more stropping is better than less but we still don't know at what point more doesn't matter any more. Might 90 be better than 60? I'll let someone else try that one. As far as does stropping before and after beat only before thats not probative. There is a dissimilarity between the SRP and the Wolf and Sheep in the razor length and that could have been responsible for the diference. Its also possible the Wolf and Sheep is just a better razor also. In the coming months I will start phase 2 where I take the same three razors and reverse the stropping. That should prove whats actually going on here.

I have read of people using the same razor for months at a time without honing and I really can't see it here. Those shaves really started becoming uncomfortable. I figure the first SRP had about 12 shaves and the other two about 30 each. I would have guessed the first should have lasted longer than that. Then again if I continued to withstand the discomfort and used them until they just got dull and didn't shave anymore they might have gone alot longer.

So at this point I've increased my stropping to 60x before shaving with all my razors.

Stay tuned for phase 2 as the story continues.

On stropping before and after or just before, it's too close to be anything but a draw. From your description you seem to be within the margin of error.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

On stropping before and after or just before, it's too close to be anything but a draw. From your description you seem to be within the margin of error.

That would be my take as well. I am looking forward to your re-randomization and replication of the experiment. In the meanwhile, I too have moved to increase my pre-shave stropping.
Thanks,
Ed

I really appreciate your efforts. This helps us all.

Thanks a lot!