Thread: The Grand Experiment- Phase 2

Well another week has passed and so far everybody is neck and neck in this thing. Of course its only been about 5 shaves apiece so its too early. As I recall at about 10 shaves is where things started to get interesting the last time. One interesting difference is that this time I used the coticule to hone them up as opposed to the 8K Norton and 12K Kitayama the last time. There is no doubt they all started out in better shape than the last time. I wouldn't necessarily say sharper but definately smoother shaving. We'll see if that factor keeps them going longer.

stay tuned.

Two concerns: I don't shave with a straight everyday...

Well another week has passed and we're up to about 7 shaves with each razor. I think two issues are appearing here. First SRP 38 the one getting 30x on the strop is beginning to show the earliest signs of a decrease in the comfort factor. Its not much but its beginning while the other two are as good as the first shave. The other thing is it appears I'm getting more shaves this time around from each razor and I attribute that to the honing on the coticule. One conclusion I would say right now is the coticule is far superior to the Norton 8K as far as edge quality goes. For that matter even the 12K Kitayama did not produce as good an edge.

Stay tunes for further developments. Things should start to get interesting pretty soon.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

One conclusion I would say right now is the coticule is far superior to the Norton 8K as far as edge quality goes.

So you used the coticule instead of the Norton? Was that for the 8000 side alone or are you using a belgian blue or something else as well?

That response is what we should expect, too.

X

Previously I used the 8K followed by the 12K Kitayama. The coticule replaced the 8K and the 12K. I haven't used the blue very much. I find it very slow cutting. For these three razors they didn't need any major heavy duty honing anyway really only a touchup.

I made the same experience. I now use the blue Belgian after the 6000 instead of using the 8000. The razors get much better edges that last longer and become better from shave to shave. For refreshing the edge I only use the blue one with lather on it.

Best regards
Martin

Just for reference so we don't have to keep going back to page one. . .

SRP 39 30x before and after
SRP 38 will be stropped 60x before
TI will get 30x before only

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Just for reference so we don't have to keep going back to page one. . .

SRP 39 30x before and after
SRP 38 will be stropped 60x before
TI will get 30x before only

From the first post in this thread I changed 39 and the third TI so the pattern would be different.
SRP 38 gets 30x before
SRP 39 gets 60 before
TI gets 30x before and 30x after.

The last time we did this in phase one SRP 38 got 30 before and 30 after
SRP 39 got 30 before
the third TI got 60 before.

Well another week has gone by and I reckon I've been at this thing a little over a month now. The last phase the razor getting only 30x was pulled at this point because it had gotten too uncomfortable. This time around though the 30x razor SRP 38 has lost a little of its comfort factor its still very close to the others. As I've said before honing on the coticule is what has given these razors an extra lease on life here. This weekend I'll be using my TI damascus to gauge how all three are actually doing. Things sometimes change so slowly you get used to them and can't really be aware of the deterioration that takes place.

I'm already thinking about a phase 3 where I use the two SRPs and strop 60x and 90x just to make it interesting. What do you think?

I'd prefer to see a test where you did 5 before and 5 after, rather than 90. Just my 2 cents. Or 10 and 10, and see if you notice any difference in blade life. Do you get a less comfortable shave on far less passes?