Do you think a straight razor can be as sharp of a blade as a Gillette 2-blade disposable? Last night I was shaving with my straights, finding out which one felt better and got done. Some pulling on the whiskers on the upper lip, and on lower lip and chin. Got it done even with the pulling. After I washed off and dried (NOW I have a DRY face) I notice some stragglers on my upper lip and around the corner of my mouth. So, I grab up my Gillette disposable and merely whack them off, no pull nor tug and quick as a wink. I've shaved with wet shaving years, mostly with disposables, but I don't get the kind of pulling and discomfort with the disposable 2 blade systems until I've used them for several weeks before I finally pitch them. Wouldn't it be nice if a straight razor could be as sharp as a commercially made 2 blade disposable blade? I don't know what they do (commercial disposable mfgs.) to make the blade that way, but you have to give them credit for mass producing so many sharp razors.
If your str8 was shave ready, there should be no tugging or pulling. NEVER PUSH THROUGH A STR8 SHAVE WITH A RAZOR THAT PULLS OR TUGS!!!! You could have ended up losing an ear or a head or something. When you use a bona-fide shave ready str8 you will know what I mean. Should be like a hot knife through butter. Noisy butter.
I know I am still straight razor noobish only using one since the beginning of the year, but I don't think my straights are as sharp as a feather DE blade. The straights are plenty sharp to get a nice shave, but those feather blades are wicked sharp. I haven't used a cartridge in almost a year now so I don't remember how sharp they were.
I took apart one of my Gillette 2-blade disposables, that pivot, to look at the blade. That blade is only 0.0025" thick or 2 1/2 thousandth thick, and has a bevel on both sides. Quite a feat really. And to mass produce them. I've shaved a few times this last week, and have not nicked or cut myself, but I do use a dulled "Pakistani" straight razor to practice with and often I lather up, and practice just before shaving for "real". I've tried different angles, different blades. I hone it from the 1K, 4K, 8K and finish up on a Belgian Coticule on a Swaty barber hone. Then I have a 3" wide strop and generally strop it about 40-60 times before shaving and right after-wards as well. If I lather up I can move quite quickly on my face with the disposable as opposed to a straight. I just want my straight to cut off whiskers as well as my Gillette 2 blade disposable. I have even shaved at work during break with a twin-blade disposable and the liquid soap in the bathroom. Water is not that hot either there and I got a lot better feeling shave from poor soap, no pre-conditioning, hot towels, etc than I have yet gotten with my Straights. I have a Dovo 6/8 I sent off to Lynn Abrams and hope to get it back soon. He was going to professionally hone it for me. So I don't know if my honing is off, my stropping is off. (nice even strokes on leather) my blade is held correctly in my hand and angle is 30 deg or less on my face. Once in a great while I will have it more of a 45-80 degree angle, an aggressive shave as you might say. None of the angles nor blades seem to feel comfortable.
I agree that disposable razors are sharper than straights, but a properly honed straight can come awfully close. My Italian barber advised me to stick with disposable straights as they will always be sharper and easier to maintain. This advice came after he patiently taught me how to strop and gave me his Henckle's Friodur along with a Belgium Blue Coticule Stone-great guy! I happily ignored his well meaning advice. When honed by a pro I've found them smooth and sharp. Not as sharp as my Parker Straight (takes a DE blade broken in half) but sharp enough for me.
We're generalizing on this... The "steel" facts are this, and I didn't come up with these numbers they are from Veorhaven(sp) paper... The razors start cutting hair at .50 microns, you hit that at the bevel set.. Razors will Max out between .37-.48 Microns depending on the grind and steel... DE blades and Disposables get no sharper _BUT_ they do get special coatings and often times (Feather) have a much steeper secondary bevel machined in there... so they FEEL sharper... Right up until you learn to use the advantages given to those of us that use SR's... The Strop and The Freedom of angle and movment... When you master those, then the Straight Razor feels sharper and smoother than any other shaving system out there... And then and only then will you be rewarded with the shaves we all brag about... But the edge is still somewhere between .37-.48 microns
Heck,Glenn, let's shoot for .25 microns with a double bevel!! I guess I'll have to wait until the Dovo gets back from Lynn. Or, sometime, I can take that Wadsworth or Gold Bug and add a piece of electrial tape on the spine to see if I can get a secondary bevel on it. I guess I really shouldn't complain too loud. I see others on here and there that have worked at it weeks and monts, and I am getting full face shaves after my 2nd try, only about 2 weeks ago. Just shaved tonight with a mixture of blades, just curious to see if any of them felt smoothers. The Gold Bug felt the best (a $3.50 razor), the Henckel doen't do too bad, but it's only a 4/8 or a bit less and a bit harder to get exacting angles on, if you know what I mean. I am actually looking at a thinner "singing"razor (extra hollow) either a Dovo Primary Klang or there is a Revisors 5/8 that appears to be very thin (as in singing or extra full hollow). This is it's info: http://www.revisor-solingen.de/html/5_8_25.html Lynn said he really like the Revisor razors. Thire's Issard make a "singing" razor, but from feedback on it in some forums it's not that thin of a blade, and more like FULL hollow grind. It's model name escapes me. I'm sure it will beat my new Pakistani 6/8 I dulled to practice with!! LOL It just seems funny how I can finish shaving with the Straight and go though all the intricate steps to get it "just right" for shaving, and then take my Gillette disposable and merely "whack off" a few stragglers with no soap, no water, just ...whack!
In my spare time at work I've been toying with electrochemical etching to get my straights down to the finest possible edge. We use similar techniques to sharpen tungsten wire to a .05 micron width
Why don't you just hang that 0.05 micron wire between 2 posts like a cheese cutter? Then all you need to do is drag it down your face. Try to leave some skin for grafting later. I think a blade can be made quite thin, but I also think that it would not be much to get the edge to fold over. Dragging out the big steel stick you use on kitchen knives just ain't gonna cut it.
Nah, the wire starts out at about 450 micrometers. Only the tip is etched. They're scanning tips for the lab's A-NSOM systems. My goal is to get a uniform 25 micrometer edge on the old dovo blade I picked up at a flea market. If so, you can bet it'll be the best damn shave anyone has ever had. Except the edge might disintegrate after the first pass. Then it'll be time to experiment with different ceramic coatings, possibly tungsten carbide.
This is an interesting question. First of all, my straights give me a closer, smoother, longer lasting and more comfortable shave than any other blade but, in my opinion, you can't use a straight like a cartridge blade and expect to get the same results. It requires stretching the skin and multiple passes. I wish I could explain it better but a straight doesn't need to be as sharp as a DE or cartridge blade to be effective. In fact, I think that a straight that was as sharp as a DE blade might not be as comfortable to use. There's something about the ease with which a straight edge glides over the skin without hurting it combined with its ability to cut hair and the heft of the razor that allows you to get closer without irritation. I realize this is vague but it's the best I can do.
Thanks Chimensch! And, I enjoyed your shaving video, saved it to my hard drive to watch and learn. I believe I understand you. I took apart the 2 bladed disposable and measured the blade thickness with a micrometer. It is only 25/10,000 " thick or 0.0025" , and then has a a double bevel on it as well. I also would assume that it is stainless steel and it's pliable enough to bend around without breaking. Quite a feat. Hair has to be able to be cut. You're getting it sharp, and from many replies here and elsewhere, it is believed that it has to be "as sharp" or it simply won't get inbetween the hair folicle structure, grab and slice off. My wife, who went to beautician school, learned that hair is shaped like little domes stacked on top of each other. The razor's job is to hit at a joint and server, or cut it at that point. Kind of imagine roadway cones or ice cream cones stacked on top of each other. Flexible but like a "shingle" coating on the very outside. A 2 blade or multi blade system was designed to pull the skin with the leading razor edges and let the remaining trailing blades cut the now standing hairs off as they are being pulled by those in front. Mini-stretching if you will. That is why a DE or single "injector" razor (which I learned on both YEARS ago) were not as good as multi blade razors. Now we have 5 blade systems out there, but a bit on the pricy side. Witouth the stretching of the skin, then, you are doing no better than an unstretched skin with a DE or injector single razor I believe. I just have a hard time with the skin stretching and a lot of the time don't do it. Whereas with my multi blade disposables, I may have gotten that comfort in the blade's inherent design.
Some of it is that, and some of it is inherent to curly hair, and how close or sharp the edge is left after shaving as well. Just for the interest of the topic, I have looked up some hair cuticles (Google search: Hair cuticle) and found some interesting images. Human hair, images, showing the hair outer cuticle that when we wet and get soapy have a tendency to flare out letting the razor edge grab and cut: 284075.jpg | Visuals Unlimited and here: HAIR HEALTH FROM INSIDE OUT « ADRIANA SASSOON I don't think I can post these imgages here, but may be ok to link to their images at the above website. Moderators, if it can be "image" posted, by all means go ahead and show the image. BUT, it does give an excellent illustration as to what we are cutting and why we need the pre-shave ritual to get an easier shave.
