DE sharpness compared to straights

[JPO]

This is a good point. It kind of makes me wonder just how much a strop can really do in terms of "repairing" a damaged edge. Looking at the Science of Sharp on stropping, 100 laps does appear to make a difference in terms of smoothing out micro-deformations in a fresh edge. What seems to be lacking from that site is a set of images showing how much damage a shave does to a fresh edge, and how much stropping can "bring it back". I always felt like a shave + a strop still resulted in a noticeable net reduction in overall sharpness, but perhaps my stropping just sucked!

This is a razor after one shave after stropping.
You do the best you can to realign the edge, but some permanent deformation will remain in the edge.
You also have some residual stress that in theory will realign the edge a little.
Old barbers claimed the razor needed to rest. I am not sure how much truth there is to this practice though.

 

[catchacoolbreeze]

The bevel angle of a Pro Super blade is around 19 deg. The regular pro blade is a little more obtuse. Blade thickness has no effect on the bevel angle. These blades often have two or three bevels at different angles. So, you need to measure the final bevel angle using magnification, or get the information from the blade manufacturer.
I personally prefer to use the Proline blades in my disposable blade straight razors.
There is also a coating on these artist club blades that seems to be thicker then on regular de blades. I usually need one or two shaves before these blades peak in performance.

Maybe it's the coating then. None of my AC blades passed an HHT when my feather DE blades do every time.

 

[JPO]

T

Maybe it's the coating then. None of my AC blades passed an HHT when my feather DE blades do every time.

That might be part of the reason.
Some de blades also suffer from this. Some peak in performance after a few shaves as the coating wear off.

I need blades that gives the best possible shave the first shave. So, I try to avoid those types of blades.

 

[Goblin]

Maybe it's the coating then. None of my AC blades passed an HHT when my feather DE blades do every time.

I was using the HHT to probe the edge when I tried to work out how many shaves I could comfortably get from an AC blade. I never tested one before use, but after a shave, a Feather Pro was giving me HHT 4/5.

The thing is, my recent honing attempts on one of my old straights also yielded HHT 4/5, but the shave was rough as anything and the blade just wasn't sharp enough to take down my tougher growth areas. HHT only tells you so much, it seems.

 

[Southbound1]

This is a razor after one shave after stropping.
You do the best you can to realign the edge, but some permanent deformation will remain in the edge.
You also have some residual stress that in theory will realign the edge a little.
Old barbers claimed the razor needed to rest. I am not sure how much truth there is to this practice though.
View attachment 1774415

Call me crazy, but i do believe in letting the blade rest! I only strop after honing and only before each shave not after, never.Probably will get trampled by folks here by me saying that but i stick to it I am no Einstein (intellect , you're a smart guy)like you. I can't come up with data to prove it, but i did my own tests. You can take two razors fresh off the hones and shave with both strop one and dont strop the other one, the razor you stropped will look deformed and a bit tore up. Examine the (with magnifcation )other blade that you didn't strop it doesn't look tore up. I believe a blades apex does get under stress (plastic deformation) whenever shaving and impacting the whiskers and later it returns. Imo if i strop after i shave i will deform my apex more than usual say as if i didn't strop it. The metal stess or plastic deformation diminishes over time. I don't subscribe to 24-48 hours though, but in time it does relax imo. I maybe wrong but i aint changing my mind,lol ! Oh the razor you didn't strop, the next time you strop just before you use it, it will look less (under magnifcation) beat up versus the one you stropped after the shave.

 

[abies]

I don't see how surveying random edges from different straight razor users would provide any meaningful data.

There's a difference between what *can* be achieved with a given blade type and what *is actually achieved* usually by an average user. The latter is arguably more representative of typical use and blades in the wild, and addresses the question by a typical user of that blade type "which would be sharper?"