I wanted to get a better feel for different bevel angles, so I did a head to head shave with my 18.0° bevel angle Titan ACRM2 and 16.7° Boker 5/8 ebay rescue. I did a full pasted balsa progression to each blade before my shave, and they were both treetopping leg hairs like crazy about 1cm off my skin. I use my leg hair for tree top tests because it sticks out while my arm hair lies flat for some reason.
With 48 hours growth, I shaved the left side of my face with the Titan and right side with the Boker. My first pass is WTG and the Boker did a noticeably better job removing stubble. I’d say it was probably SAS level all over, while the Titan left a mix of SAS, seemingly untouched hairs, and stubble reduced to about half its original length. I really had to force the Titan while the Boker slid through the stubble like it wasn’t even there. Not a great start for the big bevel.
2nd pass is XTG and here there was very little difference between the two. The Titan again took a little more force to cut through the stubble that was left, but nothing like the first pass. After the pass both sides of my face felt about the same. I noticed that the Boker felt more likely to bite so I had to be a little more careful.
3rd pass is XTG the other way it was much the same as pass #2. At the end of this pass the 16.7° Boker side of my face was closer than the 18.0° Titan side, but both were very good. Not quite BBS, but definitely DFS to DFS+.
So what did I learn? I learned that I get a better shave with a smaller bevel angle, but it’s a little touchier and needs to be treated with care. I also learned that I like a round point much more than a square point. It’s much easier to get into my neck hollows with the round point.
How low can a bevel angle go before it’s too delicate to shave with? Is there any difference in honing a large vs. small bevel angle?
With 48 hours growth, I shaved the left side of my face with the Titan and right side with the Boker. My first pass is WTG and the Boker did a noticeably better job removing stubble. I’d say it was probably SAS level all over, while the Titan left a mix of SAS, seemingly untouched hairs, and stubble reduced to about half its original length. I really had to force the Titan while the Boker slid through the stubble like it wasn’t even there. Not a great start for the big bevel.
2nd pass is XTG and here there was very little difference between the two. The Titan again took a little more force to cut through the stubble that was left, but nothing like the first pass. After the pass both sides of my face felt about the same. I noticed that the Boker felt more likely to bite so I had to be a little more careful.
3rd pass is XTG the other way it was much the same as pass #2. At the end of this pass the 16.7° Boker side of my face was closer than the 18.0° Titan side, but both were very good. Not quite BBS, but definitely DFS to DFS+.
So what did I learn? I learned that I get a better shave with a smaller bevel angle, but it’s a little touchier and needs to be treated with care. I also learned that I like a round point much more than a square point. It’s much easier to get into my neck hollows with the round point.
How low can a bevel angle go before it’s too delicate to shave with? Is there any difference in honing a large vs. small bevel angle?