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Blade gap and exposure

Hi everyone,
My first post in B&B!
I am based in France and a member of the French forum rasage-traditionnel.com.
I am more and more convinced that blade exposure has ad minima as much impact on the quality of a razor than the gap therefore I have explored how razor makers deal with it.
Many new artisans display the blade exposure and @ShavingByTheNumbers has done a great job at measuring blade exposure on a several razors.
Mechanically, adjustable razors increase the blade exposure together with the blade gap (a geometry thing that is difficult to explain in writing) and it is interesting that the Christopher Bradley has taken the same approach, but the Maurice from Atelier Durdan (Vive la France!) has taken another approach with a constant blade exposure whatever the gap is.
All this is a bit theoretical, the blade angle, for instance, but also the geometry of the head, weight, surface have all an impact on the quality of the shave.
That's obvious to anyone who has used a razor but I just wanted to underline that my analysis here is not meant to have an opinion on a razor based on those two criteria.
However, I understand now why the Greencult V1.0 was way too aggressive for me and we can notice that there are two trends, one around the Gillette Slim and one around the Christopher Bradley (I would love to have more data on other razors!).
Lastly, I have deducted the Merkur Progress and 34C from images I have seen on the forum, beware it's not as accurate as other data.
If there is an appetite for more details, I can display my sources, they are either the website of the razor makers, this website or kickstarter.com for the blackbird.
You can have a direct access to the page here but I display the current graph in this post.
I hope you guys will enjoy this graph and share your data, I'm sure I have missed some.
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Iridian

Cool and slimy
You might find it interesting that Wolfman's WR2 head and its clones have very high gaps, up to 1.8 or 1.85 IIRC, while staying mild. From my own experience I can talk about the Boti 1.15 and the Yaqi 1.5 Sentinel WR2 clones. The 1.15 is a bit more aggressive and efficient due to a bit more exposure.

The overall geometry, how it comes together in the end, is more important than the gap or the exposure. But as general rule of thumb, the GAP is usually overrated as measure of aggression. And I think this is because, as you noticed, blade exposure tends to rise with the gap. For me with not much beard there is little use for a high gap, but a bit more exposure usually gives me a closer shave. EXPOSURE is often totally forgotten in favor of the gap.

Also notice the Tataras Muramasa. It is one of the few adjustables... or actually the only one I know... that rather adjust the exposure instead of just raising or lowering the head and therefore the gap.

As I don't own it I can only quote owners that it is, despite all adjustability of exposure and gap, always on the rather mild side.

Getting the data you desire is notoriously difficult. Only sometimes manufacturers bother to announce them, claimed measurements by wet shavers themselves are of dubious value and accuracy.
 

lasta

Blade Biter
One hell of a Hello!

Always appreciate objective data. In fact, I was looking for a modern Tech not long ago, might have to give the BlackBird a try.

Although, this does raise the question, everyone considers the Tech mild, yet Blackbird to be high on the aggressive scale. From your data, they shouldn't be much different!

BTW, I'm a biased Tech lover, efficient and smooth, not mild!
 
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Also notice the Tataras Muramasa. It is one of the few adjustables... or actually the only one I know... that rather adjust the exposure instead of just raising or lowering the head and therefore the gap.
Interesting, I didn't know that. I'll have a look at their website, it's a technical challenge.
 

Iridian

Cool and slimy
Although, this does raise the question, everyone considers the Tech mild, yet Blackbird to be high on the aggressive scale. From your data, they shouldn't be much different!
For the Blackbird, the SB is rather mild and has also a relatively low gap. The OC on the other hand dials that interestingly up much more than one might expect. That's why I am wondering that there is a mild plate by now, to be honest.
 
One hell of a Hello!
Hiya!
Always appreciate objective data. In fact, I was looking for a modern Tech not long ago, might have to give the BlackBird a try.

Although, this does raise the question, everyone considers the Tech mild, yet Blackbird to be high on the aggressive scale. From your data, they shouldn't be much different!
Gillette Tech: 1957 Gillette Tech: Review, Photos, Measurements, Photo Analysis - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/1957-gillette-tech-review-photos-measurements-photo-analysis.545851/
Blackbird: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackland/the-blackbird-stainless-steel-safety-razor-0

Interesting comment which shows that gap and exposure don't do it all ;)
 
Very interesting to see, thank you for the effort.
I see the Merkur 34 and the r/de 89 which I like a lot.
Interesting fact, the Muramasa on some settings is close but I didn't like it.

Would be very interesting to see Rockwell 6s, Feather AS-D2 and Pearl Flexi e. G.
 
Great post Patrice. Merci bien. I think exposure does more for the aggressiveness than gap perse.

It would be very interesting to load your sheet with more razors, such as Timeless, Wolfman, R41, R94, et cetera so we can build some sort of database. I would also suggest to maybe turn it into a Wiki-post.

Great stuff!

Guido
 
Welcome to the forum! Great first post.

A couple things that come to my thoughts on this.

A tech isn't just a tech. Over the years and where they were made they changed a bit. Pre-War vs Post-War vs dated vs post ~'62. US vs Canada vs England etc. Flat bottom vs normal diamond stamped vs hybrid new. Handle types or handle swaps. Etc etc The tech has a long wonderful history.

As noted most adjustables have a mechanism that bends the blade changing the gap primarily and exposure a little. This also changes the angle of use. An extreme example I just came across is the PAA copper Ascension twist. Snugged down all the way to 1/4 turn back and I'm riding on the bottom comb teeth more. Adjust back to 1/2 turn and the razor gets super aggressive and I'm riding the top cap combs more as the blade angle has changed. But this is true with all adjustables that bend the blade. The angle of attack is altered slightly.

My favorite adjustable does it best, IMO. The standard toggle adjusts the safety bars up and down changing the gap primarily and exposure a little but doesn't change the angle of the blade at all. The Red Dot Fatboy does this as well.

Muramasa as mentioned above moves the safety bars in and out and primarily changes the exposure and gap a little while keeping the blade angle the same. This keeps the razor fairly mild through out.
 
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Thank you for your warm welcoming and encouragements!
The issue with blade exposure is that most razor makers don't want to communicate about it.
Maybe because it is more difficult to measure and depends on the geometry of the blade VS the gap which is a more constant data across blades.
I have a few more that I had forgotten though, I'll update the graph.
We clearly see a sweet spot around 0.7/0.05 and the fact that old razors had a more modest gap compared to new razors.
 
This is interesting to me. I've used the Slim a lot and, examining it as I adjust the settings, it's evident how the blade gap increases but I didn't notice the exposure increasing so much as well. I'll be testing Le Maurice soon, and that will by my first experience with large blade gaps.

Interesting that the blade exposure of Le Maurice matches the Slim at 2. Also that Le Maurice and the Muramasa have bet on different variables being most important, Le Maurice absolutely going with blade gap and Muramasa mostly going with exposure.
 
Bienvenue à B&B! I am one of the resident measurement nerds around here and will be having several looks at your post. I did see your other post on an old thread and I am still trying to remember where that chart came from. Your measurement for the Blackbird isn't the agreed upon number, but I am familiar with the source. I don't want to say too much about it as Shane has decided not to publish this anymore. It is mentioned here:

Briefly, one comment I have made in the past is that more blade exposure get's the blade closer to your skin whereas more gap allows your skin to get closer to the blade(but doesn't require it). Hence the high gap/low exposure razors can feel very smooth and non threatening depending on how they are used. Please remember also that all larger gaps are what is called aggressive, they can bite based on the ability of your skin to get bunched up into the gap! Like them or not, the Wolfmen perfectly split the two camps into two different designs to suit each. Then you get into whether a razor is more of a shallow, neutral or steep designed razor and this can effect how these different philosophies are perceived by users. For example, the Blackbird has a reputation for being aggressive due to it's blade exposure. But that isn't correct, it won't bite suddenly, you have to push the edge into your skin! It has blade feel that some of us find useful, others find it's too much.
 
I just received the Henson Mild and put a blade in it for the first time before shaving this morning. I was shocked at the minimal blade exposure, to the extent that I put the razor away, thinking I can't shave with this thing. I was never strong in geometry at school, so I must have had a flashback. Since then I've regrouped and decided to actually give it a try next shave.
 
This is certainly another YMMV thread. For years I thought my preference was for the so called mild razors.

Everything changed when I gave a SS Blackbird a try (after Shane assured me that if I wasn’t happy, he would take the razor back and that was part of his business model).

The Blackbird by reputation was expected to be aggressive. I find the exposure to be more guiding than aggressive and the relatively small gap creates a smooth and very close shave. The Blackbird shaves my face closer and smoother than any other razor I have ever owned.

I have since acquired a Titanium Bird that is now my everyday razor. I find the Titanium to be more nimble than the SS, but otherwise the two razors shave nearly the same for me.

My observation using Blackbirds as my exposure reference is that the greater exposure can give a closer shave and that the lower gap can make the shave a safer shave. YMMV!
 
Bienvenue à B&B!
Merci :)
I am one of the resident measurement nerds around here and will be having several looks at your post.
I would be happy to have feedback and ameliorate data, chart, etc.
I did see your other post on an old thread and I am still trying to remember where that chart came from.
That would be great, maybe I can find other similar data nearby.
Your measurement for the Blackbird isn't the agreed upon number, but I am familiar with the source. I don't want to say too much about it as Shane has decided not to publish this anymore. It is mentioned here:
I'll update accordingly, thank you!
Briefly, one comment I have made in the past is that more blade exposure get's the blade closer to your skin whereas more gap allows your skin to get closer to the blade(but doesn't require it). Hence the high gap/low exposure razors can feel very smooth and non threatening depending on how they are used. Please remember also that all larger gaps are what is called aggressive, they can bite based on the ability of your skin to get bunched up into the gap! Like them or not, the Wolfmen perfectly split the two camps into two different designs to suit each. Then you get into whether a razor is more of a shallow, neutral or steep designed razor and this can effect how these different philosophies are perceived by users. For example, the Blackbird has a reputation for being aggressive due to it's blade exposure. But that isn't correct, it won't bite suddenly, you have to push the edge into your skin! It has blade feel that some of us find useful, others find it's too much.
I need to read this ten times with a good focus!

Good day :)
 
I am one of the resident measurement nerds around here and will be having several looks at your post.
Ah yes, and I would be happy to have feedback on the gap of Progress and 34C which I have deducted from pictures on the forum. I suspect the Progress progression to be too steep, I guess there is more exposure at 5 given the fact that it has roughly the same mechanism as the Gillette Slim.
 
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