TL;DR version
Depending on the razor, the actual exposed edge of a DE blade may be held perfectly flat or a series of "waves" may be introduced. It is my hypothesis that this is a vastly overlooked feature of razors that contributes a lot to smoothness/roughness of the way the razor FEELS when you shave. I wonder whether others have thought about this or checked into this with their DE razors?
Full version
A lot of bandwidth has been devoted to blade rigidity on this board, and rightly so. I feel like it's important. But I think I stumbled upon another thing to think about, and that it the waviness of the DE blade edge when the blade is in the razor and it's tightened down and ready to go.
Talk about blade waviness has been limited principally to a shortcoming of the old Weber razor and some of the iKon Deluxe OC models, both of which were quite a while ago. Newbies here probably don't even remember those discussions.
So here's how I came upon it, and what I think about it. After you load up a razor, if you hold it a certain way with good lighting, there should come a point where you can see reflected light along the entire blade edge (if your razor has a SERIOUS wavy blade problem, you might not be able to do even this, but most razors you can). If you then move the razor very slightly you can watch the reflection disappear and turn to darkness. If the blade is held completely without any waviness this happens completely seamlessly and smoothly. If there are waves in the blade edge, you will see little chunks that are dark while other parts are still reflecting light. Depending on how much wave is in the blade, these can be large or small, and they can be few or many.
I really love my British flat-bottom New. On a whim I checked it in the light the other day. One side was completely pure, the other had the tiniest bit of waviness. This got me to thinking, so I pulled out ALL my DEs, loaded them up with the same blade, and went through the entire process from start to finish with each of them.
I was kind of astounded to see what I found. I had, I believe, four razors that held the blade completely flat on both sides. Maybe not a coincidence that they are my smoothest razors? I had several that had a tiny bit of waviness, and then I had two or three that showed quite a bit of waviness. Maybe not a coincidence that those were all my least-favorite razors?
There are a lot of things that contribute to a "smooth" or "comfortable" feel of a razor as you are shaving with it. One of the most underrated, in my opinion, is the shape of the safety bar or the smoothness of the comb (for OC razors). Blade rigidity may also play a role. But now I am thinking that the waviness of the blade (or lack thereof) may be a MAJOR contributing factor, just based on my experiences with these razors.
Am I the only person who has ever thought about this? Maybe some of you (if you can understand what I am saying) can take a look at your smoothest and least smooth razors and see whether what I found holds true for you, too?
Depending on the razor, the actual exposed edge of a DE blade may be held perfectly flat or a series of "waves" may be introduced. It is my hypothesis that this is a vastly overlooked feature of razors that contributes a lot to smoothness/roughness of the way the razor FEELS when you shave. I wonder whether others have thought about this or checked into this with their DE razors?
Full version
A lot of bandwidth has been devoted to blade rigidity on this board, and rightly so. I feel like it's important. But I think I stumbled upon another thing to think about, and that it the waviness of the DE blade edge when the blade is in the razor and it's tightened down and ready to go.
Talk about blade waviness has been limited principally to a shortcoming of the old Weber razor and some of the iKon Deluxe OC models, both of which were quite a while ago. Newbies here probably don't even remember those discussions.
So here's how I came upon it, and what I think about it. After you load up a razor, if you hold it a certain way with good lighting, there should come a point where you can see reflected light along the entire blade edge (if your razor has a SERIOUS wavy blade problem, you might not be able to do even this, but most razors you can). If you then move the razor very slightly you can watch the reflection disappear and turn to darkness. If the blade is held completely without any waviness this happens completely seamlessly and smoothly. If there are waves in the blade edge, you will see little chunks that are dark while other parts are still reflecting light. Depending on how much wave is in the blade, these can be large or small, and they can be few or many.
I really love my British flat-bottom New. On a whim I checked it in the light the other day. One side was completely pure, the other had the tiniest bit of waviness. This got me to thinking, so I pulled out ALL my DEs, loaded them up with the same blade, and went through the entire process from start to finish with each of them.
I was kind of astounded to see what I found. I had, I believe, four razors that held the blade completely flat on both sides. Maybe not a coincidence that they are my smoothest razors? I had several that had a tiny bit of waviness, and then I had two or three that showed quite a bit of waviness. Maybe not a coincidence that those were all my least-favorite razors?
There are a lot of things that contribute to a "smooth" or "comfortable" feel of a razor as you are shaving with it. One of the most underrated, in my opinion, is the shape of the safety bar or the smoothness of the comb (for OC razors). Blade rigidity may also play a role. But now I am thinking that the waviness of the blade (or lack thereof) may be a MAJOR contributing factor, just based on my experiences with these razors.
Am I the only person who has ever thought about this? Maybe some of you (if you can understand what I am saying) can take a look at your smoothest and least smooth razors and see whether what I found holds true for you, too?
