You cannot cut yourself unless you forget the proper angle. Think of cutting a steak where angle is necessary. As long as you are not at the cutting meat angle, you cannot cut yourself. I am constantly reminding myself of this.
My 2nd Vintage SR. Tell Me About This Edge, Please.
- Thread starter Chan Eil Whiskers
- Start date
Oh ye of little faith!
My bigger point is that a razor can look good with magnification and still not shave well. You can see when something is wrong with magnification, in many cases. You can't necessarily see that everything is right. You aren't actually seeing the edge, straight on, anyway as it doesn't reflect light.
Shaving is the only way to know for sure.
- Thread starter
- #44
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Absolutely. At least for me because I don't get how to do any of the non-shaving tests. I can read about how to do them, but doing them is another matter. Lost at sea.
Shaving is the thing anyway. It shaves or it doesn't shave.
At least that's my newbie view of things.
Happy shaves,
Jim
I'm not big on the non-shaving tests either. After you know how to hone well, consistently, you know how a blade like that feels, whether it's on leg hair, arm hair, finger nails and then you just go for that next time. Shaving is the only test that matters though.
I think a lot of the tests are great to help someone new at honing know when it's time to try shaving - especially the first and second time you set a new bevel, if you don't know how to recognize a burr, or how to recognize you've adequately ground the burr out, then a light treetopping or HHT can help confirm that. Later, when polished up real fine, improved performance in the "tests" can help add confidence that not only is the bevel appropriate, but the later polishing has successfully refined it.
Much like training wheels when learning to ride a bike, these tests can't do it for you, and overreliance on them will eventually hamper the effort, but they can nonetheless be a valuable tool. I wouldn't even try shaving with an edge that can't treetop the hair of my leg at 1/4". On the other hand, I don't feel the need to test that anymore, because when I sharpen a razor, when I am done with it, I already know the result it will give me if I do try. It could be useful if I were to buy a used razor, to tell me if it would be worth trying to shave with, or if I should hone it myself first.
Much like training wheels when learning to ride a bike, these tests can't do it for you, and overreliance on them will eventually hamper the effort, but they can nonetheless be a valuable tool. I wouldn't even try shaving with an edge that can't treetop the hair of my leg at 1/4". On the other hand, I don't feel the need to test that anymore, because when I sharpen a razor, when I am done with it, I already know the result it will give me if I do try. It could be useful if I were to buy a used razor, to tell me if it would be worth trying to shave with, or if I should hone it myself first.
So, I honed a circa pre 1906 John Holler last night. I use the other razors I have used to judge that this one is ready for this mornings shave. If I am correct, I am able to judge/evaluated by touch now.
I enjoy how the blade is transformed with subsequent micron sheets. I did 50 laps per side on each sheet, followed by Cr O2 on leather, followed by diamond on balsa, followed horse hide and linen. We shall see!!
While I agree that visuals are not the primary source, it can help. I have a pre 1860 razor I got from a good vendor in which the blade is good, shave well, but is not perfect aesthetically by a long shot. As an guitar maker said about the quality of tone woods, "perfect is for beginners". What we have today has to be better than what the average man had in 1890.
I enjoy how the blade is transformed with subsequent micron sheets. I did 50 laps per side on each sheet, followed by Cr O2 on leather, followed by diamond on balsa, followed horse hide and linen. We shall see!!
While I agree that visuals are not the primary source, it can help. I have a pre 1860 razor I got from a good vendor in which the blade is good, shave well, but is not perfect aesthetically by a long shot. As an guitar maker said about the quality of tone woods, "perfect is for beginners". What we have today has to be better than what the average man had in 1890.
- Thread starter
- #48
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I'd like to be able to correctly do with consistent results in similar states of sharpness the non-shaving sharpness tests, but I somehow have not yet managed to learn them. Maybe I understand the fingernail test, but I'm not sure. The tests involving cutting arm hair above the skin's surface mystify me (either that or I've not used a sharp razor).
I have two more vintage shave-ready razors in transit. Both are from a vendor I've been told sends truly shave-ready razors. I'll try to test them before shaving with them. It would be useful to have the non-shaving tests as available tools sometimes, but they're not in my toolbox just yet.
Happy shaves,
Jim
I have two more vintage shave-ready razors in transit. Both are from a vendor I've been told sends truly shave-ready razors. I'll try to test them before shaving with them. It would be useful to have the non-shaving tests as available tools sometimes, but they're not in my toolbox just yet.
Happy shaves,
Jim
How do your shave ready edges feel on your thumb skin? If it good it will not take much pressure to convince you the blade could easily slice your finger open.
- Thread starter
- #50
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I've not tried that particular thumb or skin test. I will. Thanks.
I’ve come to the point where I always rehone any new to me razors from bevel set on up. If is is shave ready the bevel set will be very quick and the rest doesn’t take long anyway and I am guaranteed the edge I am used to.
That makes a lot of sense where you are in your journey.
I am thinking I might have done myself a disservice. The Method really works with the pre-existing knowledge I had already carried forward for honing, so I jumped right into making Method edges. However, when my razors got to me, one was a Coti edge, the other an Escher Thuringian. I am wondering now if I might have been better to shave with those until they needed re-honing before starting them from punt with The Method.
Now that I've learned a bit about shaving, I am beginning to wonder how they differ from the Method edges I've grown accustomed to.
- Thread starter
- #53
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I'm going to at least try a shave with any razor I believe shave-ready, at least for now.
I wish people selling them would always briefly describe how they're honed and on what (synthetics or jnat or Zulu Grey or whatever), but oftentimes in my very limited experience they do not.
I know I would have wanted to try the Coti edge and the Escher edge just to experience them.
Happy shaves,
Jim
JR does describe those he hones and what he uses. He also describes what his honer uses.
The seller where I bought my two did tell me what they were honed on, and to be fair, I did in fact use both a few times before honing them. However, that was the first few shaves I'd ever had, and I was hardly in a position to be able to form real preferences.
Go for it and let me know your opinion. I am curious but enough to make the investment. People talk about the hazy edge etc and how comfortable they are but my balsa edges also are hazy and comfortable. The next razor I get I’m going to hone it to 8k and try to shave with it since coticles are
said to give an 8k equivalents and jnats a 12k edge.
Agree. I would like to experience them as well. I expect most eBay sellers use synthetic stones. Johnloc1 hones to 12k which will comfortably shave. I’ve read that coticule edges are around 8k but I believe there are differing qualities of them. I doubt anything will please me more than a 200k edge though but I won’t know until I try them.
I’d say a 1200, 3000, 8000, 12000 set would do what I want.
You really want to see what edges look like? Here you go: scienceofsharp Interesting blog with SEM images and a scientific approach to sharp in the shaving world, but....the real proof is in the shave.
Yes, it would be exactly like film. I did test that one
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