Shaving Angry...Does Blade Shape and Grind Affect Comfort?

[duke762]

I tried so hard to sharpen a Friedr. Baurmann Comfort 32, vintage smiling razor. I think it's a half hollow, heavier than a full hollow. The feed back from the black Ark was lovely with a extremely clear message it was done. I took my time and did some of my best work ever.....I thought.

I was stoked to try it out. Lathered up and started with a WTG under my left side burn. Went a little high and felt resistance, more than normal I thought. Hope was disappearing fast. I went ATG up my left cheek.......butter knife, .......BUTTER KNIFE! After all that work. ( insert profanity)

Didn't have another straight finished up so it would have to be an electric shave tonight. What on earth happened, I thought. I'm fairly angry at my obvious failure and start applying lots of pressure to scrape the lather off. I mean lots of pressure, lots of skin being pushed up in front of the blade. No edge at all, feels like a well rounded piece of steel scraping off lather.

Felt my cheek to see if lather was off and HEY this thing is shaving!!! Lightened up and finished shave with no sensation of an edge on my face. Easily and effortlessly handled my ATG trouble spots. No burn, no nicks and by all rights I should be in the ER getting my face sewn back on.

Well, I'm not a top notch honer and I'm a noobie stropper, so I'm righting off the extreme comfort to possibly blade shape and grind. This one will be a challenge to duplicate.

So the question is... Does blade shape and grind affect comfort that much?

 

[buca3152]

Maybe! All grinds and sizes are.capable of delivering a great shave. But some guys swear certain grinds or shapes shave better. I don't.

 

[NPV]

I’ve found heavy grinds kinda “plow” through my beard and don’t give a strong sensation of cutting. It also makes them feel less keen on my face YMMV.

 

[Clay S]

Does shape and grind affect a shave? Absolutely! Is there agreement as to which are best? Nah!

 

[eKretz]

How wide are the bevels? I find that I get lots of "resistance" to edge glide with razors that have very wide ones, even moreso if they're highly polished. Methinks there's something to that stuff the razor blade manufacturers do, leaving a coarse grind everywhere except the very tip of the bevel. The designed-in convexing helps too. Tough to replicate easily on a straight though. My compromise is to try to find straights with tiny bevels and keep them that way.

 

[Disburden]

Everyone has a different face and skin feel to different edges. It's just preference.

 

[totorlekiller]

It sounds more to me like the bevel was not set right.
Then no amount of polishing on super-stone will make it shave better than a butterknife.

 

[RayClem]

I have a rather tough beard. I tend to like full-hollow ground, extra-hollow ground and bellied hollow ground blades. However, I also have a custom quarter hollow blade that will give a nice shave. However, I prefer the thinner grinds that "sing" as they glide through by beard. Others might disagree entirely. You just have to find out what works best for you.

One thing I note with my tough beard is that very thin grinds tend to become dull faster than heavier grinds. I tend to do a refresh of my edges every 5-6 shaves using a finishing stone. If you beard is not so tough, this may not be an issue for you.

 

[RumpleBearskin]

I’ve found heavy grinds kinda “plow” through my beard and don’t give a strong sensation of cutting. It also makes them feel less keen on my face

Absolutely this!

I love the heavier grinds for exactly this reason. A nice, easy shave with little cutting feedback and no noise (bah! to "singing" blades). And when I rinse off, the whiskers have just vaporized and don't come back for hours and hours and hours.

 

[NPV]

How wide are the bevels? I find that I get lots of "resistance" to edge glide with razors that have very wide ones, even moreso if they're highly polished. Methinks there's something to that stuff the razor blade manufacturers do, leaving a coarse grind everywhere except the very tip of the bevel. The designed-in convexing helps too. Tough to replicate easily on a straight though. My compromise is to try to find straights with tiny bevels and keep them that way.

+1 to this as well, I find with my Wosty full wedge it doesn't want to glide as easily due to the large mirrored bevel. It just kinda drags along. I don't mind it though.

 

[Twelvefret]

My Wade and Butcher full wedge does silently mow down growth.

 

[Gamma]

A shave is the sum of it's parts, so yeah - some of us prefer one type of edge/profile/grind over others. I hate flexy grinds. The less hollow the better for me.

 

[duke762]

Now if I can just repeat that over and over again, on all my razors, I'll be a very happy camper indeed.