What's new

What is the sharpest edge you have experienced?

Feather AC Professional blades are the reason I laugh to myself when people claim they can hone a SR edge to even approach "shavette" levels of sharpness... Let alone matching it.

You absolutely do not need ANY lateral movement to cut yourself with them.

The closest I've personally seen somebody(not me) come was a 5k-8k-12k-20k-.5-.3-.1 progression on a Bismarck
 
Last edited:

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
I have indeed matched the Feather. Not exceeded it... I honestly don't believe it is possible. But matched it, yeah. I can't always do it, no. If I want to be completely honest, not even very often. And TBH the Feather DE blade has IMHO as much raw cutting power as the AC Pro blades. A lot of people don't realize it because they use them in DE razors, or in shavettes that have no business sporting a half Feather, or simply don't know how to rock the Feather. Press cuts with a Method edge on a good straight razor are quite doable when you really nail it.

The Bismarck is quite capable but not with sub micron film for the finish. Needs balsa, and needs it to be PROPERLY set up and used. Now you want a blade that REALLY responds to Method honing? Try a Henckels 401 or some of the Japanese extra full hollow Westerns. But Even a Gold Dollar can come pretty darn close, and definitely match or even slightly beat any of the various Gillette or Wilky or Personna blades when you really nail it.

Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I never believed a straight razor could beat a DE or a long shavette blade, either, until a few years ago. I thought it was all BS and I just didn't want to shout anybody down for claiming to do so, and start a flame war for no good reason. Then a bunch of us started looking into optimizing pasted balsa technique and it was a game changer.

One problem though... guys who already "know" how to hone refuse to follow the method in every excruciatingly nitpicking detail. They already "know". Noobs almost always pick it right up and start amazing themselves with it on their first or second attempt at honing. Go figure.
 
A good straight is miiiiiiiiiles sharper than a feather. Folks get sharp and aggressive confused. A frayed wire sticking out of an old porch screen will slice open your hand with a light brush that wouldn't draw blood on a razor edge. It's aggressive, not sharp.

A sharp edge cuts with minimal disruption of what it is cutting. A sharp edge does not feel sharp. If something feels sharp it's because it's not sharp.

When I briefly had the sharpness tester I was getting results that matched what the makers of it claimed for feather blades mid-20s to 50s when I tested DE blades.

Several straight finishes were in the single digits, often 1-3 (so literally 10-20x sharper than feather blades) and straights were getting destroyed by the filament, even after the filament was crushing the edges in many cases they STILL outperformed de blades on my hardier razors.

I forget where I saw it but some knife or steel vendor did a comparison of knife blades at varying degrees and essentially proved the same thing, they compared blades with 15 degree up through I think 40 degree edges and even when the 15° was being crushed in use it still was sharper than the uncrushed higher edge angle blade.

Edge angle is so massively more important to final sharpness than other elements it's almost beyond belief to someone who doesn't understand it implicitly
 
Last edited:

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
I have not had the opportunity to try a Feather DE blade in my shavette, however I have (and still do) use Gillette London Bridge blades. @Mark1977 rates the sharpness of London Bridge blades as just a tad under Feather and better than Kai blades.

As for my SR edges, they are all honed up to 0.1um diamond pasted balsa strops. After being put through the full diamond pasted balsa strop progression the first time, each edge is eminently shave-able. I then run them through the full diamond pasted balsa strop progression after each shave for the next 3 to 5 shaves. This tends to bring them up to their maximum sharpness. After that, they are just maintained on 0.1um diamond pasted hanging balsa strop after each shave.

With all the above, what I have found is that my normal high carbon steel SR blades develop a sharpness that is close but not as good as the London Bridge blades - probably on par with Mark's Kai. My normal stainless SR blades develop a sharpness about equal to the London Bridge blades. My specialist stainless steel SR blades develop a sharpness that is noticeably better than the London Bridge blades. I don't know if they match or better Feather DE blades.

So, until recently, the sharpest SR edge that I have ever experienced is a specialist stainless steel blade that has been through a full diamond pasted balsa strop progression about 5 time over 5 shaves. This was recently bettered by the same SR being finished off on a chamois strop after its normal clean leather stropping. More on that later when I have more definitive results.

Do try a Feather DE blade in your shavette. It is really sweet. It will give even the very best Method edge some serious competition and it will easily beat all others. You should be able to get them from Thailand on fleabay. They are cheaper there than straight from Japan, and they are the exact same blade. This is a superb blade for traveling, and I know you travel a lot. If some larcenous customs guy makes your shavette and your stash of DE blades disappear, no big loss. Then again, if your Method honed GD or Titan disappears, no great financial ruination there, either, but with the shavette you don't need to carry a strop or the balsa. Same shave technique will work... tight skin and low angle.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Do try a Feather DE blade in your shavette. It is really sweet. It will give even the very best Method edge some serious competition and it will easily beat all others. You should be able to get them from Thailand on fleabay. They are cheaper there than straight from Japan, and they are the exact same blade. This is a superb blade for traveling, and I know you travel a lot. If some larcenous customs guy makes your shavette and your stash of DE blades disappear, no big loss. Then again, if your Method honed GD or Titan disappears, no great financial ruination there, either, but with the shavette you don't need to carry a strop or the balsa. Same shave technique will work... tight skin and low angle.
OK, you have convinced me. I have just ordered a tuck of 5 Feather DE high stainless platinum coated from Manila on Lazada. Should arrive next week. USD 2.50 + USD 2 shipping.
 
I can get a few of my straight razors to shave as well as a Feather single edge. 0.1 micron paste on leather followed by
stropping on glossy paper.
 
Has anyone else found this?

The corners of a DE in a shavette keep biting me.

But a long single edge in a shavette like an artist club, even with a super sharp Professional, does not.

I was examining the two types of blades to understand why The AC has somewhat more rounded corners, but then the Feather DE also has rounded corners, although perhaps less so.

Any ideas? Is it that slight bulge or bulb along the edge of the AC?
 
Has anyone else found this?

The corners of a DE in a shavette keep biting me.

But a long single edge in a shavette like an artist club, even with a super sharp Professional, does not.

I was examining the two types of blades to understand why The AC has somewhat more rounded corners, but then the Feather DE also has rounded corners, although perhaps less so.

Any ideas? Is it that slight bulge or bulb along the edge of the AC?
I think it is because the AC blade is more rounded and not as sharp in the bend (certainly not as thin). The longer AC blade is less likely to be in contact with the face at the tips when shaving open areas of the face; since the longer edge cannot remain in full contact across its length when shaving some convex surface.
 
The sharpest edge I have ever experienced
was a moss agate arrowhead that someone handed to me.
It was about one and a half times the size of a double
edge razor blade.

I held it between my thumb and index finger.
I can hold a double edge razor blade like that
and let go of it no problem.

But when I opened my fingers from the arrowhead,
it stuck in my thumb.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Do try a Feather DE blade in your shavette. It is really sweet. It will give even the very best Method edge some serious competition and it will easily beat all others. You should be able to get them from Thailand on fleabay. They are cheaper there than straight from Japan, and they are the exact same blade. This is a superb blade for traveling, and I know you travel a lot. If some larcenous customs guy makes your shavette and your stash of DE blades disappear, no big loss. Then again, if your Method honed GD or Titan disappears, no great financial ruination there, either, but with the shavette you don't need to carry a strop or the balsa. Same shave technique will work... tight skin and low angle.
My Feather DE blades arrived yesterday. Today I had my first shavette shave with a half Feather Hi Stainless DE blade. That is now the shapest edge that I have ever shaved with. A new criterion against which to judge my method SR edges.

My SR edges are close to a Feather edge, but not their - yet.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
My Feather DE blades arrived yesterday. Today I had my first shavette shave with a half Feather Hi Stainless DE blade. That is now the shapest edge that I have ever shaved with. A new criterion against which to judge my method SR edges.

My SR edges are close to a Feather edge, but not their - yet.
Yeah it's a tough benchmark. I can get sharper than most blades, but only just match a Feather DE, and then only sometimes. Meanwhile the shave is very enjoyable if you know how much sharp you got in your hand, and how to use sharp. I would still rather shave with a straight, but the Feather is no slacker.

Funny, but everyone sings the praises of the Feather single edge long blades, but I feel the DE blade is sharper. And at less than half the price, and two edges to work with, the DE blade is the clear bargain.
 
I don't want to get into the discussion of the definition of sharp. All I'm interested in is the combination of smoothness and effectiveness, in short a BBS with no irritation. If a straight razor gives me that I really don't care how sharp the edge is when viewed through a microscope.

I do own a Feather DX and Professional blades to go with it. There's a reason as to why I don't shave with it more than ever second year of so. It gives me close but not very comfortable shaves.
 
I don't want to get into the discussion of the definition of sharp. All I'm interested in is the combination of smoothness and effectiveness, in short a BBS with no irritation. If a straight razor gives me that I really don't care how sharp the edge is when viewed through a microscope.

I do own a Feather DX and Professional blades to go with it. There's a reason as to why I don't shave with it more than ever second year of so. It gives me close but not very comfortable shaves.
Your thoughts on the matter resemble mine. All I care for is an irritation-free, smooth, comfortable, enjoyable DFS/BBS shave.

That being said, Feather Pro Super blades give me just that. I use them with my AC SS and my Hawk v3 standard-base plate. Hawk being an SE razor with a safety bar is definitely a milder shaver, but AC SS still provides excellent shaves to me, albeit somewhat more aggressive nonetheless.

Perhaps you had a bad blade with your DX...?
 
Your thoughts on the matter resemble mine. All I care for is an irritation-free, smooth, comfortable, enjoyable DFS/BBS shave.

That being said, Feather Pro Super blades give me just that. I use them with my AC SS and my Hawk v3 standard-base plate. Hawk being an SE razor with a safety bar is definitely a milder shaver, but AC SS still provides excellent shaves to me, albeit somewhat more aggressive nonetheless.

Perhaps you had a bad blade with your DX...?
Thank you, I do appreciate your advice, even so I assure you that I over the last ten years or so have tried close to every blade there is in my Feather DX. So far I Haven't found any blade type that even comes close to the comfort of an ordinary straight razor shave. I still think of Mistress DX as my Sadomasochistic shaving tutor. The upside is that if you can get a close, bloodless and reasonable comfortable shave with a Feather DX you've conquered the highest mountain there is in the straight razor shaving world and the rest of your journey will be like a walk in the park.

I truly owe a lot to my Feather DX that's why I have kept her and now and then I take her out to dance to make sure that I won't get sloppy in my shaving routine. Come to think about it I'll most likely ask her for a dance again soon...
 
Thank you, I do appreciate your advice, even so I assure you that I over the last ten years or so have tried close to every blade there is in my Feather DX. So far I Haven't found any blade type that even comes close to the comfort of an ordinary straight razor shave. I still think of Mistress DX as my Sadomasochistic shaving tutor. The upside is that if you can get a close, bloodless and reasonable comfortable shave with a Feather DX you've conquered the highest mountain there is in the straight razor shaving world and the rest of your journey will be like a walk in the park.

I truly owe a lot to my Feather DX that's why I have kept her and now and then I take her out to dance to make sure that I won't get sloppy in my shaving routine. Come to think about it I'll most likely ask her for a dance again soon...
Tnx, but TBH I don't think of myself as any sort of shaving expert. I'm relatively new to it (2 years) and only have a modest experience. Prior to this, it's been 30 or so years of cartridge and canned goo. The AC SS is the only shavette I use (have no other) and, I guess, I can say it gives me pretty good shaves every once in a while. I don't use it very frequently, let alone regularly, so I might've been just lucky.

I use the Hawk v3 as "daily driver" razor. Candidly, I'm not much of a SR shaver, so I wouldn't attempt to give any advice to anyone, opine at best.
 
Tnx, but TBH I don't think of myself as any sort of shaving expert. I'm relatively new to it (2 years) and only have a modest experience. Prior to this, it's been 30 or so years of cartridge and canned goo. The AC SS is the only shavette I use (have no other) and, I guess, I can say it gives me pretty good shaves every once in a while. I don't use it very frequently, let alone regularly, so I might've been just lucky.

I use the Hawk v3 as "daily driver" razor. Candidly, I'm not much of a SR shaver, so I wouldn't attempt to give any advice to anyone, opine at best.
Please accept my sincere apologies. I meant to be witty, not arrogant. :001_smile
 
Top Bottom