I’m always surprised when I find natural materials that outperform anything that man is able to produce. It happens quite often and seems to also be the case with natural finishers. Most people that have been straight razor shaving for long enough tend to agree that a natural finishers are unrivalled for face feel and performance. How can it be that random natural deposits so consistently outperform all of our man made efforts to improve them?
At first glance, synthetics seem to have a big advantage. We can closely control all aspects of their construction. The partical size, shape, hardness and size distribution can all be precisely engineered. So can the properties of the binder. Under lab conditions all impurities can be removed from the mix. There is no obvious reason why a perfect finisher could not be produced in the factory.
There’s no doubt that synthetics work. They can cut fast and perform in a very predictable manner. They can cut very finely and produce amazingly sharp edges. For the early sharpening stages they run rings around naturals.
Where the synths fall down is in the ‘feel’ of an edge. Not important for knives or tools but of the outmost importance to razors. Why has it not been possible to produce a synthetic that gives the smoothness of a Jnat, Ark or Thüringian edge?
At first glance, synthetics seem to have a big advantage. We can closely control all aspects of their construction. The partical size, shape, hardness and size distribution can all be precisely engineered. So can the properties of the binder. Under lab conditions all impurities can be removed from the mix. There is no obvious reason why a perfect finisher could not be produced in the factory.
There’s no doubt that synthetics work. They can cut fast and perform in a very predictable manner. They can cut very finely and produce amazingly sharp edges. For the early sharpening stages they run rings around naturals.
Where the synths fall down is in the ‘feel’ of an edge. Not important for knives or tools but of the outmost importance to razors. Why has it not been possible to produce a synthetic that gives the smoothness of a Jnat, Ark or Thüringian edge?