09-04-2019, 09:57 AM
Thanks for playing along, and good question, Mike. Off the top of my head, seems like it must be the steel. Blades that aren't meant to be sharpened could be quite a bit harder. Toward that end, how much money would razor blade companies spend, figuring out exactly what alloy and heat treat to use? I think they tailored Sandvik 13C26 steel to do some incredible things with... frapillions of dollars in metallurgy bills.
I don't have any idea about the Rockwell of disposable blades. Tell ya what though. I'll trade Rockwell machines with you and do all your testing for you for free. For life even. Mine still works perfectly well as a great conversation piece. It also touts a smaller footprint and it's much easier to maneuver as a paperweight. I can have tracking info for you before lunchtime.
I've heard it explained that the "thinness" of the straight razor blade is a key point. Something like, "If you start off with a piece of .003" thick steel, it's easy to make it thinner". Well, that kinda makes sense. Especially if the objective is cutting hair. Make the edge stable enough for that, and that alone (not something .008" thick with something RHC 55 at the center), and see what happens. Turns out that actually seems to work pretty well, and has for a really long time.
I'm not kidding when I say I literally splash some water on my face and fricken Shave. It doesn't make enough difference to me to go through the trouble of using soap. It just doesn't hurt. Not during or after a shave. When it starts tugging it gets annoying. I have used rubbing alcohol after shaving because that's supposed to illuminate your experience. I think I remember it burning more back when this was all new to me, and my razors were really sharp, and I tried to get a really close shave. Maybe I have more cave... person in me. Cavemen shaved with rocks. To this day women just rip that shit out by the roots. Never hear them crying.
So here's a question for you, my friend. Why are DE razor blades now measuring twice as sharp as they used to? I'm pretty sure I saw with my own eyeballs that a DE blade started out at 50, and left in still air overnight got significantly duller. I'm thinking about 20% duller. Now DE blades are measuring 50% Sharper through Use? Wasn't this a lot more logical 5 years ago? We might have shat bricks if shaving sharpened blades back then.
I remember saying that the carbon straight razor might have been a little sharper after use, but for one thing, carbon steel is different. Besides that I had some misgivings about those results. I wasn't expecting edge failure, and I'm looking for something sharpenable that won't do that.
I don't have any idea about the Rockwell of disposable blades. Tell ya what though. I'll trade Rockwell machines with you and do all your testing for you for free. For life even. Mine still works perfectly well as a great conversation piece. It also touts a smaller footprint and it's much easier to maneuver as a paperweight. I can have tracking info for you before lunchtime.
I've heard it explained that the "thinness" of the straight razor blade is a key point. Something like, "If you start off with a piece of .003" thick steel, it's easy to make it thinner". Well, that kinda makes sense. Especially if the objective is cutting hair. Make the edge stable enough for that, and that alone (not something .008" thick with something RHC 55 at the center), and see what happens. Turns out that actually seems to work pretty well, and has for a really long time.
I'm not kidding when I say I literally splash some water on my face and fricken Shave. It doesn't make enough difference to me to go through the trouble of using soap. It just doesn't hurt. Not during or after a shave. When it starts tugging it gets annoying. I have used rubbing alcohol after shaving because that's supposed to illuminate your experience. I think I remember it burning more back when this was all new to me, and my razors were really sharp, and I tried to get a really close shave. Maybe I have more cave... person in me. Cavemen shaved with rocks. To this day women just rip that shit out by the roots. Never hear them crying.
So here's a question for you, my friend. Why are DE razor blades now measuring twice as sharp as they used to? I'm pretty sure I saw with my own eyeballs that a DE blade started out at 50, and left in still air overnight got significantly duller. I'm thinking about 20% duller. Now DE blades are measuring 50% Sharper through Use? Wasn't this a lot more logical 5 years ago? We might have shat bricks if shaving sharpened blades back then.
I remember saying that the carbon straight razor might have been a little sharper after use, but for one thing, carbon steel is different. Besides that I had some misgivings about those results. I wasn't expecting edge failure, and I'm looking for something sharpenable that won't do that.