WetShaving
This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
Check out these alternative front-ends for this server:
https://gem.wetshaving.social - a nice modern interface
https://old.wetshaving.social - designed to look like old.reddit.com
Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social.
Community Rules
Rule 1 - Behaviour and Etiquette
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Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
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Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
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Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Rule 2 - Content Guidelines
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Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
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Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
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Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Rule 3 - Reviews and Disclosure
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Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
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Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
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Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Rule 4 - Advertising
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Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
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Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
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Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
Rule 5 - Inappropriate Content
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All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
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Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Rule 10 - Moderator Discretion
- The rules may not apply perfectly to every situation. The mods have final discretion.
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Sadly, yes. I’ve known for a long time that typical razor bevel angles fall between 15 and 20 degrees. I tinkered with this, myself, a couple of years ago. I reduced the spine width on my Gold Dollar to change the sharpened bevel angle from just over 20 degrees to 18 degrees. Took a long time. The feel of the razor improved considerably.
That's a bummer.
I don't want to imagine how much time and effort it took to whittle down the spine enough to make a meaningful change in bevel angle 😅 .
Btw, I now want to measure my 17. I have a feeling it may have a blunter angle than my other razors, but it still shaves great. I need to double check my assumptions here.
Btw, I determine the bevel angle by just calculating the sharpening angle and doubling it. On all the razors I’ve seen, the sharpening angle falls well within the range where the small angle approximation for sine works. Typically, I just do the trig in my head.
Once I started paying attention to sharpening geometry, I started to realize why I like certain razors so much. I would be very interested in your experience on this as well. I’ve realized the ways in which I adapt to razors with wider bevel angles and this tips me off to actually measure them.
I'm not sure I follow. I'd have just measured the spine thickness t at the place of hone wear, and the width b from edge to spine hone wear and computed the bevel angle as α= 2 arc sin(b/(2w)), just as the central angle of an isosceles triangle . Is the sharpening angle β = α/2? in that case, I agree that β ≈ sin(β), certainly at the precision I'll have measuring t, and b.
Yes, that’s the sharpening angle. The bevel is formed by laying the razor on the stone at the spine and edge. The razor is sharpened by removing material (abrading) until the centerline from the spine through the edge intersects with the stone’s surface. For a razor, that angle is typically less than ten degrees and within the small angle approximation range. If I have my phone handy, I just use the calculator. Much more convenient than a slide rule :)
For the approximation to become useful, we just need to start thinking of bevel angles in units of radians now 😄
Already there, except I think in terms of sharpening angle and save the multiplication step. Since you have a penchant for maths, you'll be soon to follow :)