Nice to see you around Ray. :love:
What you say, makes sense. As ever.
I think longevity also depends on what the shaver expects from his shave. Now, if anyone else but myself would say such a thing, you might be inclined to think he was implying that shavers who can shave long time with the same edge are used to shaving with edges that are on the "dull" side. But you know that I would rather reverse that statement and claim that anyone who needs to put the edge back on the razor every few shaves, might be too much occupied with a keenness race and not enough focused on the actual task, which is: to shave.
I will immediately admit that the above statement is too harsh: if someone likes to shave with "nano-particle sharpness", that's absolutely that person's prerogative. But you mustn't expect "nano-particle sharpness" to withstand the stresses of cutting whiskers as well - and as long - as a more "traditional" razor sharpness.
Which brings me to another interesting aspect of edge performance. I used to sharpen my hand place blades to 1µ diamond paste sharpness (the leather wheel of a Tormek machine). I'd touch them up frequently on a Coticule with water. It worked. But blade longevity was poor, and I had to go back rather soon to the 600 grit wheel on the Tormek.
Then I changed my strategy and started to skip the diamond stropping and finish on a decent Coticule slurry. My blades end up slightly less sharp, but it's a sharpness they can keep for much longer. I'm almost certain that an edge with a radius so thin that it can barely withstand the stresses its being exposed to, becomes quickly duller than the same tool with an edge that started a bit less sharp with an edge radius that can cope with said stresses.
The bottom line is, if the edge on your razor can cope with 100 shaves, it is likely to cope with another 100.
But if your edge shows already decline after 5 shaves, well, I wouldn't expect 15 more.
Still, 1000 shaves is something I'm sure about that I can't manage that what my razors. 50 shaves, I can manage, and maybe another 50 to prove a point, but 1000?
By the way, to rule out all misunderstanding, you did use that W&B every day of the past year?
Kind regards,
Bart.
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