Extreme sharpness is ephemeral!
Here is the edge of Diamond Hayashi razor finished of 100.000 grit diamond compound before and after just one shave.
This razor is made with an excellent quality steel but even so it cannot hold that edge for too long. At this sharpness level the tip of the edge is extremely thin and easy to crumble when shaving or even when stropping (depends on the quality of the strop), resulting soon in an aggressive shave.
The final finishing stone and the type of steel can decide the comfort and the lasting edge of a razor. Razors are made with a wide variety of steels and each steel can hold an edge for longer or shorter time at various grits.
I found that most razors do their best between 12.000-20.000 grit. Some stainless steel razors perform and hold the sharpness well around the 12.000 grit and some hard carbon steel razors can hold well a higher sharpness like up to 20.000 grit. How much the sharpness will last is directly affected by the thickness of beard, pre-shave preparation, angle of shaving, the quality of leather/canvas of the strop and most importantly, the stropping skills of the user.
#razorsharpness #honing #straightrazor #straightrazorshaving
