Thanks for this art of shaving lecture !
Perhaps the orange would be what you get if you did the steep angle with pressure on the safety bar?
Thanks for this art of shaving lecture !
Edgar - this is my experience with the ATT R/H plates. No pressure = happy, pressure = not so happy... I'd think applying pressure to achieve a steeper angle is a bad idea, but as I said I'm not familiar with the ATT razors.
Edgar - this is my experience with the ATT R/H plates. No pressure = happy, pressure = not so happy
Thanks for your input, David. That's what I thought, but couldn't say for sure how it works with the ATTs.
Edgar - this is my experience with the ATT R/H plates. No pressure = happy, pressure = not so happy
Depends how we define these things. As the blade is often exposed beyond the plane of skin (tangential between cap and bar) one can simply push the blade directly into one's face without changing angle. But if you want to go steeper than steep (steeper than the plane from blade edge to safety bar), you've gotta drive your skin into the blade gap or push the bar into your face, changing the local area of the skin plane (but then technically the blade angle hasn't changed for that local skin surface). Fun experiments, all.
I used my razor against my skin without a blade to demo this to myself. Not a bad exercise for new (and old) shavers. You can see, feel, and experiment with angles. Maybe with a blade (mindful not to slit your wrists), gently test cap-to-blade and blade-to-bar angles.
Well, I had to try it didn't I?
This morning I used an extra-steep angle with pressure, using my ATT Atlas H1.
It seems similar in concept to Woodfluter's Guide to Low Angle Shaving, where you hit a more shallow angle by applying pressure.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/280833-Low-Angle-Shaving-Illustrated
Basically, I had the handle almost parallel to the skin, and then I pressed (lightly) until I could just feel the blade, and hear it cutting. Short strokes, paying close attention to the pressure and keeping the angle very steep. It felt like the angle of the H1 provided something of a buffer to the pressure, which looking at the photos above, might be different than what an R41 would offer?
It seemed a little harder to use this technique on my chin, but everywhere else seemed fine. The pressure seemed to help in popping up the hairs, and increased the efficiency of shave. Much of my face was BBS in a single pass. I did get one small weeper, but it stopped bleeding by itself before I had finished my routine. Hours later, I would say that even on the first try, it produced almost as little irritation as it would have with no pressure, and certainly worked better for me than a shallow angle shave with my H1.
I'll report back after more experimentation.
Cheers,
Shawn
Hi all,
Thanks for the great post..I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I also took delivery of a new R41 Grande yesterday..
So now I have to tell you about my first (cautious) shave this morning.
I had been using the R89 Grande, but thought that I might try something a bit more aggressive.
After 4 Months with an R89 :
Even with a 3 pass WTG, XTG, ATG, I could still feel a bit of stubble in certain directions and spots, even after touch-ups, and this bothered me. (I had even gone to 4 passes and my beard is not thick.)
I must admit I was cautious and did lots of research on the R41 threads before getting one.
I have been using feathers in my R89 and decided to stick with them in the R41.
(I believe in the "sharp tool" theory.)
OK... here we go.
Using Prorazo cream, I did a 3 pass WTG, XTG, XTG shave..
(I thought I would be careful and wait a day or so before trying against the grain)
The result:
The BEST BBS shave I have ever had in my 4 months of DE shaving. (& Zero cuts.)
You can definitely feel that the blade is resting on your skin, and the angle is steeper than the R89. (the handle is closer to the face) but it is a GOOD feeling..
I use sound as one of my main feedback senses when shaving - I NEVER leave the water running.
With the R41 you can hear exactly what it is doing.. I even tried a very steep, almost perpendicular angle as some have advised here on the forums. I was able to vary the angle a great degree with the R41 and it would still work fine - much more so than the closed comb R89. - very nice.
Of course I tried to remember to use good technique with this razor, wrist locked, and the proper angle picture in my head.
I took my time.
It worked Magnificently.
The R89 goes in the drawer, & "the beast" is my new "go to" razor.
I absolutely LOVE this thing. I do not even need an ATG pass. (although I will use one soon)
Thanks to all for your helpful info on B&B.
I am SO glad I decided to try this razor!
Joe
I thought about this, yesterday, right before eating my evening meal. (It may have been said already, sorry if it has)
If you have ever over-toasted a piece of bread and used a knife to scrape off the burnt part, you were, most likely, using a steep angle.
Happy New Year you steep-angle-junkies!!
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This observation is precisely true. And the reason is that in the use of that knife you were attempting to SCRAPE OFF burnt parts of the toast.
If, on the other hand, you were trying to apply butter to perfectly cooked toast, you would likely use a SHALLOW angle.
Which way does the most damage to the surface of the toast?
I rest my case for shallow angle shaving.