Shoutout to the barber in Cincinnati who told me a straight razor's edge can be measured in microns

I read a piece in a trade magazine that said a properly honed edge is about 0.1 microns wide, which is roughly a thousand times thinner than a human hair.

2 comments

2 Comments

jones.grace1mo ago

That trade magazine piece is onto something, but it misses the cool part. The real trick is keeping that edge from rolling over the second it touches skin or stubble. All that work to get it that thin, and then the steel's own hardness can work against it. Makes you respect the old school barbers who kept those edges alive all day.

brian_murray1mo agoMost Upvoted

My granddad's old barber shop in Philly had a guy who could do a full day of shaves on one hone, just stropping between clients. He said the steel had to have a little give, like a spring, not just be hard. Modern super steels can chip if you look at them wrong because they're too brittle. That's why those old timers used simpler carbon steel and knew exactly how to treat it.