How long does an unused straight stay sharp?
OK, I have sent the bulk of my blades to honemeister to sharpen, kept one in reserve, hadn't shaved for 4 days (shooting camp) - came back set up for a shave (stropping, hot towel, etc.), and it didn't go too well, pulling tugging, no nicks but just a real touch and go thing (rather disappointing) - razor just was not sharp enough to deal with growth, certainly not against the grain...I stopped, and finished up with the electric it-who-must-not-be-named.
My thoughts are this, if I had had the rest of my razors, I would have just found one that was sharper - but in this case, it just wasn't up to snuff, I didn't have the time to paste strop the thing - and had to move on -
So, when I get the stable back, I would like to put back a spanky honed razor, saved just for those emergencies when the rest are too dull, or too badly stropped to do the trick, and my question therefor is, how long could I hope to "save" a razor before I would need to rehone - could I keep one fresh indefinitely, perhaps even oiled - before needing to take it out and strop or worse? I will have enough razors to have a rotation without the "reserve" razor, but I am unsure whether just natural oxidation of the blade edge would foil my master plan?
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
K