Thread: Oiling the blade?

If you lay your open razor on a towel and zap it with a hand held hair dryer for a few moments, that will get at moisture around the pivot too.


Scott

Some people suggest to strop the razor after shaving to remove moisture.

I've read somewhere else, though, that allegedly the razor should rest for at least 24 hours after shaving before it gets stropped, to give the microscopic "fins" a chance to straighten; and that stropping right after a shave would just snap off these micro-fins (presumably leading to a prematurely dulling razor).

So which is it? Stropping after shave OK or a big 'no-no'?

FWIW, I don't think looking to what barbers do is necessarily of value here, as they use the razor as a professional tool and perform many shaves each day, so it would never have been an option for them to let a razor rest that long.

I personally don't shave more than once in 24 hours. But, I use the same razor day after day, stropping before and after each shave.
If the rest theory were true my razor should be very dull by now, but it is not. Therefore, I have my doubts about the validity of resting a razor for longer than 24 hours.

And, FWIW, I haven't honed that same razor since May or June of 2006. No abrassive pastes either. Still passes the HHT and shaves very nicely too.


Scott

honedright,

That seems like a long time to be able to go without honing at all - do you not have a tough beard? Or do you attribute this long lasting blade to stropping effectively? Is the razor carbon steel or stainless?

Oh, no. Here we go...

Keith, a few months back we had a very long thread with Scott about this subject. You might want to do a search on the phrase, "Stropping is King." It'll turn up the thread, which is good reading.

Josh

Originally Posted by Razorburne

honedright,

That seems like a long time to be able to go without honing at all - do you not have a tough beard? Or do you attribute this long lasting blade to stropping effectively? Is the razor carbon steel or stainless?

I have a heavy beard.

I think it is my stropping.

The razor is carbon steel (Puma).

And I won't bore you guys with the "Stropping is King" stuff again. Just threw that info in to strengthen my case against the razor resting theory. In my experience, it just doesn't hold water.

Scott

The razor resting thing is nothing but an old barbers tale. Even if the fins on the edge grow or do something for 48 hours it does not affect the shaving. many use the same razor day in and out. Heck years ago most only had one razor and thats all they used.

As far as drying the razor goes I usually try and not get water on the pivot but I always blow the water out. Some people use that bottled air stuff. I have a 60 razor rotation so I always wipe the blade down with sterol after use.

I don't want to beat a dead horse here and if someone says they have shaved with the same razor for 6 months or more without any honing I won't dispute them but the only comment I'll make is that when I did my stropping experiment a while back I found that when you use the same razor or even a couple of razors day in and out there is this very insidious thing that happens. You think you are getting a great shave but the shaving quality really does deteriorate but it happens so slowly you don't realize it. Its only when you then pick up a really sharp or newly honed razor that you say wow I didn't realize that. I know that's what I found so...