Thread: losing my edge woes

Hello all,

I have a Torrey starter razor ("Our Beauty", I think), which I've had for about a year and half or so. Noticing it was losing its edge, I sent it off to be honed back in August, and was satisfied with the results. I also went ahead and purchased a Chinese waterstone to use as a barber's hone for "touch-up" every few weeks. I strop regularly before each shave, and store it outside of my bathroom.

However, despite all of this, my razor seems to be getting progressively duller, to the point that it doesn't even really shave that well anymore. Since it seems like most people only need to send their razor to get honed every year or two, I figure I'm doing something wrong- but I'm not entirely sure what. If anyone has any suggestions for what it might be, and how I can fix what I'm doing, please let me know.

Thanks!

LOL You got 6 months out of your starter razor

People "Learn" to extend that time longer and longer between honing, it takes practice and the better you get at the entire hobby helps extend that time

I would also recommend a balsa strop with CrOx and FeOx pastes from whippeddog.com for VERY cheap. This could extend your edges indefinitely I am told, and am experiencing myself!

I may be wrong on this (and if I am, someone please correct me), but the theory is that a properly honed razor, quality strop and barber's hone/finishing hone, combined with good technique in all aspects of shaving with a straight, could keep a person going indefinitely with no need to have a full honing done.

However, since we don't always achieve perfection in our technique or maintenance, it's possible that your razor seems to be getting progressively worse because it IS getting progressively worse. You may think you're maintaining it properly, but if you lack experience in doing so, you can't be sure.

Picture the way a lithium ion battery from a cordless drill works in it's charging- from 100% charge, it works great and lasts a long time. One of the great things about lithium ion is that you can partially charge it without causing "battery memory". So, say you only charge to 75% capacity. Your performance still seems to be good and all is well. Well, the next time, you only charge to 30% capacity. You're probably not going to be happy with the results.

Right now, think of your technique as running in screws... the more you spin the bit in the screw head, the more you discharge the battery.

Think of your touching up on the Chinese hone as placing the battery on it's charger- you may not realize that your charging to under full capacity. Sure, you're charging the battery, i.e. dragging the razor across the hone, but if you're not bringing the battery to full charge, you'll see diminished performance over time. If there's no indicator light on the charger to tell you when the battery has reached full charge, i.e. experience or a benchmark, you're sort of shooting blind.


I dunno if this is accurate or explains why you're experiencing what you are, but it's just a little analogy that popped into my head.

^^^^^^^^^^^ makes perfect sense to me