Thread: How often do you hone?

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

You're correct, Steve.

Thank you.

I get between 40-60 shaves between hones with just a touchup every 20 or so shaves...for the touchup I use the yellow cod or pasted leather on a corion magnetic base from keith at hand american...the varience of amount of shaves between hones is related to the sharpness of the hone and the stroping technique before and after shaves...

I get a very good number of shaves before I touch it up with my TM pasted paddle. This has carried me for a long time although last week I had to pull out the hone for a Puma that needed more than the paddle could give. It is a good idea to learn how to use a hone. just my 2 cents.

I´m one of the guys who doesn´t use pasted strops. My first good razor was honed by Lynn Abrams. I shaved with it almost daily before building up a small rotation. I had this razor over 14 months before I had to touch it up on the 8k side of the norton.

I currently have 4 razors in my rotation, nothing fancy, a basic dovo, 2 Clauss razors I got from thrift stores, and a Robeson restored by Bill Ellis. I´ve yet to have to touch up any of these blades after the first sharpening and I´ve got a pretty wiry beard. I currently finish razors on a 10k waterstone after doing the norton stones.

The main reason I´ve chosen not to use pastes so far is simply economics. I´ve already spent money on the stones and the 8k and 10k stones will probably last me ages even with touch ups as they don´t face the same amount of work the 1k and 4k do on an initial restoration. So why spend the money on pasting a strop when the 8k and 10k stones can clean up a razors edge just fine?

For someone who doesn´t have the stones and doesn´t mind spending money to have someone else hone a razor on that rare occasion, the pasted paddle strop will be a great money saver.

Once I get my housing figured out I´m going to make a couple bench strop/hone units from graphite and leather just for finishing on initial honing. I have 1 micron and .5 micron diamond pastes for the task. the 1 micron is equivalent to 14k grit and the .5 micron is equvalent to 60k grit. This will be my first experience with pastes.

Obviously, the quality of the edge on your razor has a lot to do how long it stays shaving sharp. And your stropping technique, beard toughness, etc. will too, but I'd like to add two other things to keep in mind...

1. Shaving technique can have a significant affect on the time between touchups/honings. When I first started str8 shaving I had considerable trouble with my jaw line/chin area. I got into a very bad habit of increasing the razor angle in that area... effectively, I was kinda "scraping" the whiskers off instead of "slicing" them off. Needless to say, this wasn't good for the razor's delicate edge, so I had to go back to the hone every 5-10 shaves during that time period. This was true even with my first shave-ready razor. Since I improved my technique that razor has given me over 50 shaves and still strops up nicely with just a plain leather strop.
2. Even identical razors (same brand/model) can hold their edge significantly differently... for example, I have two razors that are identical except for the color of the scales. One holds an edge seemingly forever and always strops back to peak easily. The other one never gives me more than 25 shaves before needing a touchup on a leather hone (w/chrome oxide).

So, to connect to your original question... is sending out to be honed yearly acceptable? The answer for me would be... it all depends... both on me and the razor.

You really should be able to get 2-3 months on an average honing and then a light honing should be all that's required from then on.

Have fun.

Lynn

Originally Posted by ZiCheng

How often do you hone your razors?

About once every fifteen to twenty shaves.

Originally Posted by ZiCheng

Is learning to hone a skill that needs to be learned by every straight razor shaver?

It's by no means required, but I think it's a good idea. Helps you understand your edge a little better

Originally Posted by ZiCheng

Did every shaver learn to hone before safety razors?

I doubt it. The barber or some other sharpening service could do it for you.

Originally Posted by ZiCheng

I'm wondering if sending my razor to be honed once a year or so is acceptable rather than purchasing hones and honing myself.

If you get a pasted paddle strop to touch it up when the edge starts to slip away, that should work out fine.

X

Thanks for all the info guys.

I have very light, slow growing facial hair that I shave once every 3-5 days so I can probably get by with less honing and touching up than most guys on this forum. My next question will be what type of razor will keep its edge better, which I'll start another thread for. Thanks!

Originally Posted by adjustme69

You really should be able to get 2-3 months on an average honing and then a light honing should be all that's required from then on.

Have fun.

Lynn

Thanks Lynn!
I was beginning to think I was some sort of freak
I usually get 2 to 4 months. No pastes, no touch ups!!



Mark