Thread: How often hone? How often Strop?

Greetings to all from a new member and new straight-shaver. I have some experience with honing for cutlery, but have never before honed a straight razor. I have read some seemingly conflicting information about the frequency with which you should:

1) Hone a razor
2) Strop a razor
3) Shave with the same razor

Can anyone point me in the direction (or supply) some information on these three items? Short answers are fine!

If you hone a razor and it is not optimally sharp, will stropping make matters worse or improve them? I am not not completely clear on the merits of each, and when each is necessary to perform. That said I haven't even purchased a strop yet, partly because I am so indecisive about what type to buy.

Thanks,

Nick, I mean Jed (bad shaving joke!)

Welcome to SRP!
I touch up on a .25micron diamond pasted strop nearly every shave before regular stropping but I'm probably the exception not the rule. I pull out the barber hone only when needed every month and a half or so.
You should strop before every shave. It aligns the edge for a smoother shave.
There are some who say you should rotate razors but I have not heard any real reason for this habit except that they have multiples and like the change of scenery
http://www.shavemyface.com/ on the homepage there is a nice Straight Razor Shave "How To" by Dr. Chris Moss. Answers a lot of questions.
Have fun in the forum.

Stropping aligns the microserrations of the edge. Honing removes the metal and forms new microserrations.
Strop before every shave.
I touch it up on the pasted bench hone every 5-10 shaves (closer to 5, but I'm spoiled lol) (5 strokes per blade)
Shaving... At least 60,000 times before you hone it down to a nub

Thanks for the replies guys,

So then if my first few jobs honing aren't spectacular, I can re-hone and re-shave (after stropping) until I think I've got a good edge down, then just strop before every shave until it feels like the blade needs touching up on the hone.

Sound about right?

I was also a bit worried about over-honing. But I guess if the edge is dull, over-honing isn't really a concern....

Thanks again.

Jed

You should strop a razor at least before every shave, many people like stropping during the shave. I strop before the shave, between my passes (if I do more than one), and a little bit after the shave to clean off the edge and prevent corosion.

The amount of time between honings and touch-ups depends on many factors (beard thickness, steel type, edge sharpness, grind, average number of shaving passes, technique, etc.) and if you ask 100 people on this forum you would probably get close to 100 answers to this question. My answer is that a well honed blade should last at least a month between touch ups, probably more. FWIW Lynn says that you should be able to go at least 3 months before you need a touch up, but this requires a blade that is well honed and stropped properly every time. It does not seem like most people on this forum go that long, but that may be at least partially because it is fun to take a razor to a stone when you know what you are doing.

I would think that every razor has enough life to last several generations if it is properly cared for.

You may want to pick up a copy of Lynn's DVD "The Wold of Straight Razors". Its 3 hours long and full of useful info - especially on honing. Plus, you get to see it instead of read it. For $20, its a great value. I think its available from Lynn in the buy/sell forum or from Classic shaving or vintageblades.

Jordan

I'm getting about 2 months from stone work. I use a pasted strop 1.0/0.5, when it feels like the strop is not getting it as sharp as it should. Usually the pasted strop picks it up just fine, about once a month per razor.

I'm rotating 5 or 6 blades at the moment. A couple of them are still riding the fence on wether they are going to remain in rotation. And yess I like to change the scenery

Thanks HDSG,

Are you talking about using the hanging strop or the paddle strop? I guess that leads to another couple-a questions: When would you use each of them, and should I have both?

Best,

Jed

Paddle strops are generally used for touch ups with pastes (but they can be used without as well) because the surface is very sturdy and cannot sag as easily. Most people (including myself) preffer to use hanging strops for everyday regular stropping because they have more leather surface area, and thus get the job done quicker. Does this answer your question?

At the moment I have one of Tony Millers handled two sided strops, with 1.0 and 0.5 diamond paste. My leather hanging strop is still a "newbee" strop till I can snag one of Tony's good ones

I can honestly say that my honeing jobs have been greatly increased because of that purchase. I would recomend a pasted paddle strop to anyone