Daily Stroppings

So in theory how long could one go between honings with just a daily strop on leather?

Depends on many factors: quality of the steel, toughness of your beard, your stropping technique, your skin prep, initial sharpness of the razor, do you use pasted strops or not. How much dullness of the blade you are prepared to accept. I have had razors from members here who claimed they were shave-ready that I found not sharp enough.

So far in my experience, with my beard and with high quality of shave I have come to expect of myself - once every 12-14 months. This keeps my razors very sharp.

I find a bit of irritation/abrasion is a sign of slight dullness and then I hone. A few passes over fine Norton hone are usually enough.

I prepare well and shave only when my beard is nice a soft after a nice shower in the morning (or evening, it depends).

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Originally Posted by Kees

Depends on many factors: quality of the steel, toughness of your beard, your stropping technique, your skin prep, initial sharpness of the razor, do you use pasted strops or not. How much dullness of the blade you are prepared to accept. I have had razors from members here who claimed they were shave-ready that I found not sharp enough.

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I totally agree with you. The process of shaving with a straight has a lot of moving parts and the final result, whether you define that as an excellent shave or going a long time between honings, depends on acheiving excellence in each area. Having said that, however, you made me curious to ask you how many shaves you, personally, get from a razor before you hone it.

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Originally Posted by mudo_koshaka

...once every 12-14 months. This keeps my razors very sharp.

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That is an unusually long time, I get a few weeks at the most between honings. But I have a very tough beard with pretty finicky skin underneath so I notice when the edge starts to deteriorate even just slightly.

Normally one would expect 2-3 months between honings.

Have fun,

Lynn

I rotate through three razors. Each is used twice per week. I get a month or two between touch-up honings.

This issue that is being touched on here is not really how long of time between honings, but how many shaves between honings. The difference is due to the number of razors used. Some people only use one razor while others use, well, a lot more than one. That is dramatically going to alter the frequency of honings for a particular razor.