How long does a razor stay sharp?

My professionally honed blade is still giving me really comfortable shaves with nothing more than a good stropping in between. I'm still using multiple razors every day, comparing my honing efforts to it, so it's not getting a full shave every day, but pretty close.

The blade is a red-injun #101 spike point. Any idea how long I can expect this to last before it needs a touch up on the hone? I'm tempted to stop using it all together except when I need to do direct comparisons just to prevent it from getting dull.

I know that the time window on such things is really variable, but just a general range will do... one, two, maybe even three months of daily use?

Really, really, variable but the general consensus is some type of re-touch at around 3 months...
This might only be paste or an ultra high git hone.....

My Red Iinjun hasn't seen a hone in about 70 shaves now and its next bad shave will be the first. Of course it seems like I hone a lot less often than the majority of guys here.

A lot of this depends on the quality and frequency of your stropping as well; improper stropping can cause the blade to dull prematurely. I would say an average 2-4 month window before a touch up; I use a fine grit pasted strop on mine when they start to tug a bit.

With proper stropping, a very long time, I would say 90-100 shaves. I use six razors in rotation, and have not had to rehone any of them for the past 8 months.

In my short experience so far, 20 - 50 shaves is what I have found depending on the razor

I've found after about 15 shaves the comfort level starts to deteriorate though the razor will still give a bbs shave for quite a while after that. Some razors though will go much longer. My TI damascus hasn't been honed in probably 100 shaves.

your responses have been very informative.

I notice if the blade is anything less than VERY keen so I typically get about a dozen shaves out of a razor before I want to touch it up again. I could get a dozen or more, but why when I've got the tools to bring it back quickly.

X

Isn't using a fine paste on a strop touching it up? If you are talking about not having to do any sharpening at all then after about 2 weeks the performance of the blade starts to drops,for me. This is a razor with very good steel and is honed up to 16K with hones, then pasted. I use to sharpen a razor with a 4 sided strop and then I could only get about 7 days out of a razor before touching it up. Since going to mostly hones to sharpen, then I get about 2 weeks and even then it is just a slight performance drop. I would suspect that using some of the more exotic hones would lead to even a longer time between touch ups.


Take care,
Richard

A razors sharp edge lasts as long as it meets YOUR expectations for a good shave. My expectations are very high for the sharpness of my razor, no amount of stropping on leather will make it last any more than maybe 15 shaves (frequently less depending on the razor) for me, but that does not mean I couldn't continue shaving well beyond that without honing... after all it's still bl*ddy sharp, it's just not as sharp as *I* like it.

Everyone has to find their own comfort level and there's no shame in preferring to hone more often than what some others do.

Regards

Christian

One key I found is that good stropping is so important. I used to do 40 laps, but found I get a better, smoother shave with 60 laps now.

My expectations are a little high too as I always want that "perfect edge" feeling, I usually do a very light touch up on hone after 10 shaves on average. Of course there is a difference between restoring an edge angle, and touch ups. Paddle strops I feel help keep proper edge geo, but take longer, skin is the best finishing strop (I use my palm or thigh while shaving sometimes.) :chop:

I've read all of the replies here in this thread, and it appears that everyone agrees that stropping helps a razor stay sharp

What hone would you use when a barber hone or paste don't seem to do the job?
would you have to go back to the 4k? or simple 8k and then barber-paste..?

usually barber hone has to do job if not then go to 8k not to 4k.4k usually used to put bevel if your razor was shave ready then it doesn't need to put another bevel.8k try it you should be ok. hope this helps

I agree.
Generally I find a previously shave ready razor doesn't take much work to keep it that way. I'd just use the finest grit that works.

i watched a video on tv a while back it had a barber getting ready to shave a customer, he got out the couticle and did a dozen passes on it then stropped and shaved the customer so i would think like howard said sometime back, every so often i would touch up on a bout kept in medicine cabinet to keep that pristene edge, you would be able to keep the razor going indefintly like that id think, the hone wear to your razor wouldnt be a factor if you only did a dozen strokes on the hone, i tape all my razors anyway to avoid undightly hone wear on them to the spine just my 2 cents worth