Touch-up stones/pastes?

At this stage of my SR life I don't want to get into honing/restoring, but I am interested in touching up my blades when the time comes. Lynn seems to come from the, and I quote, "barber hones suck" camp, while others like them. Then there are pasted strops, coticules, etc.

Bottom line: Since all my razors have set bevels and recent honings, I am interested only in keeping them sharp. With that said, what's the right way to go?

And yes, I have read the entire wiki. I'm looking for more specific advice regarding touch-ups to a dulling, once-shave-ready blade.

Thanks!

I started shaving with a straight razor in 1980. Until I found SRP last year, all I had was a Dovo #41 Fritz Bracht, a strop and a "Swaty Three-Line" barber hone. I got great shaves. In the past year, I have experimented with the Norton 4K/8K, Belgian blue, coticule, Chinese 12K and a variety of pastes (Dovo red, Dovo black, chromium oxide and 0.25 micron paste). The pastes are nice but I'm lazy and I want simplicity so I went back to one touch-up hone, the coticule, not the barber hone, because I think it gives a little smoother edge.

IMO, you can't go wrong by starting with a coticule. If you don't like shaving off the coticule, you can try to improve your prep and shaving technique (which are the likely culprits) or you can try to compensate with finer hones and pastes until your prep and technique improves with experience.

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I was thinking of applying CrOx to it and calling it a day

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I am by no means a pro, but I have found that eventually the CrOx isn't able to bring a blade back to the level of sharpness that it was previously. So, at some point you will want to go back to a hone. If others are getting by with just pastes, that is great, but this is just what I have experienced.

Zac

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Originally Posted by Oglethorpe

What did this cost you, if you don't mind my asking? I am hoping to keep it on the cheap side. I have an old strop that is still in good working order -- I was thinking of applying CrOx to it and calling it a day, but I wanted some input from the pro's.

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You can purchase some chromium oxide from Chris L in the classifieds. It's good stuff. You can keep your edge going with it for a while, but eventually you'll still need to hit a hone. You could paste your old strop, or, my preference is to use a paddle strop made out of balsa wood. I believe it was Chris L again who showed how to make one, along with some other folks who have their own variations. The bottom line is just to get some balsa wood from your local art supply store, such as Michael's, and paste the chromium oxide on with a medium such as mineral oil. Then, strop away. I prefer the balsa wood paddle as it doesn't flex nearly as much as even a taught hanging pasted strop.

I think a pasted strop is the easiest way to touch up a blade...as long as you have not banged it against the sink or anything.

Just dont over do it.

Thanks for the info.

Yes, I do have a 2nd strop to paste. If the CrO2 will keep me for a while until i require a hone, then I guess I'm satisfied with that. But as Chimensch said, if you can get by with just one hone, that's what I'd like to do for the time being.