When to send out for honing?

Good Day,

I have searched for this answer but was unsuccessful/ineffective in my searching. What guidance can you offer as to when to send the razor out for honing? I am not ready to take on this task yet.

Is there a general guideline as to how many shaves or how often? (how often do those of you who send your razors out for honing do it?)

How can I tell if it just needs more stropping or needs to be honed?

Thanks for your replies.

When it starts to pull so bad that a few passes on the pasted strop won't bring her back to life.

good luck,
David

I have one that needs a stone honing. My paddle pasted strop will sharpen up the edge, but the bevel is gone.

Yep, you start shaving and although its cutting, it feels like a rough shave with some tugging. Having shaved with many blades in great shape, I knew this one hit the wall and needs some servicing.

Tried it one more time to make sure I had the same opinion and I did.

How often? Some can get in 30 shaves with a razor and then it needs a stone honing. I used my pasted strop to get in 65 shaves with this straight razor. So it varies from person to person and razor to razor.

I stop after each shave, 35 passes on the canvass and 60 - 70 passes on the leather. Once every 4-5 shaves, they get some passes on the pasted strop.

I hope this helps and good luck!

Pabster

A razor should only be honed when necessary. After so many uses, a blades razor sharp edge will begin to become rounded, and will not cut as well as it should. You can prolong the life of the edge through the use of various pastes, crox is the standard, and diamond pastes are also used with great success. This will only be a temporary fix to the edge, and once this no longer gives you a comfortable shave with 2-3 passes, then it is time for that razor to be honed.

Just to echo what the others have said, when you are no longer satisfied with the shave because it is either uncomfortable or the quality of the shave decreases. Don't let things go too long so that a quick easy job becomes a more complicated one.