Thread: Edge life before more than stropping is needed?

If your just concerned with the short term needs and you catch the razor before it really starts to dull the easiest is probably a pasted strop. probably some CrO would serve well. Eventually you'll need the hone but that could be way over a year away.

10 laps on some Cox, 30 laps on strop and you should be good..hopefully, unless you really screwed up on your stropping.... I found SRD's strop paddle ... "forgiving". With that said, I have a 5/8/12 set from SRD to touch up.....

I shaved with a Dovo Bismarck nearly every day for nearly three months before it started to lose it's edge. About every week and a half, I did ten laps on the pasted strop and it brought it right back. I have a feeling that you'll be equipped to hone it yourself after that time based on your original post. Soooo...for right now, focus on shaving and begin to dig in a learn as much as you can about hones. In a couple months, you'll have an idea of what you want in the way of honing gear and then pick up a couple beater razors and begin practicing so that by the third month, you'll be confident enough to give your expensive razor a whirl.

Hi,

In addition to the daily stropping on linen/leather :

As a general rule, I give my blade 5 - 10 laps on CrOx after seven (7) shaves; after a month of shaves, they get 5 - 10 laps on a Naniwa 12k.

Each razor is different; for eample the TI C135 blades I have go on much longer with just stropping compared with some of the softer blades I have.

I have found, like many others, that 'little but often' maintenance works best.

As the individuals whiskers and razors are all unique, it is difficult to give a hard and fast duration for an edge; let your shave be the test

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Originally Posted by red96ta

I shaved with a Dovo Bismarck nearly every day for nearly three months before it started to lose it's edge. About every week and a half, I did ten laps on the pasted strop and it brought it right back. I have a feeling that you'll be equipped to hone it yourself after that time based on your original post. Soooo...for right now, focus on shaving and begin to dig in a learn as much as you can about hones. In a couple months, you'll have an idea of what you want in the way of honing gear and then pick up a couple beater razors and begin practicing so that by the third month, you'll be confident enough to give your expensive razor a whirl.

Great idea to practice on beat up razors when the time comes prior to attempting work on my more expensive razor. That should remove anxiety and help to build some confidence. Thanks for your reply.

I'm getting the hint that "less more often is better than a lot too late" when it comes to maintaining the edge. I'll reach out for more advice when the time comes. Thanks.

While "less more often" sounds like great advice, I've only had about 6 shaves on my Dovo Special, so it's hard for me to differentiate "learning curve" from "starting to pull".

As a noob, I find that this really comes down to my stropping. I have 2 Dovos. The first one can shave, but hardly takes hair off now, even after some Crox. I screwed it up stropping poorly. The second one is still shaving well after a week, with daily stropping only, but I really have to watch my stropping. I think as my stropping improves, the length of time between touch ups will increase, as others have mentioned.

I have been diligent about stropping but yesterday morning I felt a little pulling which indicates it is time for me to take a further step to maintain and freshen up the edge on my razor. The ultimate result of the shave was still rather acceptable but considering my novice status, my threshold for "acceptable" is not very high yet. I have read the various advice posted here and thanks to all. I have placed an order and have the following items on the way:

Norton 4k/8k combo water stone;
Norton Flattening Stone;
Chromium Oxide - Semi-Paste - 0.5 Micron; and
Balsa Wood Bench Hone (I know I should have easily made my own but I had an itchy trigger finger online last night ).

My plan is to use the Chromium Oxide w/ the Balsa wood - maybe 10 to 15 laps - to see if I can get my razor's edge to freshen up. If so, I will put away the Norton stone until more aggressive/comprehensive sharpening is needed. If more is needed, then I will consider using the Norton 8K to be followed by the crox. I will also pick-up in the future a higher grit stone but I wanted to limit the size (cost) of the shipment lest my wife take particular notice and commence her own purchasing blitzkrieg.

I really hesitate to contact my only razor with the Norton stone until I have an opportunity to pick-up a less expensive razor to practice with as advised above. In the meantime though, I still need to shave and will do what I need to do to keep up the edge on my current and only TI.

Any obvious problems with my plan? What else is recommended? Any advice in applying the Crox semi-paste to the balsa?

Thanks very much as usual.
Dan

Originally Posted by ElChe

While "less more often" sounds like great advice, I've only had about 6 shaves on my Dovo Special, so it's hard for me to differentiate "learning curve" from "starting to pull".

True words