Thread: Dumb question...

I couldn't decide whether to address this in either the stropping or honing sections of the forum, and I do believe this a pretty noob-ish question - so I can't go wrong here. So here goes ---
After a period of time shaving, the edge of the razor degrades to where regular stropping won't fix some of the pulling and irritation associated with a degraded edge...

One could rehone the razor or perhaps touch it up with some chromium oxide...

I believe the basic rules are after one has touched up the razor with crox, one can extend the time between when the razor needs to be rehoned.

I'm just curious - Why couldn't one just keep touching the razor up indefinitely with crox? What happens to the edge that it requires a rehoning?

Your best bet would be a barbers hone.

Stropping with pastes eventually degrades the bevel and honing is eventually required. For this and other reasons, I never use pastes. I just wait until I feel pulling then usually make four or five laps on a finishing stone then strop on plain leather. Barber's hones will do the job too. I have four or five of them, but have never used them, preferring my finishing stones and the edges they achieve.

The length of the honing iterations depends a lot on the flatness of the strop, but eventually you end up tearing the edge up and adding burrs. It can take years though to be a big problem. The challenge for me was always overdoing it on the strop/crox mix and needing to repair the edge with a hone. Near indefinite stropping is possible but mostly only done by persistent stubborn mules.

I recently invested in a strop with wool felt and some diamond spray for the felt. I can say that it works great for the occasional touch up when you don't want to go to the stones, but I'm not sure if you would be able to use it indefinitely since I haven't used it long enough to tell. Only time will tell.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Near indefinite stropping is possible but mostly only done by persistent stubborn mules.

I've gone for over two years with just stropping my razor on canvas and leather... Hey!... Well yeah ok...

Thank you for the replies, gentlemen. I've also noticed that after refreshing my razor by stropping with crox, that it hasn't been quite as long since the crox that I feel the edge has degraded again. I hope this is just the way it goes and not from improper form or technique when stropping on leather. I picked up a Norton 4/8k stone a couple months ago, but I haven't had time to lap it yet and I think I'm waiting to get a DMT325 before I start rather than sandpaper on tile...

I think I may refresh once more with some crox, and then place my order for the DMT 325.

I asked the same question a few weeks ago. I decided to set a new bevel and bring it up through the stone until 12k, strop it. It was a better shave than before! I set the bevel because I did not know if they used tape or not. The biggest thing I did was buy a loupe at widget supply for 4 bucks, this way I could see the edge.

One more thing I was told from the members here and learned after several tries was when you set the bevel you know your on the right path when you can cut hair at the 1k stone. After I did that the other stones worked out very sharply.

Originally Posted by rubicon308

I think I'm waiting to get a DMT325 before I start rather than sandpaper on tile...

The DMT really does make it so much easier. I'd buy it again if I had to

this won't be popular, but I (and others) have had good results from the stropping on newsprint backed by a hard stone. After that, the edge was harsh, needing alot of stropping on leather.