Thread: When to strop a shave ready razor

Hey guys, I just got my shave ready razor back from being professionally honed. He did an awesome job, and my first shave with it was a great experience. Now, I know that I have to strop but when do I start stropping a shave ready? After 2-3 shaves??? I have an 3" English Bridal. 25 laps on the linen and 50 on the leather?

Also, I have a Norton 3000/4000 stone. When should I start honing to maintain a shave ready feel?

Any help is appreciated! Thanks.

After the first use I'd strop before and after each shave. 25 linen and 50 leather is great before and I'd do 10 linen and 20 leather afterwards too. That'll dry the edge out totally and remove any micro-crud that might remain on the edge.

That's what I do and I hardly ever have to touch up my blades, that routine keeps the edges in great condition

You strop after every shave or before the next shave. If you don't have linen just strop it 50-60 times. But it's something you do after every shave.

I wouldn't worry about the honing for a few months (unless you damage the edge). Even then, you might want to consider sending it away for the first re-honing. Your experience is riding on the quality of that edge so I think it's best to take the honing variable out of the equation for quite awhile. That's my two cents anyway...

I would recommend that you don't use a 3k/4k for maintenance. Those grits are more for repair of damage. An 8k to 12k synthetic would do well to touch up your razor when a pasted strop wont bring the edge back.

When a plain leather strop doesn't bring the edge back with a reasonable number of passes. Go to a crox pasted strop for ~20 passes, clean the crox off the razor then ~20 passes on webbing/linen and ~50 on plain leather.

Jonathan

Originally Posted by Ian2051

Also, I have a Norton 3000/4000 stone. When should I start honing to maintain a shave ready feel?

Do you mean you have a norton 4000/8000 combination hone. A 3000/4000 combination would be a very odd combination as both those stones perform the same function.

As to stropping you should start now. Once you shaved with a blade it's edge needs to be realigned. The numbers you put forth is a good starting point.

This is not to say that you couldn't go two or three shaves without stropping but it means more work on the strop later and probably not as good a shaving experience.

As to when you should start honing that will very a lot and really when you reach that point you will know.

Good advice here from the previous posts