Thread: When is it ready?

Hannibalt

You should be shaving ready after the 8k. I recommend shaving off the 8k, do not get into the habit of using paste and stropping as a crutch. If you do not have a shave ready edge after the 8k, it will take a lot of paste and stropping to get to shave ready and it may never happen.

Anything after 1k is just polishing especially paste and stropping. There is a good tread about an experiment shaving at 1k. The 1k is your base and everything you do after, builds on that edge, polishing the edge by reducing stria land height, mountain/valley, to produce a comfortable shaving edge.

I understand you may not have gone all the way to 1k but, if you are not getting the results you want, perhaps you needed to. It is all very subjective.

So I recommend shaving after the 8k, this will make you spend a little more time and care on the stone. Learn the feel on your face, do the same with paste and with stropping. This will show you what it will feel like when the edge needs attention at the various stages. You should be able to maintain an edge with paste and stropping for a very long time, depending on your technique.

Chrome Oxide will improve a good edge, but not necessarily a poor edge. Excessive stropping may actually cause more damage to the edge, depending on the strop and your technique. It’s like polishing a bad paint job, no matter how much polish and wax you put on it, it’s still a poor paint job.

I shave off the stones all the time when experimenting with a new stone or razor. This morning I shaved of a Translucent Ark edge on a new to me Robeson Suredge. It was a great shave, paste and stropping will only make it better.

Hands on…your face, is the only real test.

Thank you so much Euclid440. It's all making sense now. I had no idea that i should be honing until the edge is good enough to shave with. What you say makes perfect sense, and now I can see where i've been going wrong. Until now i've been guessing, honing the blade until it 'looks okay', and then believing that stropping it for days on end was the answer. You've taken the guesswork out of it, and it makes sense now- how on earth is rubbing it against a piece of leather going to put a good edge on it if there isn't one there in the first place. Thanks again. i haven't used my straight razor for weeks, and was giving up hope of ever getting it right. I'm off to the hone now. Take care. Colin.

Originally Posted by HannibalLMD

Thanks so much, yes, thats what i need to know, when honing is done and stropping should start. I have been straight razor shaving for five years but have always struggled with this. I use a 4000/8000 stone and my strop. I use the green paste, then the red, and then just leather. Ive always had good shaves, but would love to take the guesswork out of honing/stropping. Many thanks, Glen.

It would be interesting to know how many shaves you got before you reached that point with just a strop, after five years?

I have heard after 60 laps on the strop, the blade doesn't benefit from more. A 1k stone is a godsend sometimes but the 4 can certainly set the bevel for you. Its just more work than using a 1k. A certain amount of circles laps and x strokes won't guarantee anything.