Thread: The blade is dull when ...

I honed my blade yesterday with a conservative pyramid, The resulting shave was fantastic. Being a relative newbie; I did not realize my blade had become dull. It was cutting hair, but my shaves were mediocre. They were also taking a long time. My chin hairs would not cut, and my hair would grow back with a few hours.
I was also getting unexplained nicks.

So I listed below some of the ways to know when it is time to visit the hone or the
pasted strop. Please feel free to add to the list.

The blade is dull when ....

1. Shaves result in unexplained nicks.
2. Shaves look mediocre.
3. Chin hairs do not shave.
4. It takes several passes to shave off all of the hair.
5. The first pass takes very little hair off.
6. The DE leaves much more whiskers in the sink.
7. It has been a few weeks since the blade has been honed, or stropped with paste.
8. Hair grows back after a few hours.
9. Shaves look horrible even after several passes.
10. Whiskers look longer than they should be.
11. Shaving takes much more time than it should.
12. The blade seems like it is tugging whiskers instead of cutting them.

No. 5 sounds familiar after some of my honing experiments gone wrong. When a WTG pass removes very little but XTG and ATG passes get the job done, then the blade is about at the lower end of what is usable.

I believe if you pay particular attention to #12 the other 11 will have no bearing on the matter. Once the blade starts to pull or tug, even in the slightest, its time for a touch up. Provided correct stropping has been brought into play.

Some razors deteriorate very rapidly and its clear they need attention but some do it so slowly you never realize its happening until one day you are getting a crummy shave and its only when you hone it up you realize how bad it was and then you say man, how was I shaving with that? Isn't it amazing what you can get used to?

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Some razors deteriorate very rapidly and its clear they need attention but some do it so slowly you never realize its happening until one day you are getting a crummy shave and its only when you hone it up you realize how bad it was and then you say man, how was I shaving with that? Isn't it amazing what you can get used to?

Where's that +1 button...

I find that dull blades give me lots of nicks and weepers.