Thread: number of shaves vs honing difficulty

Well, I just got done touching up my le grelot and originally started with about 60 strokes on my Coticule with no result so I switched to .5 and .25 diamond pasted strops and did about 100 passes with minor results and finally did another 200 passes each on both and that did the trick.

So I was curious whether you would rather have a razor that goes a loooong time between honings but is a real bear to hone or a razor that has to be honed frequently but takes 5 minutes or less to bring back to perfection.

I don't mind the hard to hone stuff so long as it stays sharp.

I don't mind the stuff that dulls so long as I can keen it back up easy.

I voted HARD


I've had some hard to hone and didn't keep and edge stuff, those are in my junk pile now.
I'm too honest to sell that sort of thing.

I have many blades that took forever to get a shaving edge on them at first, now though they hone up in no time. I use mostly USA based razors (mostly all I have) and understand that the steel is rather hard. Once the bevels are ste I don't seem to have a hard time getting them back after a few months shaving. I do have issues with softer blades Love the shave just a bugger at times to get them there, and they dull much faster. I may still have a touch to much pressure in my hold, softer blades don't like.

So I think I tend to be somewhere inbetween really

I voted hard. I am a perfectionist and as I was told when I was a kid, if it is worth doing it is worth doing right or not at all.

I haven't been stropping lately, so if an edge gets tired, just a few passes on the 30K freshens it up. If that doesn't work, a quick trip to a few stones, and it's good to go.

I think my definition of difficult honing may be different. Once the bevel is set, which can take a long time (not necessarily difficult, though, just time consuming), any razor should be much easier to maintain afterward - as in it should only take a few minutes.

Edit: The wording of the poll makes it look like taking the easy as pie method means either an inferior razor or a lazy shaver. I'm just an obsessed sharpener!

Just to clarify, what I'm talking about isn't so much razors that are a little harder to keep up but those razors that are really hard. Examples to me are the Le Grelot the TI Damascus and the TI Silverwing. They are made of really hard steel and even a touchup becomes a pretty big deal. I would cringe at the thought of having to put a new bevel on my TI damascus. Of course I've been shaving with the Damascus for years now and haven't had to touch it.

But for the purpose of the poll its just a matter of what you would prefer to do. A quick touchup more frequently or a more protracted session but over a longer period of time.

The "hardest" razor I think I have is a chromized Sta-sharp, so I'm not sure my answer is germane in light of thebigspendur's last post, but here goes anyhow.

I said, fast wearing, but easy to hone. I like playing with hones more than shaving, so it's an excuse to get out my toys.

I don't quite understand the difference between the two poll options

If I touch up a soft razor a few passes on a barber hone once a week, it should always keep just fine, since even though it dulls so quickly it hones up so easily.

And if I touch up a hard razor a few passes on a barber hone once a week, it should always keep just fine since I am touching it up much more often than it actually needs therefore never letting it get dull enough to require a laborious touch up

Is this correct?

You might also consider the "I don't mind either way" poll option [Edit: I chose both options via the multiple choice vehicle]

so what if you have a razor so hard that 10 passes won't touch it
or if it doesn't like the barber hone? (NOS Friodur comes to mind)

Friodur's certainly are a bear to hone when they lose their edge, but the edge does last a long time. Sounds like the category we are discussing. I am in the perfectionist camp and go all the way back to resetting the bevel if the coticule does not produce excellent results with, say, 100 passes on a coticule. Having reset the bevel on a Tim Zowada damascus, I can say that it was a real challenge due to the extreme hardness of the steel, but the resulting edge has lasted for a couple of years so far.