Quote Originally Posted by JeffR View Post
Hard translucent Arkansas stones can provide very nice razor edges. I would recommend touching up your razor whenever stropping is no longer sufficient to give you a comfortable shave, whether that is ten shaves or a thousand. (Using canvas and leather, my daily-use razor is coming up on three and a half years without any other honing.) And then only do a few passes on the stone (perhaps ten or so) at a time, strop and try shaving. Repeat until the the edge is back to a satisfactory sharpness.
These happenings are often hard to believe... I bought a razor from an antique dealer on eBay who said that it had come from an elderly woman. The razor was her father's. the razor and the edge looked like it was new. I mailed her about it, she said that the woman told her that her father used it for years and had only used a strop to sharpen it. Yes, I asked, but she didn't want to sell the strop!!