Thread: Relation between beard toughness and how often you need to touch up

I have a beard that is rough on steel also. I have to touch up a razor with good steel about once a week. It's not that I still don't get a good shave but I don't get a "great" shave. I have found a some things that have made a difference with the longevity of blade sharpness.

First of all; I dry my razor by running it under how water wiping it down then letting it air dry while I clean up. I then coat the blade with Ballistol which stop any oxidation and neutralized any chemicals on the edge of the razor along with the rest of the blade.

Second of all; I have found that you must have an excellent bevel set. I know when it is time to go back down to the 1K hone when I can only get about 5 days out of a razor before performance drops off. I originally used pastes on a 4 sided paddle and that worked well but when I finally went to hones my edges stabilized, got better and stayed that way longer. When I got my 16K Shapton then finished up with 0.5 and 0.25 diamond pastes followed by 5 laps on Chromium things really changed for me. I have since added a 30K then on to 0.25 diamond followed by a 0.1 micron diamond sheet. I come from the school that all one does after about a 4K hone is just polishing but not really changing the shape of the cutting edge.

Finally; I have found that with a very sharp razor I can lay the blade down till I can actually feel the steel just behind the edge. With a very sharp edge I can also use almost no pressure which I am sure helps with the longevity issue. Scything has helped in that it gives one a better shave with what is quite possibly a duller razor. I only use scything on my 3rd and 4th passes.

A lot of people would consider all this extreme but I have a beard that will eat up a DE in about 2 or 3 shaves. My particular problem is that I have a beard that is tough with skin under it that is pretty sensitive. I have 3 razors in my daily rotation. I use one till it needs attention then I do touch-ups on the 2 that I am not using. This only takes about 15 minutes because once a razor is "tuned" in it comes around very quickly on the hones. You are getting good shaves from what I read here but probably are pretty picky about the quality of the shave that you get, as am I. I get shaves that are silky smooth and I know the edges that I am getting are very, very good because I have gotten razor from some of the best honers on this forum and they all have needed a slight touch-up to meet my demands. In all fairness they probably did not want to send a razor that was to sharp to someone they did not know. The guys here are the best and take care of us new guys!


Sorry for the rambling,

Take Care,
Richard