Thread: What's the longest anyone has gone between honings?

I've got a Dovo inox which just surprised me by shaving decently well after being shipped from thailand to the US via surface mail. It hasn't seen a hone in two years. To be honest, it's been a while since I used it because I thought the blade was falling off and switched to a DE during that time. I'm super duper surprised to have gotten a solid shave out of it after only 25x on the linen and 25x on the leather.

Only issue was ATG on my chin where it pulled a bit so not exactly BBS but scary close to that.


Cheers!

3 years, but I haven't been shaving with that one.

The effects of stropping is something that really surprised me. As a new straight razor user I had thought what I read here and else where about stropping was somewhat exaggerated. I read that you could keep a blade good for several months just stropping, even if you used it every day. Well, after my first shave I immediately noticed the blade didn't have the same needle like point. So I decided to strop it up 10-15 times and when I finished it felt exactly like it did when I bought honed and ready to go.

Back to the point: That's awesome you're able to get a good shave with it still.

I believe Robert Williams claimed to have gone a year w/ just stropping.

Cudarunner has blades w/ 60 yr old edges. I shaved w/ one. 'Wasn't the smoothest, but was shavable.

I'm of the opinion that stropping is under-rated, and not widely understood. I certainly don't claim to understand it myself. Wiki/FAQ seems to exhaust itself after saying: keep it taught, no pressure, don't fall in love w/ your first strop. That's not much to go on. 'Would love to hear more about special techniques in stropping for desired affects.

32 years; I have never been honed

Seriously though, 29 years; I didn't start using a straight razor until 3 years ago

Seriously though, what is a honing? Is one stroke across a barber hone called honing? How about 500 slaps on a very mild abrasive-pasted strop? Or is it the creation of a bevel all the way to the ready edge?

Seriously though, about 3 years. There are still at least two razors I honed back then that I still use once in a great while to shave with

I agree.

James.

Originally Posted by cubed1

I've got a Dovo inox which just surprised me by shaving decently well after being shipped from thailand to the US via surface mail. It hasn't seen a hone in two years. To be honest, it's been a while since I used it because I thought the blade was falling off and switched to a DE during that time. I'm super duper surprised to have gotten a solid shave out of it after only 25x on the linen and 25x on the leather.

Only issue was ATG on my chin where it pulled a bit so not exactly BBS but scary close to that.


Cheers!

Perhaps there is something to the "Blade Resting" theory
Just kidding

I have never re-honed a personal razor in the last 4+ years other then dedicated test bed razors... Which only means I have a large razor collection
I have tested razors with very abusive tests into the 100 shave per razor areas, I have read about razors being taken to very long extremes by people who's opinions I value highly, with just stropping... But honestly I have never had the attention span to accomplish a test like that myself

PS: I have two of Cudarunner/Roy's 60 year old razors here now, and it is true they do still shave, one very well, one just ok... These razors had not been honed in over 60 years but had not been used for that time either is my understanding, but yes just normal stropping brought them right back...

The answer to the question is the difference between the day you got your first razor and the day you got your second IF you had no hone :-)

For me, given I started shaving with a straight on the 6th of June and got my second razor on the 11th of August, it's 66 days...67 actually as I shaved with the new razor the day after I recieved it...Shaving every day...

Interesting question if taken to refer to shaving every day with the same razor...

I was referring to everyday use with the same razor. I've got three razors however, I traveled to Asia in 2009 for a wedding and brought the straight in question to ensure the smoothest look. I ended up taking a job in thaiand and cancelling my return ticket. So for two years it was my only razor and all my hones were still in NYC.
At one point I was stropping on newsprint to try and refresh the blade. For the final few months, I stopped using it and shipped it back to NYC when I decided to move back. I picked up a cheap plastic DE for the mean time. I just got my box recently and did an armhair test and the hairs weren't popping but were cleanly cut. So I decided to do a test shave which lead to this post. It's definitely gonna see some hone time to get it back to scary sharp.

Cheers!

I have a number of razors in my normal rotation that don't see a hone but once every 18 months or so. When they do get honed it's usually for the heck of it.