First initial hone advice needed.

I just purchased my first straight razor that wasn't honed to "shave ready". Surprisingly, it was pretty sharp out of the box. Almost as sharp as the razors I have purchased that are "shave ready".

The first shave right out of the box no stropping was not bad at all but could have been better.
For the second shave, I stropped the blade about 50 passes. This shave was even better.

So if I wanted to take this a step further, what should I do?

I was thinking of either using my 12k Naniwa and doing maybe 10 X strokes per side, strop, and then shave.

I could also do some strokes on my 8k ?Naniwa, them 12k, then strop before I shave.



Thanks.

I like your idea using the Naniwa 12k to refresh the edge. A solid plan. Good luck! :)

Post a pic of the blade so we can advise on what type of stroke might be best - if its a straightforward blade you should be able to touch it up without too much trouble. I always use a heel-leading 45 degree angle x stroke for straight edges. For smiles I like to use a rolling stroke alternating with standard 45 degree x strokes.

Also decide whether you're going to be a taper or a nontaper. If you decide to use tape (which is how I learned without completely destroying my razors) you may need to start from the ground up. Since you're just going for a touch up and assuming that the razor was initially honed without tape, I would hold off at this point and go naked.

John

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ocelot27

Also decide whether you're going to be a taper or a nontaper. If you decide to use tape (which is how I learned without completely destroying my razors) you may need to start from the ground up. Since you're just going for a touch up and assuming that the razor was initially honed without tape, I would hold off at this point and go naked.

John

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Actually it is fine to go more tape regardless of previous use..
Especially if you are simply touching up, this makes the touch up easier..

Going down in tape level CAN create an issue, and even that is minimal..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Actually it is fine to go more tape regardless of previous use..
Especially if you are simply touching up, this makes the touch up easier..

Going down in tape level CAN create an issue, and even that is minimal..

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Good point - going up would actually make things faster but going down could slow things up...

John