Thread: Shaved without stropping after honing.

Originally Posted by eKretz

Being able to shave from a stone without stropping doesn't really give any useful info IMO. YMMV of course. Many hones leave a slight microscopically tiny burr or wire - even if only in irregular patches along the blade - that gets wiped right off during even the first few strokes of stropping. Some stones more cleanly remove it than others. So for me at least, stropping is the finish step of the honing process, and I would no sooner shave with an unstropped razor than I would with an ink pen personally.

Wow. Maybe I'm having an issue with my edges and I'm trying to eliminate variables. Also I would think more irritation would occur with a wire edge, but I recognize I am relatively new at this. Also I only have one finisher at the moment so it would seem like a good time to familiarize myself with how a razor feels coming off it. Thanks for the responses guys. Now where did I put that ink pen.....

Your choice of course, but since leather is the way almost all of us shave (anybody doesnt strop around here/) then that would give you a more accurate ''feel'' to the stone.

Not if I think I might be having a problem with my strop/stropping. And of course I normally strop everytime I shave. But thanks for the dialogue.

Just out of curiousity does anyone think if I did a poor job honing that I would have gotten a comfortable 4 pass shave?

Originally Posted by tedh75

Just out of curiousity does anyone think if I did a poor job honing that I would have gotten a comfortable 4 pass shave?

I would say you did a good job!
I never dared to shave straight from my 12k superstone, at that stage my honing was not good enough for that type of testing. But recently I shaved a few times just finishing on the natural stone to test how good is my honing and stone too. Surprisingly I had a very good shaves, maybe a little crispier edge tan after leather but not very far.
Probably the same curiosity took me through that experiments. My usual routine involve a good stropping of course.

Originally Posted by tedh75

So I finally made time to hone up a couple if my best razors. They were way over due. I've been using my Feather AC DX a lot, but have missed the straights. Also resetting my bevels with tape as I get to them.

A Robeson ShurEdge and a Boker Red Injun honed up to 12k on the Super Stones. I decided to try shaving without stropping first. I used the Boker on about a weeks worth of growth(is this bad for the edge on a hollow ground?)
I did my typical four pass shave which resulted in a bit of mild to moderate irritation when using the alum block around the crease in my neck and some barely perceptible irritation around my lips.

I feel pretty good about the result and next time I hone I think I'll try this after the 8k. Maybe eventually I'll try the 1k shave test. It felt great to shave with a straight again. I hope I'll be able to use the Robeson tomorrow. That is one if my favorite razors.

Way to experiment! Nicely done.

Thanks for the responses guys. Sorry if I got my hackles up a little bit. I did this for a couple if reasons, but the biggest reason was that I just wanted to know what it would feel like.

I got curious when rezdog said this has come up before. Here is one post I found if anyone is interested.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...stropping.html

Some of the comments were pretty similar. Obie said that shaving without stropping was like walking around with one sock.

On many stones it is. Whether you can shave straight from a stone has a lot more to do with the individual stone than it does how good a job you do honing. Some stones, the razor just will not shave well until you strop, and others will give a fine shave and not change a lot after stropping. It all depends on how much remnant burr/wire there is. Some stones leave barely any, some stones leave a bit but it is very fragile and just the act of shaving may remove it, and some stones leave a fairly substantial one - those absolutely need to be stropped before shaving.

Originally Posted by tedh75

Just out of curiousity does anyone think if I did a poor job honing that I would have gotten a comfortable 4 pass shave?

I've never heard of a four pass shave. It's not much of a challenge to get a clean shave in four passes. A good razor does it with comfort and several days of growth in two passes.

I second the others' comments about the leather - short of objects residing in your strop (like specks of abrasive that would immediately be evident in shiny chips on the edge of a razor), there should never be a situation where leather doesn't improve the edge significantly.

Have the rest of us shaved right off of a stone? Sure, I did when I was a beginner, probably half a dozen times because I was told by woodworkers that stropping rounds an edge over and dulls it.

Originally Posted by DaveW

I've never heard of a four pass shave. It's not much of a challenge to get a clean shave in four passes. A good razor does it with comfort and several days of growth in two passes.

I second the others' comments about the leather - short of objects residing in your strop (like specks of abrasive that would immediately be evident in shiny chips on the edge of a razor), there should never be a situation where leather doesn't improve the edge significantly.

Have the rest of us shaved right off of a stone? Sure, I did when I was a beginner, probably half a dozen times because I was told by woodworkers that stropping rounds an edge over and dulls it.

Well my goodness if you've never heard of a four pass shave than I must be the only one in the world who has ever done one.

I see you have a lot of posts and have been on the forum for a few years, so it probably follows that you have more experience than I do. That being said, if you have never heard of anyone doing a four pass shave you haven't read many posts or don't retain the info because it doesn't line up with your opinions.

I understand that some people (some with a lot of knowledge, experience and well earned respect) believe that you should be able to a get a clean shave with two passes. I agree and I do perform a two pass shave when I want to speed things up a bit. It's a good shave, but not nearly as good as three or four pass shave for me.

However there are many members of this site who routinely perform three pass shaves. I will grant that the number of members who do more than three passes (or even more than four, imagine that) probably drops off dramatically.

I suppose you would tell Onimaru (4 passes), BobH(4 passes) riooso(4 passes) Steel(4 passes) or Chimensch(5 passes) that they don't know how to shave because they don't do it the way you do it. Here are some posts that mention 4 pass shaves and in one case a 5 pass shave. I could probably have tracked down more, but I've already wasted a lot of time that could have been spent shaving without stropping and doing more passes than are necessary. At the very least you won't be able to say you have never heard of a four pass shave anymore.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ml#post1309609

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ml#post1353559

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...tml#post925029

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ml#post1445865

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...tml#post554063



This isn't a sport (sorry Lynn, lol) and I am not in it to compete with you or anyone else(in regards to your "not much of a challenge" comment). I'm in it for the enjoyment and I do what works for me with the understanding that there is always room for learning and improvement.

I felt that the first part of your comment was a bit rude for someone who is in a hobby where YMMV is practically a mantra. Comments like that only serve to(and would appear to be intended to) make someone look or feel stupid.

If that isn't how you meant it(you would have a difficult time making me believe that) then please forgive me. I can accept constructive criticism, but I tend to get irritated when I feel that a comment that is directed at me could be paraphrased as: "only an imbecile would find it necessary to do a four pass shave" or "You shaved without stropping? There couldn't possibly be a reason for anyone to ever do that unless they were an a complete beginner or an idiot"

As far as leather always improving an edge remember that the next time you tell a newbie they probably rolled the edge of their razor through improper stropping. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant properly performed stropping will always improve an edge.

I case I haven't made it clear; I felt your comment was condescending.

Cheers!