Thread: Honing or Stropping?

Originally Posted by BobH

At the very least learning to hone on one will not ruin a good razor.

Bob

That's assuming that it will take an edge at least initially. Otherwise it will cause bad technique and end up ruining many good razors to unlearn bad techniques.

No one has directly answered your actual question, which was, "which is better, honing or stropping?"

So, the best way to answer your question is with a similar question...

Which is better for optimal health, breathing or having a pulse?

For both questions, the answer is "both."

Honing and stropping do two different things. Honing sharpens the blade by removing steel to ensure that the edge forms a near perfect "V" shape. Stropping re-aligns that edge after the micro-damage of each shave. Both are essential for a good shave. If you start with a well honed razor and then strop correctly before each shave, then you can dramatically increase the length of time that you can go between each honing.