Thread: Curve maintenance

How often do you guys do curve maintenance on your blade? I've never had a blade that seemed to pull from not being curved correctly. Do you wait for it to provide symptoms or do you guys add heal/tip pressure say once a year?

I am curious t know what you mean by curve maintenance. If your blade does have a curved bevel doesn't one need to hone it with the "rock & roll" method each time?

Yea this thread never took off. A regular straight razor (a flat edged one) requires honing to develop a proper curve, otherwise the concave curve of the blade causes the edges to become a double spike (one at the tip and one at the heel). This is only after you've been shaving and honing the same blade for a few years, so maybe I'll get more posts in a few years. The effects are just a slight pulling of the razor. You can refer to the barbers manuals for how to hone to maintain the proper curve (as opposed to how you hone normally) I was just wondering how often guys did this. Thanx though, good bump!

That is how I hone all razors all the time, even the "flat" edges. It's a subtle motion, but helps me get the whole edge keen right down to the tip.

X

I was surprised that no one replied to this thread as well. So I'll go a head and toss in my theory:

If your honing your razor properly; with the right pressure in the right places, even pressure that is; a good cross motion (X type pattern) that hones the length of the blade evenly then you don’t really need to actually maintain the curve/smiley. It will present it's self naturally. This is why the Barbers manual says if you notice your razor starting to dish, then correct it thusly....

I was worried about the dishing effect when I first started honing my DOVO because it was quite dull and took a good amount of honing just to get it in the neighborhood of shaving. As long as I was trying to think about the pyramid, the "x" pattern, keeping the blade flat, applying even light pressure, and then more pressure at the tip, and then at the heel, I was running around in circles and not getting any sharper.
Once I forgot about everything but the marriage between the blade and the hone and keep it consistent.. the blade got sharp and now a year later my DOVO is showing a very modest but developing smile all on it's own.

I would say don’t worry about active maintenance unless your seeing a trend in the edge starting to widen at the belly. As soon as you notice this happening, it's time to evaluate everything from the hone it's self (maybe there is a high spot in the middle causing more ware in the belly of the blade), to your technique.

I have not repled to this post simply because I have not used the same razor for several years. Mine are always changing. It does sound like using the rock n' roll method is called for.