Thread: How often is too often?

My question is this: how often is too often to hone? It seems like I need to give my wedge a touch up every few weeks. I do strop before each shave. Just seems like by the 3rd week or so it starts to tug.

Is there such a thing as over-honing?

I don't think so . I always give my razors a light touch up , whenever I think they need it .

I've wondered this myself.

There are so many factors affecting edge longevity that it's impossible to say how long an edge "should" last. It's certainly possible that, after doing this for years, you'll find the frequency of your touchups tapers off significantly, but in the meantime the only right answer is to hone when the razor needs it.

There is a such thing as over honing. But it's not easy....IIRC, HBSB did a thread a while back on the detrimental effects of high laps on a Naniwa 12k. That was a very interesting read. He also used microscope pics of his honing experiments.

Overhoning is when the edge has been honed to a point were it cannot sustain itself against a whisker. If it acts like foil and chips away and "crushes", then you've gone too far.

For your purposes, it may be the factors of your angle, lather, pressure, stropping, etc. These things all contribute, as Ryan said, to edge longevity (or lack thereof).

If you're using this wedge every day, and shaving each day, then we're talking about a touchup every 20 or so shaves. That's not too bad.

Hope this helped a bit.

Some of the guys in the coti site spoke of a minor touch-up weekly, so every 3 wks or so wouldn't take that much metal.

An alternate to the stones would be a weekly stropping on newsprint or telephone book pages, backed by a hard, flat, smooth surface - such as a hone, pc of plate glass, marble tile. One member here with the proverbial beard of steel started this method on a weekly basis and it served well. 'Removes less metal. It does need to be followed by linen/leather stropping.

One thing you don't mention is your stropping regimen. I strop more than any sane person would, with a moderately coarse beard. My rotation is moderate - couple dozen, but I've only had to touch up a few in the last 20 mo. You mentione stropping before a shave. Maybe consider stropping afterwards also?

I have always wondered that my self, some members seem to think a good honing should last a number of months, depending on the razor. I am a bit perticular about the keenes of my edge, ie: when I do use a Dble edge safety razor I think the Feather blades are brutal but just about what I think a shaver should be and when I use a new Dorko blade I"m usually not very impressed with the shave, to much going over places I've already shaved, takes to much time and when a Str8 does that I feel I'm not haveing the experiance I signed up for, so to speak.All that having been said, I really like the first 9 or 12 shaves from a well honed Srt8, it seems to go downhill from there with me. IMHO that is, of course!! Sincerely, tinkersd

maybe depends on the coarse of the beard,
eversince I dont shve my goatee anymore, my razors only need a touch up every month
ime my stainless razor hold the edge longer

Originally Posted by supersco

My question is this: how often is too often to hone? It seems like I need to give my wedge a touch up every few weeks. I do strop before each shave. Just seems like by the 3rd week or so it starts to tug.

Is there such a thing as over-honing?

If by touching up you mean a few strokes on a finisher or barber hone, that's not excessive.
If you mean full bevel set every 3 weeks, that seems overkill.
You won't overhone with appropriate touch ups.

I've been thinking about this thread. It's my thoughts that especially if you have more than one razor, the edge will last much longer. As well as a few of the other comments on here, I can see how an edge can last more than a week or two*. I just added a couple of razors to my rotation and I'm already noticing that my razors are lasting, and in my impression, lasting longer than usual. Again, that's just my impression. I'm not sure if it's fact or not.

*(between touch ups on a barber hone or finishing hone.)