More Regular Upkeep

I've been in the habit of taking my razors to the hone after I've shaved the edge down as far as I can take it. Consequently I suffer a few sub-par shaves before I get to the hones. At this point the blade usually need a very small pyramid to get going again.

We've all heard stories of the barber who gives the blades a few swipes before Shaves. I'm wondering if any of you gentlemen have played with this technique and what you might recommend I try. I've got a Norton Combo and a Japanese 12k Sharpton watertone as well. I also have a few barber hones, Little Devil, Kimberly, Honemaster, Pike Black Beauty (although I think that last may be swarfed).
Any sugestions are appreciated.

X

I give my razors a small refresher every 5 shaves or so. That way they don't get sub par. I am about to start using the 0.5mic chromium oxide so that, combined with the sheer number of blades in my rotation should keep the hone wear down.

One side of my hanging strop has the dovo red paste on it. I've been giving it a few swipes every few days for the past few months (phew!), which seems to do the trick nicely.

James.

The continual touchup technique works very well. I touch up the edges on my razors every 4 or 5 shaves, there's no reason to shave with a blade that's less than perfectly sharp. Just make sure you do your refreshes after stropping so you don't knock the fin off.

I generally use my finishing hone for touchups, which affects what I'm willing to use for my finishing hone since I usually need this while I'm standing at the sink lathered up. For my sheffields, this is the translucent arkansas, because I can just dab a bit of lather on the stone and give the razor a quick ten licks. For most of my swedes and friodurs this is the 1 micron diamond paddle (although lately I've been using the 1.8 micron boron carbide paddle instead). For my hardest razors this is the .5 micron chromium oxide paddle.

I've got the shapton hones and they work well for this application as well since they only need a splash of water, and I've got a dubl duck combination hone that works quite well with lather.

I recently made a little paddle strop out of a slat of poplar that I lapped flat and coated with boron carbide, and I'm experimenting with giving the razors one or two laps on it after the daily stropping. It would be nice to have a daily routine that will keep the razors sharp so I don't have to remember how many shaves each razor has had.

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Originally Posted by mparker762

Just make sure you do your refreshes after stropping so you don't knock the fin off.

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Mparker,

Can you explain this to me?

I've found that if I tried to touch up a razor without stropping first then the first lap on the hone made the razor duller and turning a "quick refresh" into a more major project. This was usually a lost cause with the .5 micron paddle, usually requiring dropping back to something like a barber hone or a 3 micron paddle, then the 1 micron paddle, then finally back to the .5 micron paddle. My theory is that the unstropped fin is bent and warped, so the first stroke on the hone tends to grind off the fin, which then must be restored with the hone.

After stropping the fin is aligned and straight, so any honing polishes the fin and makes it sharper, so it only takes a few laps on the final hone or paddle.

Interesting observation. I always strop after shaving to ensure the edge is really dry and slightly greased so I never honed an unstropped razor.

I don't think I've ever knocked off a fin, but I find they get sharper, easier if you strop first before "update" honing.

Due to my limited experience with pastes, I'm glad I came across this before doing all of my razors lol.

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Originally Posted by mparker762

After stropping the fin is aligned and straight, so any honing polishes the fin and makes it sharper, so it only takes a few laps on the final hone or paddle.

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And do you then strop again after the refresh? Or do just strop, refresh, shave?

If you're refreshing on a pasted paddle strop or a bench hone, I don't see the need for another stropping.

I give it a swipe on my towel, just to get any grit off of it. But basically you strop on the hanger, strop a few laps on the paddle, wipe and start shaving.

I refresh my razors when they begin to pull (every 4-5 shaves) on a coticule, maybe 5-10 laps depending on the razor. I also strop after shaving to make sure there is no water left on the blade edge.
E

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mparker762

I give it a swipe on my towel, just to get any grit off of it. But basically you strop on the hanger, strop a few laps on the paddle, wipe and start shaving.

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Why hanging strop 1st and then a paddle strop? Do you use a paste on either one?

If you're refreshing the blade you want to align the edge before you start polishing it with the abrasive.

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Originally Posted by Kees

Why hanging strop 1st and then a paddle strop? Do you use a paste on either one?

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Yes, the paddle has an abrasive. By stropping on the hanger first I make sure the fin is already aligned so the abrasive paddle doesn't grind it off on the first stroke. This way it doesn't take nearly as many laps to refresh the edge (only 2-3).

It's probably not as big a deal if you strop after the shave, or if the blade has rested a few days so the fin is nearly straight. But I have accidentally put an unstropped blade on the abrasive paddle and knocked off enough of the edge that the razor had to go back to the 4k -- I knew as soon as I pulled the razor across that something was wrong, it felt kind of sandy instead of smooth the first few inches and that was that, it was time for the hone.

I've heard of people doing a pasted-paddle sequence of .5 micron, .25 micron, and then chromium oxide (which I understand to be equivalent to .5 micron). Can someone who does this (or understands it) explain to me the logic of going all the way down to .25 and then back up again to .5?

Handamerican claims CO is 60k grit, at least that's what my tube says. Since 15k grit is about 1 micron, maybe people are thinking that 30k grit is .5 micron so the CO is .25 grit as well? AFAIK it's only 0.5 micron and I've always thought that the discrepancy was due to different grit rating systems.

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Originally Posted by dylandog

I've heard of people doing a pasted-paddle sequence of .5 micron, .25 micron, and then chromium oxide (which I understand to be equivalent to .5 micron). Can someone who does this (or understands it) explain to me the logic of going all the way down to .25 and then back up again to .5?

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The reason has to do with the shape of the abrasive particle's and their effect on how the razor's edge feels on your face. For me the 0.5 CO edge feels better on my skin. YMMV.