Thread: How many" touch up" before resetting the bevel.

If my CrOx pasted paddle won't improve the edge anymore, I'll drop to a Coticule with light slurry, then plain water or my Norton 4k/8k. It takes me a long time to get to that point though, probably 30-40 shaves at least.

Seems like if some guys can keep a razor going for quite a while on just leather,
and eventually go to a pasted strop when that no longer works,
and then to a barber's hone or other finisher when that fails,
and then back to an 8k,
and then...etc.

I mean, I reset bevels more often than I need to on some of my beater razors just for practice, but for someone who knew what they were doing, unless they dinged the edge or something, they could probably go almost forever before truly resetting the bevel.

Originally Posted by northpaw

Seems like if some guys can keep a razor going for quite a while on just leather,
and eventually go to a pasted strop when that no longer works,
and then to a barber's hone or other finisher when that fails,
and then back to an 8k,
and then...etc.

I mean, I reset bevels more often than I need to on some of my beater razors just for practice, but for someone who knew what they were doing, unless they dinged the edge or something, they could probably go almost forever before truly resetting the bevel.

I believe this is how the majority of guys back in the day did it. A razor with a bevel set once and just kept that bevel with one stone for a very long time. When that no longer worked they would take it to some one to get it reset.

well..I used to go 2 months before it would tug n pull..needed to send it out to be rehoned completely...I have a VERY coarse beard..I figured 5 as the edge goes down in keenness a bit..although I might have to go longer..to get a better number of shaves or time when I REALLY need to rehone em..and I dont mean going on my DMT to get an edge back

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

One other thing to consider is that what might be satisfactory for one guy, in terms of sharpness and smoothness, might not be satisfactory for another.

Thank you for stating this again.I use CroOx on rough leather once a month and only strop every 2-3 shaves.Dovo says you can go 6-12 shaves without stropping,but that is way to rough for me.8 months in I'm thinking that my 2 razors need a visit with my 4/8 stone for a lite piramid honing to smooth things up.

Originally Posted by Martin103

Just curious to find out how many touch up one razor will take before needing to reset the bevel ...

I haven't read through the replies to your thread but I'm sure several people stated that it depends on how you use your razor, how you strop and touch up the edge and the razor itself. I use so many razors that I personally can't answer your question. I probably use one specific razor once a year or two and I shave every day or two. The best advice I can give you is to keep refreshing the blade until refreshing no longer gives a smooth shave. I'm guessing that will be a year or so under optimum use and care, more if you just use your Thuringen. With 12 razors at your disposal and proper care and refreshing of the edges I would venture a guess that it will be years before you will need to refresh the edge on your razors. As soon as the first one starts tugging after refreshing your edge the others may not be far behind. The good thing is that you can send your razors out for bevel setting/sharpening and still have a bunch to shave with. If you are not going to hone many a razors besides your initial 12 it may be cost effective to send then out for honing since you will have years between each razor needs to be set to the hones. Your Thuringen hone will give a flat bevel where you Crox and felt will give a convex bevel. Going from your felt to the thruigen nay take more time to refresh the edge since it will need to flatten the bevel before it can reach the edge. If you put your razors on the Thuringen early enough you may never need to reset the bevel, just be sure to put enough time into it to get the edge as sharp as it can get. Thuringens are slow cutters. There's always the option to use slurry on your Thuringen and slowly dilute until just water. This will speed up the metal removal if done properly.

Originally Posted by Joed

I haven't read through the replies to your thread but I'm sure several people stated that it depends on how you use your razor, how you strop and touch up the edge and the razor itself. I use so many razors that I personally can't answer your question. I probably use one specific razor once a year or two and I shave every day or two. The best advice I can give you is to keep refreshing the blade until refreshing no longer gives a smooth shave. I'm guessing that will be a year or so under optimum use and care, more if you just use your Thuringen. With 12 razors at your disposal and proper care and refreshing of the edges I would venture a guess that it will be years before you will need to refresh the edge on your razors. As soon as the first one starts tugging after refreshing your edge the others may not be far behind. The good thing is that you can send your razors out for bevel setting/sharpening and still have a bunch to shave with. If you are not going to hone many a razors besides your initial 12 it may be cost effective to send then out for honing since you will have years between each razor needs to be set to the hones. Your Thuringen hone will give a flat bevel where you Crox and felt will give a convex bevel. Going from your felt to the thruigen nay take more time to refresh the edge since it will need to flatten the bevel before it can reach the edge. If you put your razors on the Thuringen early enough you may never need to reset the bevel, just be sure to put enough time into it to get the edge as sharp as it can get. Thuringens are slow cutters. There's always the option to use slurry on your Thuringen and slowly dilute until just water. This will speed up the metal removal if done properly.

Joed,
When i stated this thread ide figure it would turn into a how to touch up your razor then what i was really looking to find out when would it need the bevel reset, but thats fine as well. I figure before starting it that it would definately vary with razors and touch up methods. What im gathering from you more experienced then myself is that the bevel will last a very long time with proper touch- ups, my first 3 to 4 razors are well over a year of uses and many touch-up and still going strong, with my stropping greatly improved and honing skills now im certain the bevel will last for a very long time. As my honing skill and dettection of what sharpness and smoothness require for a touch-up improved im finding out that i need to start the touch-up process on the thuri with some slurry thanks for pointing that out. i could never figure out why you would get a convex bevel using Crox nor did i see it under magnification, and then i recently found this thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...xperiment.html
Witch clearly state to me that the convex theory is just a myth!

Edge first sharpening tends to keep the bevel flat. Spine first sharpening techniques remove metal mostly at the edge, so the bevel does tend toward convexity. Some theories are difficult to prove, although they make sense, and as a result they are not myths.

Originally Posted by Theseus

In the 14 or so years before I found this site and all the AD's kicked in(including HAD), the only thing I needed for my two razors was a surgical black Arkansas. That stone kept the razors shaving sharp that entire time without having to drop to a lower grit. I just touched them up once every couple of weeks and they were good to go.

I was about to post the exact thing you just said.
Adding to it though...I know everyone has a favorite razor that just does such a fine job you hate to do anything to it. However once in a while it needs attention. The surgical black or translucent with just a few strokes brings them back every time for me.

Stingray

Originally Posted by ace

Edge first sharpening tends to keep the bevel flat. Spine first sharpening techniques remove metal mostly at the edge, so the bevel does tend toward convexity. Some theories are difficult to prove, although they make sense, and as a result they are not myths.

Ace if you did look at the thread on the previous post,Glen experiment shows 255 laps on .50 diamond spray and 340 laps on.25 diamond spray
and no sign of convexity or second bevel or over cooking the edge, so thats make it pretty obvious that the convexity is a myth.