How many" touch up" before resetting the bevel.

Just curious to find out how many touch up one razor will take before needing to reset the bevel, currently working with a 12 razor rotation for quite a while and all razors are shave ready, while some need a little touch up here and there none of them needed anything more then that, im assuming at some point one of them will need to have a new bevel but seems like they will last a very long time.
My touch up routine is usually a few strokes on vintage thuri or crox paste and diamond on felt. Whats you experience on this?

For me either when the 'touch up' no longer is effective, I drop down a grit to 4/8 , or if upon 30x examination, the bevel is micro chipping here and there, getting raggedy, I might start from square 1 and go to the 1k in my case. I've also got a lot of razors in rotation so I don't have to go there too often.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

For me either when the 'touch up' no longer is effective, I drop down a grit to 4/8 , or if upon 30x examination, the bevel is micro chipping here and there, getting raggedy, I might start from square 1 and go to the 1k in my case. I've also got a lot of razors in rotation so I don't have to go there too often.

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I would imagine with micro chipping, going back to 1k with a formed bevel that you only need a few strokes on the 1k to clear that up.

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Originally Posted by Martin103

I would imagine with micro chipping, going back to 1k with a formed bevel that you only need a few strokes on the 1k to clear that up.

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Could be. IME they are all individual and some are easy, others difficult. Some in between easy and difficult. But yeah, once you find that circle technique that Lynn started a few years ago getting rid of micro chips became a lot easier. TBH, if the chip is micro and not noticeable to the naked eye, nor when I'm shaving, IOW, I don't feel it, I might just ignore it. YMMV.

I've been straight razor shaving for over three years now and I have a six razor rotation... but I don't really rotate. I use the one that catches my fancy that particular morning. I have a barber hone, a vintage coticule and a strop with CrOx. When I feel the razor needs a touch up, I do so. Never felt the need to reset the bevel. Sometimes I spend more time on the coticule, sometimes on the barber hone. However, I don't really keep track. I suppose tha each razor receives its own touch-up every two or three months, perhaps?
However, before my rotation grew from one to six razors, at one point (after a year and a half of use) I did send the razor off to be honed. It needed to go down to 4000 grit, but no more than that.
I feel that straight razor shaving is a very simple and basic method... that can extrapolate to great levels of detail. It is my idea that a well cared for razpr can be kept shave ready for years and years.

But Jimmy is here now and I really should shut up and listen. :)

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Originally Posted by fpessanha

I've been straight razor shaving for over three years now and I have a six razor rotation... but I don't really rotate. I use the one that catches my fancy that particular morning. I have a barber hone, a vintage coticule and a strop with CrOx. When I feel the razor needs a touch up, I do so. Never felt the need to reset the bevel. Sometimes I spend more time on the coticule, sometimes on the barber hone. However, I don't really keep track. I suppose tha each razor receives its own touch-up every two or three months, perhaps?
However, before my rotation grew from one to six razors, at one point (after a year and a half of use) I did send the razor off to be honed. It needed to go down to 4000 grit, but no more than that.
I feel that straight razor shaving is a very simple and basic method... that can extrapolate to great levels of detail. It is my idea that a well cared for razpr can be kept shave ready for years and years.

But Jimmy is here now and I really should shut up and listen. :)

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No need to shut up fpessanha, i welcome everybody comments!

I can go with just stropping for at least a month. If a touch-up is later required, I do just a few laps on 8K, then 16k and 30K. I then strop on leather only. I never use linen, felt or any pastes at all.

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.

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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.

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Thats really impressive, that must be one really good surgical! And do you find you get better edges now then before or comparable to your edges with the surgical?

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Originally Posted by Martin103

Thats really impressive, that must be one really good surgical! And do you find you get better edges now then before or comparible to your edges with the surgical?

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I get better edges now, but only because my technique has improved greatly since finding SRP. I still use the black and a translucent Arkie to finish some of my razors. They work exceptionally well on harder American steels,IMO.:)

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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.

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I've got a surgical black (vintage norton/pike) and a vintage norton/pike translucent that give me real nice edges with light oil when I use them.

Utopian said that he kept a rotation shaving well for 4 years on a barber hone. I don't remember if he specified the brand. 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.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I've got a surgical black (vintage norton/pike) and a vintage norton/pike translucent that give me real nice edges with light oil when I use them.

Utopian said that he kept a rotation shaving well for 4 years on a barber hone. I don't remember if he specified the brand. 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.

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Jimmy i remember Utopian thread about keeping a couple of razors on a barber hone for 4 years probably 5 by now the hone was "Its a Peech"

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Originally Posted by Martin103

Jimmy i remember Utopian thread about keeping a couple of razors on a barber hone for 4 years probably 5 by now the hone was "Its a Peech"

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I had one. Really one of the best I had. (sold all but a long Swaty) IIRC they spelled it "Itsapeech" but I might be wrong, I was wrong once before. :p

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I had one. Really one of the best I had. (sold all but a long Swaty) IIRC they spelled it "Itsapeech" but I might be wrong, I was wrong once before. :p

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"Itsapeech"or "Its a peech" is that different spelling?:hmmm:

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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.

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Hey that's my story :p

Same here before I found SRP I used an Arkie and had 2 razors, it worked fine..

SRP tends to set a very high bar for "shave ready" but honestly a good shaver can shave quite well with way less edge, the last 1-2% is what we chase, where we spend the real money, and is totally not needed for a close comfortable shave ...

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Originally Posted by Martin103

"Itsapeech"or "Its a peech" is that different spelling?:hmmm:

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I thought your OP spelled it peach ? Like I said, I could be wrong ..... :ziplip:

This is an interesting topic. But I have this question. Members tell they touch-up their razor after a month, or three months, or whatever. But I do not know if that implies 30 shaves, 90 shaves etc.

I shave every third day. Can I assume that members shave daily unless otherwise mentioned?

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Originally Posted by strtman

This is an interesting topic. But I have this question. Members tell they touch-up their razor after a month, or three months, or whatever. But I do not know if that implies 30 shaves, 90 shaves etc.

I shave every third day. Can I assume that members shave daily unless otherwise mentioned?

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This is probably a YMMV situation. Everyone's beard is different, technique different, etc so the number of shaves before a touch up will vary. I personally touch mine up when it feels noticeably different from the last shave with it... varies from razor to razor.

every 5 shaves I go on my coti for touchups to my razors..but I dont go to my DMT1200..unless I get a new razor or rehone someones razor for them..

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Originally Posted by smalltank

every 5 shaves I go on my coti for touchups to my razors..but I dont go to my DMT1200..unless I get a new razor or rehone someones razor for them..

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Every 5 shaves seems quite often to me, is it because thats what you do or is it because the razor needs it?

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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by Martin103

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

Bevel re-setting confuses me. I know the theory behind it (that eventually touch ups become ineffective) but that has not been my experience and I have yet to reset a bevel on a previously shave ready razor. IMO if you use a stone for touch ups the bevel shouldn't have to be reformed unless you wait way too long, although the shaves would likely become intolerable before the edge degrades to that point. But who knows, give it a dozen years and maybe I'll find myself doing a lot of bevel resets lol.....

42.

James.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

42.

James.

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Ahh, the answer to the ultimate question...life, the universe, everything

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

42.

James.

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Thanks for your input!:tu

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

SRP tends to set a very high bar for "shave ready" but honestly a good shaver can shave quite well with way less edge, the last 1-2% is what we chase, where we spend the real money, and is totally not needed for a close comfortable shave ...

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Lol, true, but some of us are just spoiled, after using chromium oxide ;) Once it stops performing as well as it used to, I touch it up. Got enough in my rotation not to worry about wearing it down.

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Originally Posted by Martin103

Every 5 shaves seems quite often to me, is it because thats what you do or is it because the razor needs it?

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I've noticed performance deterioration with my stubble after about 7 shaves.. Some guys can do 20, some guys can do 2-3 (probably the Mediterranean types)

I have only had to reset a bevel once a razor once. I have razors with bevels set by Glen, Max, Dave, Dylan,Rene,Robert and a few others. I have a few set by myself. When I think the razor needs a bevel reset, I take it to a strop and do several hundred laps. I use a SRDP1 for the first set of laps and then another strop I have that is much stiffer and faster. At this point, I've found that the stropping will get me by most times for a bunch more shaves. Understand that I don't hone for fun or hobby so if I can avoid it I do. If the heavy stropping does not work, I fall back to a 12K for 25 laps, 15 on crox and 15 on .25 diamond spray. Then I strop again.
So far, this has worked just fine. The one razor I reset the bevel on was the first W&B I used to learn to shave. I looked at the edge and it was a bit rough.
Please understand I am NO expert at this. Just able to keep a nice edge and if required, create a bevel and create a comfortable edge for me.

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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.

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Sorry - I just had to dig out old post # 8 and state that that... is hilarious!! I nearly spit out my coffee!

SRP = AD's!!