Thread: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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'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.