Thread: time for a touhc-up, but how to?

hello gentlemen,
a great day to you all and hope you are enjoying your shaves. well, its been 4 months now that i have been using my dovo best quality, and today's shave although a fine one, the razor exhibited a slight decline in performance. i however was able to make it through after a few laps on the leather mid-shave but thats just it. ive had a balsa strop all this time but i only used it once on the razor immediately after a shave or two when it arrived (just a few strokes on the green side) not because it needed a touchup but only because i wanted to use the balsa strop.... anyways, long story short.

i have a balsa strop from Larry with 0.1 micron iron oxide (red) on one side and 0.3 micron chromium oxide (green) on the other. i also have a barber hone coming in in a week or two. so as for the balsa, how many strokes on which side? i greatly appreciate any and all help

It is a try and test situation. I'm not familiar with the red but 5 round trips, weight of the blade on the green is what I would do, and try it. If it needs a few more do a few more. Same with the barber hone when you get it. I usually do those dry, as my old barber did, but have used lather, water only. It is all about trying things and seeing if they work ..... or not.

so i start with 5 round trips and if that doesnt work, i do 5 more (on green i presume)
thanks alot JimmyHAD!

edit: yeah i saw Glen's video on barber hones and i really fell for using the barber hone with lather. i suppose the lather doesnt really matter? or am i to use a tallow based soap? anyways thatll be when the barber hone arrives, for now its balsa.

i usually do five strokes on chromium when my blades need a touchup, if that isn't enough ill go with five strokes on my barber hone

Originally Posted by sinnfein

i usually do five strokes on chromium when my blades need a touchup, if that isn't enough ill go with five strokes on my barber hone

i did 5 strokes on the chromium and it was enough. i noticed an incredible difference in the edge, now i think i had been shaving with a somewhat dulling edge for some time so ill do touchups more often now. ill experiment with the iron oxide next time. although it is a bit ironic (no pun intended) to use rust for touch ups thankyou both for the advice!