Hello from Monte and Question about Honing

[monte]

All,
Hello from Southern California. My wife bought me a complete straight razor set for Christmas and I could not be more thrilled - I continue to thank her and tell her how awesome it is. Having the back of my neck shaved with a straight razor when I get my haircut has always been my favorite part so I decided that I wanted to shave that way as well. I am three shaves in and am very pleased with the progress I am making. I look forward to each shave and thoroughly enjoy it even though I have nicked myself.

Question on honing - how many shaves can I expect to have before the razor needs to be honed? Likewise, any advice on collecting razors? I have already scoped out ebay but really don't know what to look for - I guess some patience is needed here.

I am looking forward to learning from all of the experts and interacting with everyone here.

Best and happy new year to all.

Monte

[Sterm]

Hi, welcome here among straight lovers.
If you stay light when shaving and if you care to strop your blade 10-20 times before shaving and you stay light when stropping you could go on for months (years?) without any hone.
Usually beginners use too much pressure when shaving and stropping and often a bad stropping technique, then after few weeks they need to get their razor honed again.

[tiddle]

I would suggest looking at the ebay 101 thread before buying anything from there. Being new, and a lot of variances, if you are careful with your technique, maybe 4 to 6 months. Once you are proficient at stropping and using a paste as well, you could probably get a year or two with a single honing, provided you are shaving with more than just one razor, less if that is the case.