Thread: Refresh vs. Honing

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

I'm wondering if the original assessment is based on the first shave off the pasted strop versus the hones or after a handful of shaves in, in both cases. Lately, I've been keeping one razor going since a bevel reset in early December ending with a coticule and Welsh purple slate natural honing finish. The trick since then has been to occasionally hit the razor with a red (ferric oxide) pasted linen strop when the edge seems to be falling off, followed by leather, and then ultimately, a handful of licks on the heel of the palm to calm things down as needed from there. This latter palm-stropping approach, used in tandem with a judicious red- and white-paste linen stropping rotation, makes a big difference if one is seeking to avoid frequent honing touch-ups from my experience.

Thanks for the comment Bronto, I shaved with all 10 alternating as I went along.

10 razors over 8 months means roughly 24 shaves per razor. That seems very low. YMMV of course

Originally Posted by CrownCork

10 razors over 8 months means roughly 24 shaves per razor. That seems very low. YMMV of course

There's nothing wrong with touching up a razor every couple of weeks/it not 'Honing' it's 'Maintenance'.

Well, cudarunner is on to something. I bypassed my CerOx strop on a touch-up today, and the blade shaved super smoothly. No complaints whatsoever. Maybe I will continue this lazy habit.

Originally Posted by CrownCork

10 razors over 8 months means roughly 24 shaves per razor. That seems very low. YMMV of course

Each razor is a different brand, some needed refreshing more than others and some beards are thicker than others, just saying...

Three round trips on my "Raven" barber's hone does the trick for me. Best Barber hone I have used & that is what they are for, touch up's.
Why do you go down to 8K? I would just touch up on the Zulu. Why degrade your Zulu edge you have by going to 8K then have to go back to the Zulu? Just keep the edge at the Zulu level.