Thread: Honing/Stropping is Where the Rubber Meets the Road!

When I first began using a straight razor, one of the razors I bought off eBay was a 11/16 carbon steel J. A. Henckels 401 razor. When it arrived, it was in beautiful condition and looked totally unused. The first time I put it to my face, it easily cut hair but "boy, oh boy" was the journey awful! I felt like I was shaving with a broken beer bottle. I tried sharpening it on a Swaty barber stone and then stropped it over 200 times. I repeated this several times without having any success with the comfort of the shave.

Shooter74734 came to the rescue. He generously offered to hone it free of charge to help out a Newbie. When he got the razor, he said he didn't think it had ever had a bevel set on it. When it came back it, was vastly improved. THANK YOU SHOOTER74743. I certainly plan to hire him to hone some of my recalcitrant razors in the future.

While the 401 was improved, it never matched the smoothness of my Wade & Butcher or Thiers-Issard Le Grelot. Then last week I lucked out and got a mint 13/16 carbon steel J. A. Henckels 72 1/2 for a great price on eBay. With the very first shave, this new Henckels jumped all the way to the front of the line in terms of smoothness and to beat a Wade & Butcher is no small feat. That got me to thinking more kindly towards the 401. Perhaps, Henckel razors were a lot better than I had been giving them credit for. So, I stropped the 401 another 200 laps on a SRD paddle strop. Finally, things fell into place. The 401 not only shaved closely but it did so with a new found smoothness. SUCCESS AT LAST!

Moral of this story? Don't be too quick to judge the quality of a razor. It may be that it needs a good bevel setting and a lot of quality time on a strop. What I had judged to be barely a "C" razor has proven, with help from Shooter74743, to be an "A" razor. Good honing and stropping simply allowed the greatness of the razor to be realized.

Now I have a new goal "to make sure every razor in my collection is properly honed and sharpened before I glibly assess its value."

Happy Shaving!

Great post. Excellent goal, too. Thanks.

I think you are ignoring another variable... During the time you let the henckles 401 sit you were gaining valuable experience, both in stropping and shaving. When you then went ahead and stripped it you got the most out of the edge that shooter had put in it and with more experience were able to make the most of it. Honing and stropping are both very important when it comes to shaving but ability and prep are there too. Of the three of them I'd put ability/experience ahead of the other two simply because I have seen experianced shavers shave with subpar blades and almost no prep better than I could when starting out with a perfect edge and plenty of prep.

Originally Posted by thehekler

I think you are ignoring another variable... During the time you let the henckles 401 sit you were gaining valuable experience, both in stropping and shaving. When you then went ahead and stripped it you got the most out of the edge that shooter had put in it and with more experience were able to make the most of it. Honing and stropping are both very important when it comes to shaving but ability and prep are there too. Of the three of them I'd put ability/experience ahead of the other two simply because I have seen experianced shavers shave with subpar blades and almost no prep better than I could when starting out with a perfect edge and plenty of prep.

You are certainly correct in identifying ability/experience as a major player in a successful shave. After 200 straight shaves, I feel I am much more in control of my shaves and I can get at least a DFS from any of my 34 razors.

All during the last six months, I kept the 401 in the rotation, so it didn't sit idle while I was gaining experience, but it wasn't until this week that I felt it shaved as smoothly as most of my other razors. Perhaps, it is as you say, that my stropping ability improved along with my general shaving ability.

I think I was trying to make the point that after one gains experience, the honing and stropping are critical factors in getting a comfortable shave. IMHO, getting a razor to cut close is not the challenge; the challenge is to get it to cut close with comfort.

Thanks for your observations and input. One of the great things about SRP is learning from one another.

Happy Shaving!

Hi DBL, I"m glad that you found the magic with JA Henckels! I chose them many years ago as my favorite brand of razor. You can be sure that I still try different brands and keep the lesser known razors in my rotation, but I wouldn"t trade my JA"s for any other brand that"s out there. Best Regards and Happy Shaving, wildhog