Thread: How many shaves before honing

I know this is a loaded question just because everybody's hair is different. I just wanted to see what was around the ballpark from a razor you received that was shave ready. Also, when it gets to the point where it needs honing to make it shave ready again is it a difficult process? Can I completely screw up the blade if I do it wrong?

Yes you can screw it up if done wrong. Actually all you need to do is refresh the blade on a 12000 stone then strop. Should not need a full rehone.

Welcome to SRP Humpglide. If your stropping technique is sound, you can shave everyday for three of four months by just stropping before and after your shaves. A once a week stropping session on a crox treated honing surface should keep your edge keen and shave ready.

How long is a piece of string?
Not to be condescending, however, it varies so much between users, technique, stropping style etc. that it is almost impossible to say.
As a guide, if the blade starts pulling and tugging instead of cutting smoothly, it might need a touch up.
I've seen this question so often and I was restoring a lot and only ever used my razors once or twice 'cause I have about 30 in the rotation, that I picked a nice, smiling Sheffield blade to use until it needed touching up.
That was about 16 months ago and it's still going strong - others here have indicated that theirs need a touch up every month or so - so Your Mileage really May Vary.
Touching your blade up is not a difficult process, however, until you know what you are doing, it might be better to send it out.
Honestly, there is nothing worse than trying to hone a blade and finding out that you can't even get near how it was when you bought it (if it was shave ready, of course) and the answer is YES, you can screw it up if you aren't careful.
If I had my time over, I'd have waited 12 months or more before I started trying to hone, just so my technique was sorted first.
Hope this helps

Thnx for the replies. I'm still new to this, just did my 4th shave. I have one razor now and another on the way. I'll prob send it out the first time or so until I understand the process. Maybe even get a beater just to try experimenting with first. It's a steep cliff but my face and neck cldnt be more satisfied.

The mystery of wet shaving.

Your face tells you what you need! More/less soap, more/less water, blade sharp/not sharp.

Most don't stick it out long enough to go through the learning curve of what your face tells you you like.

you can touch up on a low cost C12k, chinese 12k stone, although bit slow, but just as effective to maintaining a shave ready edge

All of this is very true. If you can find an experienced member to get together with and get a little hands on learning it will go a long way towards not screwing up your edge. Non of this is rocket science,but it is techniques that are very unique to straight razors. If you search the member under advanced search you should be able to find senior members in your area. I have seen some post a thread looking for a mentor as well.

30 to 90 shaves (and more) are not unheard of. It can vary a lot depending on your beard and all the many variables.

I don't use linen or pastes. I do use newspaper occasionally. When the strop no longer brings the edge back to shaving sharpness, touch-up the edge on your finishing hone of choice. Often, only 5 to 10 laps are needed on the "faster" barber hones that I use.

Finish honing is relatively easy to learn. You can screw it up if you do it wrong; but that goes for stropping, too. Only way to learn is to jump in and do it.

Vintage linen, new leather (fresh, clean, slick, smooth) and I can't tell the difference between shave 20 and shave 180. I don't think there's any reason i couldn't get 300 or 400 shaves out of a razor and still have it passing the HHT handily.

(shaves 0-20 are still being improved for comfort by the linen - though I use the linen only once a week for 30 strokes).

No abrasives, no pastes, etc.

I never shave with a particular razor for 300 -400 shaves before rotating, so it's hard to tell. Iwasaki made the point that he had a barber use one of his razors over 1000 shaves before rehoning, and it was misinterpreted to mean that his razors never need honing. He was emphasizing that the use of a real linen can really stretch a razor way out.

For what it's worth, I've let a razor go close to 200 before until someone sent me a stone they wanted me to test and I wanted a known test bed. I tested a y/g thuringian that was better than my y/g escher, but the hone still took some of the keenness out of the razor (as in, the shave was better at shave 200 conditioned by the linen than it is straight off of the stone. A few weeks shaving and a few trips to the leather and it was back to where it had been).

I repeat, no abrasive. The important thing with the linen is that it maintains the edge alignment without wearing it off.