Gentlemen,

I am a relatively new straight razor shaver; this morning I completed my 121st shave. I use a straight 6 days a week.

I was just wondering how many shaves you guys can generally get from a newly honed razor before it needs to be refreshed. I have CrOx and FeOx coated balsa on my paddle strop, so I can refresh at any time, but I just noticed that this morning I completed my 20th shave on one of my blades since the last refresh. It still shaved great.

I am assuming that because both my shaving skill and my stropping skill have increased, I am now able to get more shaves between refreshes.

Just a couple of questions:

1) Do you keep track of how many times you've used a particular blade since it was honed or last refreshed? Or do you just refresh it when it feels like it is no longer keen enough to do the job properly?

2) Is it unusual to get 20 shaves without any refreshing, or is that fairly common/expected?

3) If you count, what is the highest number of comfortable shaves that you have been able to get before having to refresh, whether on pasted balsa, lapping film, or a fine stone?

4) Should I be counting, or is it OK to just keep shaving until the blade tells me it needs work?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.