Thread: How do you use your razors now!

After shaving today with a vintage Edelweiss I pulled out of my collection that was not in the rotation it got me thinking.
How do you use your razors now?

Most here are veterans with a straight and I wondered if others used theirs like I use mine.

For the last three months anyway it has mostly been a Barbas Duras and a Le grelot with about 4 other razors ready to go.
I'll get thinking about a particular razor for no particular reason, pull it out, clean the wax off it and put a new edge on it then shave.
It seems I don't change the rotation much. I only really use two to three at at time sometimes refreshing and sometimes changing an edge on the odd one already in the rotation.
For a while I have been keeping record of what razor likes what stones the most. I had thought about the Edelweiss and looked it up and what I found was - Jnat. Hates slate!! Thats it (I'm lazy it seems)I cant remember if I tried a Coticle on it or not - its been a while since I had it out. Probably right after the neighbors wife gave it to me, it was her uncles.

Tried the Coticule - nope. Doesn't like it. Having quite a few slates and not knowing if I tried the Escher I thought I would try the Escher, nope.
On to the Jnat, yep. Thats it. Just doesn't like anything else. Takes a great Jnat edge but still haven't tried synthetic 20k that will be next just to be thorough and this time write it all down! I normally go to 8k synthetic then a natural so I know I didn't go synthetic yet.
Well its another razor out so what do you do? The Edelweiss will go back in hiding after the Gokumyo, the others will remain for now in rotation. Its a little small (5/8)
There are some that are just finicky so they don't get used much. Sometimes it the size (I like bigger razors) and sometimes they are just ok razors.
There are some that take amazing edges - sometimes just from one type of stone but they fit the other criteria of good size and grind.
I like thinner razors as well. I don't have any wedges but I have a few heavy ones that gets used as part of some rotations.
Some rarely get pulled out but they are decent that fit the bill too, just don't get used that much.
Some are not very good. Don't hold an edge well etc.
Eventually one or more from the rotation will go back and another good one or two will come out and I will use that for a while.

How do you regulate?

Even though I can see 50+ razors from where I am sitting I don't rotate often. I bought a Snail Forge razor at the Movember auctions and that has been my go to ever since. Once in a while I will play with another but I have found one I like and know how it works along with the persons who made it. Bruno made the blade and Glen made the scales. Oer time with use and sitting in my bathroom it is starting to develope a slight patina. But in my opinion it is an everyday tool and that is part of its life.

If I accidently drop it on the floor or some other mishap happens I have plenty of others to back it up but for now it is just that one.

Tim

Okay, this is how I roll currently. I have 8 razors, in rotation, that I use for superior results. Each one in its own right produces an extraordinary BBS 2 pass shave. Here they are:



I store them in a handmade red oak rack that I made in 2016. Works out really well for me.

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

Okay, this is how I roll currently. I have 8 razors, in rotation, that I use for superior results. Each one in its own right produces an extraordinary BBS 2 pass shave. Here they are:



I store them in a handmade red oak rack that I made in 2016. Works out really well for me.

Do you rotate all 8 when changing rotation or inch new ones in sporadically when the mood strikes you?
What prompts you to change one or all?

All of my razors are ready to go at anytime. And all of them are in the rotation. Whatever I’m in the mood for I go with. I’ve got favorites. But I try to remind myself that I bought each of them for a reason. And I haven’t sold them so they must still hold some value. So I will often pick one that hasn’t been used in a while. I’ve got one honing system that’s all synthetic. I’ve yet to have a razor that performed poorly on a synthetic and better on a natural. I keep it straight forward and simple. When I was buying more razors, if I came across one of those tricky to hone ones, I’d slap it on eBay, take what I could get for it, and move on.

Every time I shave, I use a different one. I just go to the next slot and use that razor. These are my best of the best razors. I have an additional 24 razors and rotate the entire bunch about every 8 months. Then I'll touch up the 8 that came out, oil them and store them until the next round. I'm lazy, I find honing to be a necessary evil and only do when I have to.

Here's the best part: I only use one honing stone in the whole process and that's a surgical black for finishing. Other than that I use marble plates with CrOx and diamond plates for sharpening and polishing the edges. You don't have to spend an exuberant amount of fancy hones when other materials work (and I get exceptional edges) with just basic equipment. Life's too short for all that other BS!

All of mine are in rotation.
I go to my spreadsheet and see what jumps out at me. Maybe a name I havent used in a couple years. Maybe it was 3 years since I shaved with it. Or maybe I just want to use something I made scales for or Ivory.

One of the 325 razors will be picked, stropped and shaved with. I normally will look at what I finished the razor on after the shave. And i always mark how the shave went and change the date on the spreadsheet.

Some days its been as long as 4 years between shaves with a razor but its still in rotation.

I'm more ADHD about it. I only have about 180-200 and some are in various states of restoration which pauses while I get stoked about something else. However, probably 7/8 of them are in one shavable condition or another. This is how it usually goes:

I will be on a chopper buzz for a while so I'll hit all the FBU's in rotation. Then the wild hare will find his way to that proverbial place and I will get on an American kick. I'll open the US drawer and dig through it until one makes me say, "hello beautiful," and out will come one or two. Normally it has been a while and I don't remember when or on what I last honed it; I'm not as conscientious as Jerry. I usually do an HHT and if it passes it will get the flax or if it barely passed it will go to the hemp and after that to leather. If it won't pass the HHT, and sometimes even if it will I'll hone it just because I love to hone. Sometimes I will finish on a different stone every other shave just for sport. Then usually I'm all in love with the American stuff for a while and all the others can piss up a rope. I'll go through the US drawer and shave with most of them during that phase. After a while I'll start to sing sad country songs about let's say Japanese or Russian ones and the cycle starts again. Next it might be a German kick. Ja wohl!!! You get the picture.

For a while I was buying razors all the time and that sparked my fancies for the various groups. Now I have enough that I will find razors I forgot I had and it's like getting new ones without spending any money...

OH, and I do the same thing with stones. I don't even know how many stones I have. Some of them that I pulled out of someone's garden and flattened out, I don't even know what the heck it is. A few of them are not so good but most of them I can get at least a good shave from while some leave spectacular edges like some quartzite, nephrite and slates I have "liberated." I even have some sandstone that performs pretty well mid range.

The curious kid lives on in my heart!

yinz have and use a lot of razors, dayumn, I have a rotation of a handful of razors.

Thank you to those who replied!