Thread: I hate my @#$%^* beard!!!!

Well, the results are in. 20 x linen + 50 x leather before each shave slows the deterioration somewhat--shave #3 is still BBS--but I can still feel some deterioration in that the blade doesn't glide as smoothly & the alum stings a lot more. So I'm going to conclude that the linen does help a little, but not enough to make a big difference. I think the edge is still good enough at this point that I can touch it up with the Chinese 12K. If I wait until shave #8, the damage will be so profound that I'll need to go all the way back to the 4K stropback hone. So I'm going to try doing frequent touch-ups in the hope that I can get away with only using the Chinese 12K. As Glen says, it's easier to maintain an edge than to create one.

As a side note, I just finished stitching up a new strop out of a thick scrap piece of Latigo that Stoneguard sent me, plus some large homemade stainless D-rings. The Latigo has a much heavier draw than my antique horsehide strop, so it might very well be as good a restorer as linen. We'll see.

I feel your pain, Johnny--5-6 shaves max before I need a touch-up. (Used to be 3 before I realized I was stropping too hard) I love the dull razor quote, though--request pemission to use it in my signature!

Here's an idea regarding CrO2 that came w/ Chrisl's sample--treat the convex side of a piece of balsa (~8x3x1/4) w/ a mix of the chrome & some type of oil to make a paste. This should have much less give to it, giving you more shaves before it rounds the bevel. Just tried it and my touchup was smoother than before. I'll report back after I've tried a few more. Until I can afford a Shapton set, that is!

P.S. I second the dull razor warning--those will cut you! Badly. Very badly. Don't ask me how I found this out...

Johnny, get a Zowada liquid nitrogen triple tempered damascus straight. It will cost you some $, but you just may stop cursing your beard!

Actually at this point I'm resigned to my fate. So I have to touch it up every 3 shaves. That's not so bad. I'm getting pretty fast at it from all the practice!

Update: the Chinese 12K is not aggressive enough to grind past the damage from even 3 shaves, but the Swaty is. It's amazing how much finer the Chinese stone is than the Swaty. When I shave wet arm hairs off the Swaty, the razor goes sssshhhhhkkk and the hairs go tink tink tink tink. When I do the same thing off the Chinese stone, the blade just wipes the hairs off with hardly any sensation of shaving. Sure I could get by with just the Swaty...but why?