I'm Resting a Razor

I'm going to try to do some informal experimentation on resting. I'm not sure what I should be doing. But, I'm going to shave with the same blade, repeatedly, without stropping for several shaves and only "rest" the razor about 48 hours between shaves.

Then I will slightly hone the blade again and use stropping to see what diffences exist.

I may also try an iteration with shaving every day with the same blade without stropping.

Keep in mind that I can already go more than a week without stropping so progess and results will be watered down.

I already hit my first snag this morning. I cleaned my razor after my shave. I clean my blade using a towel which is the same method I use to "linen" it.

Once we get some thoughts down, I would encourage others to try it out also. We would need a lot of data points I think to come to any conclusions.

I've tried this myself for a period of about 6 or 7 weeks (resting the blade two to three shaves at a time), and I never noticed any improvement on the non-stropping days over the stropping days

I'm curious to see what your and maybe others' results are

Sneak up on that razor at night with a stethoscope, listen for little noises that would indicate it's quietly realigning its little striations and serrations.

Of course I'm just being a jerk, but I never could buy the "resting" advice. On the other hand, if it sells more razors, that's great.

Please keep us posted with some actual observations.

I've been thinking that a good test would be to shave repeatedly without stropping for several days until I know the edge is bad and then wait 48 hours and see if there is improvement.

I'm going to try that too.

I think it will be difficult to really be sure anything is happening at all. But, I'll try and see.

I'm in, I think. I have to shave every day, and I've been in the habit of obsessively preparing my blade every evening for the next day's shave. I'll discontinue my stropping and track the results. Maybe I'll eventually get the blade dull enough that I can't cut myself.

Very cool! I'd like to find an easily repeatable test so that others can duplicate any theoretical results.

In order to make this as repeatable as possible, it will be important to eliminate any extraneous variables. Pre-shave routine, preparation and any other factors should not be changed during the sample.

Really interesting idea. Can't say that I put a lot of credence in the resting the blade thing but worth looking at. It would really be worth dragging someone with a USB microscope (or similar) in. If I had one I'd join but don't think my anecdotal experience would add anything.

I've pretty much defacto done it already. I lately have been using the same razor several days in a row and will park it a day maybe two to use the DE. I noticed no differences and I've been using this routine now for probably 8 months. Right now I'm doing it with the TI Crownwing I recently got.

I don't mean to stifle your enthusiasm... but metal doesn't rest (although it may fatigue).

Steel won't heal, it won't reshape itself, it won't grow a new edge. Just about all that it will happen is that it will rust if you don't treat it carefully, and at best nothing will happen. It will be in the same condition you put it away.

As someone mentioned, without high magnification or some other type of scientific measuring, all we are doing is gathering subjective impressions. You may feel you got a better shave after resting the blade a couple of days, but the variables are too many (prep, beard condition, soap, water, temperature, etc., etc.) for this to be meaningful.

Perhaps resting the steel will enhance its indefatigability. Anyway, we're running out of stuff to test here, we're getting bored, and we need something to do. :)

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Originally Posted by ace

Perhaps resting the steel will enhance its indefatigability. Anyway, we're running out of stuff to test here, we're getting bored, and we need something to do. :)

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You want something to do? Try honing your razor blindfolded. That should keep you at task for a while.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You want something to do? Try honing your razor blindfolded. That should keep you at task for a while.

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I'm sure that can be done. Now, shaving blindfolded, now there's a feat!

I'm through my second shave. I think the mind misses stropping before the blade does.

Nelson~ you've concluded that stropping is unneccessary? Are you shaving daily or consistently giving the blade a day or two off?

[QUOTE=AFDavis11;742316]I'm through my second shave. I think the mind misses stropping before the blade does.

You're dead right there. I can't do it. I've tried to quit stropping, but I can't pull it off. I've appealed to my higher power, sought assistance from other "recovering stropaholics", made amends to my face, but if I don't strop for a day, then I just go on a stropping binge, do all my razors, and then the wife finds me in the kitchen madly stropping away on her kitchen knives, cackling shrilly, and with a manic look in my eye. Now she won't allow me to have coffee whilst stropping, is starting to hide her knives, and isn't allowing me in the kitchen anymore. All I have left to work on is this little plastic knife for picnics. Hmmmm, I wonder if I can strop an edge on this bad boy?

So you're saying this whole resting thing is a sham!?

How else am I supposed to convince my wife that I need more than one razor? Oh no, it's started. There's no going back for me. Must have more razors.

I don't think it's a sham at all. In theory, if you rest a blade infinitely, it will never get dull. Shaving with a sharp edge is the worst possible thing to do to it, aside from dropping it on the bathroom floor, smacking the blade into the faucet, or dropping it into the toilet.

It is also a little known fact that taping the spine during honing cancels out detrimental vibrations created by the edge scraping along the stone. The tape cushions the effect of the stone on the blade, much like a shock absorber on an automobile, and counters any molecular upset that might be created by honing. That same molecular upset is created during shaving, but the effect is greater when the blade is passed over the much more abrasive stones.

You can explain all that to the wife and gain a reason for having more blades. You can stop explaining when you see her eyes glaze over. Using big words helps too.

One of the things that fascinated me when I was a youngster was watching the barber strop his razor when I would be sitting waiting my turn for a haircut. I do recall seeing my barber at the time, Tom Coppeto, strop in the midst of a shave. I assume the edge wasn't quite 'there'.

The 1961 barber manual excerpt on honing and stropping instructs to never shave without stropping first. I bought a strop, matter of fact I bought maybe 15 of them, like any normal person. I like stropping. It is a ritual that gives me pleasure. I don't overdo it but after honing, before shaving I always strop.

Here is an interesting thread, called "Interesting Article" that AFDavis11 posted back in '08. Within that thread mparker762 postulates that oxidation, unseen by the naked eye, may begin to degrade the edge. Stropping removes this oxidation. There is no question in my mind that stropping improves the edge and will remain a part of my shave routine.

Some of us are 'if it is working don't fix it guys' while others, like AFDavis11, are always curious, pushing the envelope to discover how and why 'it' works. That is a good thing since nothing new would come down the pike were it not for those analytical minds and the discoveries they make. Good luck with the experiment Alan, however the results turn out, but one way or the other I'll still be enjoying my stropping. :)

Try giving the blade some creatine as part of the post shave. That might help it to recover better while it rests.

Holy cow! I know I'm a newbie and my stropping is still slow and the thought of honing my own razors is something that I hope I can do someday. You guys have taken this straight razor thing to a whole new level. Wow!

Thanx Jimmy,

So, just to address a few concerns.

I am resting the razor between shaves.

I am making subjective evaluations of the shave, both before 24 hours, or resting, and after 48 hours of resting.

I am not making any postulations on the cause of the subjective impressions. For example, I'll not postulate that the steel moved in any way (even if the shave feels dramatically better).

Variables always exist. You may choose not to agree with the observations. I'm only going to try to make them repeatable for others. If you are not familiar with qualitative research please read up on the concept. Variables can be accounted for and mitigated against and tests don't have to be quantitative, to be valuable.

Also, please don't be fearful of the potential results. If your assumptions are correct than they should be confirmed by the results.

If everyone's assumptions are correct, it should be easy and quick to disprove the resting theory.

The thesis I'm trying to evaluate is not that resting is beneficial or that it changes the steel composition. I'm only evaluating whether it seems to improve the shave or comfort.

If we can replicate the conditions when it seems to increase comfort, perhaps, with our better scientific understanding prevelant today, along with the collaboration and peer review of a forum, we may be able to target the real cause of the "resting" theory.

So, really the question to be addressed is not "Does resting improve an edge?", but at this point, more towards "Why did people back in the day think that resting improved an edge?".

Let me be the one to throw a monkey wrench into the mix.

Ever see those commercials on TV for that silicon band that supposedly makes you stronger and they have the demo to "prove" it? Of course the product is a fraud however the reason the dupes in the commercial react differently to being pushed or pulled is because the first time it's unanticipated and the second time they know it's coming and they tense up.

Ergo when you switch razors do you subconsciously or otherwise expect a result and how do you know you aren't making some subtle difference when you shave with the rested as opposed to the non rested razor. For your result to be more exact you should not know which razor is which like a double blind scientific experiment.

I couldn't resist this cause when I did the stropping experiment years ago guys through this stuff at me.

Nelson~ I remember. That was a good thread too. You stuck to your guns too.

I will be glad to mail the resting razor, along with several unrested razors out, all to seperate US locations.

Then, when the razors return, they come back in an unknown order.

Had you not done your experiment those that thought stropping after a shave had no effect would still be chiming in on their "common" assumptions. :)

But, please don't expect me to go through the face torture I remember you going through with those experiments.

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Nelson~ I remember. That was a good thread too. You stuck to your guns too.

I will be glad to mail the resting razor, along with several unrested razors out, all to seperate US locations.

Then, when the razors return, they come back in an unknown order.

Had you not done your experiment those that thought stropping after a shave had no effect would still be chiming in on their "common" assumptions. :)

But, please don't expect me to go through the face torture I remember you going through with those experiments.

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Owww, my face is starting to hurt just reading your response.

So, this mornings shave was number four. I am beginning to feel some degradation in the shave.

So, for those wondering that is four shaves without stropping. That is an interesting data point for me.

I realized there was yet another wrinkle to this testing process, and that is the theory of resting a razor for 24 hours instead of 48.

Since I've been shaving with the same prep and at the same time every day, technically I've been resting the razor for 24 hours.

Now, I'm not anywhere near the point where the testing is going to begin. But, I was thinking this morning that if I can feel the razor degrading that isn't a very positive sign for the benefits of resting. At least not in favor of resting for only 24 hours. Again, it's too early to make any conclusions, but if resting 24 hours helps the blade "realign" or whatever, then shaving every 24 hours with a blade shouldn't allow for any degradation.

Anyway, because of the degradation I began applying a little more pressure while shaving and doing more passes. No significant degradation yet, it's very, very mild. I'm just hoping I don't cut myself severly in the process of this test.

I'm thinking though that the razor might be ready for a "rest" and testing sometime next week at which time I hope to let the razor rest for 48 solid hours. It may take 3 weeks though, because I want to ensure the razor is shaving very poorly. I think sometime through next week I should start shaving twice a day just to accelerate the degradation and increase the differences.

Just my rambling thoughts . . .

I took the day off.

I couldn't stand the idea of shaving again with a stainless blade without stropping for five straight shaves. It was more than I could deal with.

I used my Carbon Steel World Master, the finest straight razor ever crafted. I did 40 passes on linen and 30 on leather. Oh, yea, I was going all out.

I used Mama Bear's soap. I got a magical shave. Nearly BBS using only WTG passes, with a slight cross grain pass after the first pass.

My face feels pampered, clean, and smooth.

Oh, yea, life is pretty good.

Ok, tomorrow back to the experiment.

I'm not ready to do such testing yet, but I like when people try interesting stuff.
So tomorrow would be a 48h rest instead of the usual 24h?

I seem to remember something about having two razors for resting, may be there is something important happening between the 24h and the 48h.

I think once you have some ideas with the first iteration, one relatively easy variation is to have 2 or 3 razors, the 2nd and the 3rd serve as a benchmark, they get one or two strokes just for a reference and are stropped (#2 could be used every day, and #3 can be used once a week).

I doubt I can commit to several weeks of this anytime soon, but I can contribute three identical razors (I think I still have an incomplete 7-day set of something).

Gugi! Good point. I've always had hesitations about testing multiple razors. I find that even "identical" razors aren't really so identical. Then on top of that is the problem of honing them the same.

So, my plan was to really tear up the blade and then give it 48 hours of rest. I haven't really torn up the blade yet, but I did let it rest for 48 hours.

At first it did feel like there might have been a slight improvement in the edge, but nothing I could hang my hat on, so to speak.

The primary problem is that as the edge gets worse you immediately, naturally, begin just lowering the shaving angle and adding more pressure. So the shave quality and comfort remail optimum.

But, the shave was still not very good. Nearly identical in quality to the others before them.

I'm having doubts, now though, that I can really get the edge to get much worse, and remain a viable testing tool.

At this point I think I am starting to be able to visible see edge damage with the naked eye and bright light.

So, I think the only thing I have managed to identify is that I can go, but wouldn't want to, six shaves without stropping.

I think the 48 hour resting myth is busted.

Aren't you supposed to put the razor inside a pyramid while it's resting :D . Anyone remember those pyramid blade "sharpeners" from back in the late 60's , and early 70's ?

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Originally Posted by MendedSlinky

So you're saying this whole resting thing is a sham!?

How else am I supposed to convince my wife that I need more than one razor? Oh no, it's started. There's no going back for me. Must have more razors.

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LOL, I started collecting straights, and still haven't stopped!

Note: If you get a collection of more than 7, do yourself a favor and oil the blade and hinge pins before putting them to bed. You wont have to re-hone them quite as often due to corrosion damage from to lack of use! (I learned that the hard way)

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

At this point I think I am starting to be able to visible see edge damage with the naked eye and bright light.

So, I think the only thing I have managed to identify is that I can go, but wouldn't want to, six shaves without stropping.

I think the 48 hour resting myth is busted.

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Revisiting 'cuz I'm curious if anything more happened. When I considered this experiment my mind was drawn to the earliest days when I looked into honing kitchen cutlery. I was sharpening quite regularly, at the initial learning phase, all with the ease of mind that I was actually preserving the life of the blade by regularly shaving off steel because when the blade is maintained well there is no additional degradation of the edge due to impacted parts being impacted further through crushing against the items being cut, rather than being cut cleanly. Now, open razors aren't the same kind of steel as the soft modern cutlery but whatever rolling or flipping of the razor's little "fins" that occur from repeatedly cutting through hair is going to build up a messy and troubled edge. If the edge doesn't realign itself... all those untrue sections of the edge, however off they may be, will have accelerated degradation when not realigned by the competent shaver.

I swear I can feel the difference in the blade's edge at the end of my shave. I haven't experimented much with re-softening my hairs with another hot towel soaking so my experience may be exaggerated but I truly believe I can discern at this point when I haven't adequately stropped my blade (I like to stick with the same one for awhile for clarity and familiarizing myself with different razor designs and steels).

I'd love to hear more, such as a 48 hour resting experiment.

I have heard stories of Japanese sushi chefs having 2 sets of knives so that each knife could have a day to rest. I want to say it had something to do with the belief that the knife developed some kind of protective patina while it was resting and when it went back to work it was subjected to all the acidic onions and tomatoes that began eating through the protective coating and into the high carbon steel.

Hey AFDavis I was wonderening if you followed up this with anymore testing?

Also I always thought that the oldtimers would use two razors while resting blades from the start, meaning right after honing) and that they would still strop them before ever use just not after they use them? Again like others I can't exatcly see what the point of it is but thats is how I thought it was suppose to be done.

I would try this out my self but I am tring out honedrights method of keeping one blade sharp with stroping for a year at the moment.

I don't really buy into the ''resting'' stuff either. The only reason I use my razors in rotation is because I enjoy using all of them.