Thread: On razor rotation and resting

Originally Posted by DDTech

+1
The last two new DOVOs had an edge so poor, that I could understand any beginner, who tries it once, puts it into ebay ("not for me") and returns to the cartriges.

Before I started honing, I emailed DOVO to get some tips (I thought they should know). The answer was prompt but so unbelievable bad, that I wished they never answered.

That's sad to hear. Maybe they're struggling to keep up with the James Bond surge. Is the steel still good, once you treat it right with the stones?

I thinbk "resting" was a marketing ploy to get users to buy more razors - and it worked for me!

I can think of no scientific reason why a razor should "rest" and get sharper. None. In fact, it makes sense that the opposite would be the case for carbon steel razors. Minute oxidation, inevitable in any climate for non-alloyed carbon steel, would have the most impact at the edge, slowly dulling it by imperceptible degrees till the cumulative effect is perceptible.

In this, as in many other things, I'm as likely to be wrong as right, but that's how it appears at first blush to me.

hmmmm.... just to confuse the issue, google "acid sharpening files".

Originally Posted by Oakeshott

I can think of no scientific reason why a razor should "rest" and get sharper. None. In fact, it makes sense that the opposite would be the case for carbon steel razors. Minute oxidation, inevitable in any climate for non-alloyed carbon steel, would have the most impact at the edge, slowly dulling it by imperceptible degrees till the cumulative effect is perceptible.

In this, as in many other things, I'm as likely to be wrong as right, but that's how it appears at first blush to me.

I use the same razor every day, and it shaves like a dream.
It don't need no stinkin' rest!

On the other hand, (resting them) is a great excuse to buy more!!

My razors need rest. They told me so. They said they were a hundred-something years old, need rest, and that respect should be shown and honored.
I simply agreed! Seems an arrangement which works

Resting is for me, not my razors. One time I said to my boss, "I need a break" , he said, " you got one when they hired you". That has always made sense to me.

Originally Posted by DDTech

+1
The last two new DOVOs had an edge so poor, that I could understand any beginner, who tries it once, puts it into ebay ("not for me") and returns to the cartriges.

Before I started honing, I emailed DOVO to get some tips (I thought they should know). The answer was prompt but so unbelievable bad, that I wished they never answered.

What did they actually tell you?

Originally Posted by Lejeune

Fellow shavers, I have gotten a variety of responses and tales when asking this question. I usually rotate my razors so they get 72 hours between each use. The idea is to give them time to "rest." It was my understanding (and maybe I'm wrong) that this was the original reason behind 7 day sets. Rotate through a different razor each day until you get back to the first. Recently however, a fellow shaver suggested that barbers only used 7 day sets so they could sharpen them all at once and would frequently use the same razor repeatedly for weeks at a time. What do you guys think? Am I foolish to rest my razors through a 72 hour rotation?

I seldom use a razor two days in a row, unless I'm on a trip and pack one, but it's just because I like to switch around.

This old barber-marketing-wives-tale has been disproved by modern DE and cartridge razors (4-5 shaves easy without resting), and especially the Feather Super blades which can be used daily for at least 10-20 shaves on the toughest of beards. I have personally used my mighty Dovo Bismarck daily for months with no more than stropping and no rest between. NEXT.