Thread: Is "Resting a blade" complete bull?

I'm a big believer in resting my blades, I let them rest all night long. I've found if I rest during the same time period, my blades shave better! I've even taken to sneaking a short rest in during the day when I can. When I was younger I didn't realize the benefit of resting, I just ran through life like gas was cheap. But as I've aged I've learned the value of rest. As a matter of fact, I think I'll lay down soon and get some for myself.

Being the scientist that I am, I don't think there is any truth or benefit to resting a blade...

HOWEVER, this is my primary explanation to justify new purchases to my wife.

So gentlemen, my recommendation is that we leave the speculation here and never let our wives find out the truth. Feed the RAD.

I couldn't agree with you more Justaknick. I just purchased my second razor with that same B.S. story. It works on live in girlfriends too.

I've heard recently that it takes a year to rest a blade properly, so those that don't have 365 razors in their rotation had better get out and find some flea markets or devote some time to eBay...

Im far from 365 razors, but if I get there, I'll start looking for something that states a razor needs 2 years to rest

Originally Posted by AndrewJM

I've heard recently that it takes a year to rest a blade properly, so those that don't have 365 razors in their rotation had better get out and find some flea markets or devote some time to eBay...

Im far from 365 razors, but if I get there, I'll start looking for something that states a razor needs 2 years to rest

Check...

I just invested my time reading through seven pages of this hoping there would be something useful regarding the original question. Seems not.

Originally Posted by RocketMan

I just invested my time reading through seven pages of this hoping there would be something useful regarding the original question. Seems not.

I will strop a blade after shaving. After a shave I'll focus the stropping more on the linen side rather than the leather. I'll do 60 linen and 20 leather after a shave. Before I shave, I will do 20 linen 100 leather...that's just the system that seems to get the best results for me. After a shave, the edge is somewhat degraded, and the purpose of stropping is to align the edge again. That's my take on it...others may have different opinions and methods that work for them.

Originally Posted by RocketMan

I just invested my time reading through seven pages of this hoping there would be something useful regarding the original question. Seems not.

I'm not sure what fact speaks louder;

You've been here 5 years & didn't know the answer to the opening post.

or;

You had nothing to do on a Friday night but read through 65 replies,,,

Originally Posted by Phrank

LOL - it was explained to me once that a razor needs to, "fin" for 24 hours.

The analogy was to a fin on a fish, that after a shave the fin wasn't straight, and needed to return to a healthy state. Who knows?

From an old thread here and a quote from the Dovo factory:

"DOVO straight razors are whetted in the factory for use (whetting on leather by hand). If you own a suitable strop, you should nevertheless take into account that the razor must first "rest" after use. After the razor has been carefully rinsed and dried, it should not be used again for at least 24 - 48 hours because the fine "fin" on the cutting edge straightens up again extremely slowly. If the razor is stropped too soon (or stropped incorrectly by moving it backwards and forwards without turning it over), the "fin" which is necessary for a close shave breaks off. Between six and fifteen shaves are possible without stropping in between."

bend a paperclip back and forth repeatedly- what happens? it becomes brittle and breaks. we call it "work hardening." by the explanation above it sounds like a razor not allowed to "rest" can be subject to work hardening by stropping the fin back instead of allowing the fin to stand back up due to the molecule bonds in the steel itself(??????????) before stropping prior to the next shave. letting it "rest" itself back doesn't equate to work hardening the same as forcing it back by stropping prematurely. sounds reasonable, wish I were scientifically inclined, id love to know all the ins and outs of what is happening at that level.

Honestly, there's the theory and there's the practice.

We can argue the theory of metal realignment forever (and as I alluded to in an earlier post in this thread, seems we are well on the way...).

However, practice is what we do. Every day. The empirical evidence (which must be in the hundreds of thousands of man-hours) our collective membership has collected over the past 10 or so years of this Forum's life tells us that you can happily strop your razor immediately before and immediately after a shave with no ill effects.

I myself did a basic experiment on this early on (an unwitting experiment, but an experiment nonetheless). For about 5 years I only stropped before a shave, never after, which meant my rotation razors always had at least 3 days "rest" post shave. Then in recent years I started stropping pre and post shave, using the same razor for at least 5 weeks in a row (in fact, I've been shaving with this current razor for about 3 months every day, face and head). I've found no discernible difference between my old way or this current way in terms of edge longevity or shaving efficacy.

YMMV, but mine doesn't!

James.