So back in the beginning of January, before I ended up in the hospital not knowing who I was or where I was, I honed my C-MON Blackie on my No.2 coticule and decided to extend an experiment I had already been doing with it previously but with a different twist.
I simply wanted to take only this freshly honed razors and shave with it exclusively under these pretenses.
1. It could be daily, every other day or every 3 days. No special requirement other than it had to be the same razor.
2. I would do only 3 passes, one WTG, one ATG and one WTG (XTG on the neck) and in that order.
3. Before each shave I would do 30 laps on the linen and 50 on leather.
4. When I did not reach a BBS shave after 3 passes I would touch up the edge on my Hard Balsa Strop board and start over and continue until I needed to re-hone the razor.
Here is the simple results so far.
As of today, I still have not had to touch the razor to my Hard Balsa Strop. After stropping I am still achieving a BBS shave with little effort and getting absolutely no razor burn. HHT is still a solid 4 to 5.
I have never given much thought to the process of stropping other than the basic technique involved. It always seemed that If the razor could shave when I was done, or if it could pass a HHT, it was just fine. This simple longevity test of one edge, however, has been a complete eye opener for me. I am finally convinced that even though I might be considered an advanced beginner in the honing circle, I was nowhere near that until now in the stropping community. Maybe we need to give more emphasis to this stropping process more than we have been.
Give this experiment a try, it’s great fun!
Ray
I simply wanted to take only this freshly honed razors and shave with it exclusively under these pretenses.
1. It could be daily, every other day or every 3 days. No special requirement other than it had to be the same razor.
2. I would do only 3 passes, one WTG, one ATG and one WTG (XTG on the neck) and in that order.
3. Before each shave I would do 30 laps on the linen and 50 on leather.
4. When I did not reach a BBS shave after 3 passes I would touch up the edge on my Hard Balsa Strop board and start over and continue until I needed to re-hone the razor.
Here is the simple results so far.
As of today, I still have not had to touch the razor to my Hard Balsa Strop. After stropping I am still achieving a BBS shave with little effort and getting absolutely no razor burn. HHT is still a solid 4 to 5.
I have never given much thought to the process of stropping other than the basic technique involved. It always seemed that If the razor could shave when I was done, or if it could pass a HHT, it was just fine. This simple longevity test of one edge, however, has been a complete eye opener for me. I am finally convinced that even though I might be considered an advanced beginner in the honing circle, I was nowhere near that until now in the stropping community. Maybe we need to give more emphasis to this stropping process more than we have been.
Give this experiment a try, it’s great fun!
Ray