My Great Stropping Experiment

[geruchtemoaker]

I shave only with one razor and it never was rehoned(started in February) this is because I only have on descent razor(looking for another one I like)
I do have a couple of ebay razors to learn to hone
so this experiment comes handy

regards
Stijn

 

[mrmaroon]

Im with paul on this one, run that baby dry!

 

[Paul]

I'm glad to see this going forward!

 

[maro]

I tried to repeat your experiment, Ray, and shaved with my Wapi just stropping it. I survived a month only, but I'd blame my still pitiful honing skills for that (I can hardly manage to hone the razor better than to a weak HHT-2).

I would hone the razor for him, for as long as he couldn't manage to get 30 shaves out of the razor with just the aid of his strop. At that point, I would show him how to hone . Not sooner.

But now I deserve a honing lesson by Bart at least! :w00t:
Maybe even I could get adopted for a while? :

 

[geruchtemoaker]

I tried to repeat your experiment, Ray, and shaved with my Wapi just stropping it. I survived a month only, but I'd blame my still pitiful honing skills for that (I can hardly manage to hone the razor better than to a weak HHT-2).

I would hone the razor for him, for as long as he couldn't manage to get 30 shaves out of the razor with just the aid of his strop. At that point, I would show him how to hone . Not sooner.

But now I deserve a honing lesson by Bart at least! :w00t:
Maybe even I could get adopted for a while? :

hhahaha
I can see the advantages of that

 

[Bart]

I tried to repeat your experiment, Ray, and shaved with my Wapi just stropping it. I survived a month only, but I'd blame my still pitiful honing skills for that (I can hardly manage to hone the razor better than to a weak HHT-2).

I would hone the razor for him, for as long as he couldn't manage to get 30 shaves out of the razor with just the aid of his strop. At that point, I would show him how to hone . Not sooner.

But now I deserve a honing lesson by Bart at least! :w00t:
Maybe even I could get adopted for a while? :

If you make it to the Coticule Pilgrimage, the honing lesson won't be a problem. The adoption remains to be seen.

Don't blame yourself to hard for the longevity of the Wapi. 30 shaves is quite good.
While I believe Ray's experiment to be very valuable, we must be afraid not to jump any conclusions. Blade longevity depends on many factors. The quality of the honed edge is certainly very important. As is the maintenance with apt stropping. But also the condition of the steel and the bevel angle play an important part. AND YOUR BEARD.
The most durable edge is probably the hardest possible one that doesn't start to chip on a microscopic level, from impact with your coarsest beard hairs. There are several variables in that equation: the coarseness of the whiskers (the importance of beard preparation!), the temper and connected brittleness of the given steel, the bevel angle, the amount of stress you put on the blade while shaving (the more you deviate from the ideal cutting angle, the more stress you put on the edge).

I believe seasoned shavers, have better edge longevity, for many reasons:
1. the razors are more consistently honed. Ray's premise and a very important one.
2. a seasoned shaver likes a smooth edge, but he can rely on excellent technique to deal with and edge that starts to loose a bit of keenness.
3. Because a seasoned shaver uses more effective techniques (a bit of scything and all that jazz), his edges wear at a slower rate.
4. A seasoned shaver also has a seasoned stropping routine.
5. A seasoned shaver has a perfect preparation technique.
6. A seasoned shaver knows how to avoid micro-corrosion, which is deadly for a razors edge.

I may forget a few things.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[tat2Ralfy]

I may forget a few things.

Kind regards,
Bart.

I get that :huh: :blink: :huh:
Bwhahahaha
Seriously the hardest steel in a razor I have must be my Bengal, and it gives THE smoothest shaves, I am very nearly almost tempted to think about conducting a test using only the bengal to see how long the edge lasts.

Almost

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)

 

[maro]

If you make it to the Coticule Pilgrimage, the honing lesson won't be a problem. The adoption remains to be seen.

Don't blame yourself to hard for the longevity of the Wapi. 30 shaves is quite good.
<snip>

I haven't put much of my hopes in adoption (but it was worth to try ) so I'm doing my best to make it to the Coticule Pilgrimage.
The only thing I blame myself for with Wapi is the poor edge I've put on it.
The longevity test was an experiment I did more for curiosity than to draw any conclusions from it. I'm aware I'm not a seasoned shaver : so I shed no tear on the test result. But reading your comprehensive replies is always a great pleasure and honour to me. :thumbup:

 

[rayman]

Don't blame yourself to hard for the longevity of the Wapi. 30 shaves is quite good.
While I believe Ray's experiment to be very valuable, we must be afraid not to jump any conclusions. Blade longevity depends on many factors. The quality of the honed edge is certainly very important. As is the maintenance with apt stropping. But also the condition of the steel and the bevel angle play an important part. AND YOUR BEARD.
The most durable edge is probably the hardest possible one that doesn't start to chip on a microscopic level, from impact with your coarsest beard hairs. There are several variables in that equation: the coarseness of the whiskers (the importance of beard preparation!), the temper and connected brittleness of the given steel, the bevel angle, the amount of stress you put on the blade while shaving (the more you deviate from the ideal cutting angle, the more stress you put on the edge).

I believe seasoned shavers, have better edge longevity, for many reasons:
1. the razors are more consistently honed. Ray's premise and a very important one.
2. a seasoned shaver likes a smooth edge, but he can rely on excellent technique to deal with and edge that starts to loose a bit of keenness.
3. Because a seasoned shaver uses more effective techniques (a bit of scything and all that jazz), his edges wear at a slower rate.
4. A seasoned shaver also has a seasoned stropping routine.
5. A seasoned shaver has a perfect preparation technique.
6. A seasoned shaver knows how to avoid micro-corrosion, which is deadly for a razors edge.

I may forget a few things.

Kind regards,
Bart.

Bart, you have summed up almost all of the issues that need to be considered when trying to duplicate this experiment. The most important to me, seems to be the ability to strop correctly. Without that, everything else is unimportant. The second thing, as you have pointed out, is the quality of the steel. Of the 6 razors I own, 3 of them have this same well tempered edge. Neither of them are well sought after razors, and I wouldn't part with any of them because of this fact. Two of the others, by the way, were my Grandfathers and I would never part with them.

An update on the C-Mon...

Last week I let my beard grow for 5 days and shaved on Sunday night. The shave was excellent and still only took 3 passes. Last night I shaved again and there was no difference. I will be starting on the 6th month without a touchup at the end of this week.

As a side note; every now and then the razor feels like it is just a little rougher than the previous shave. The next day, after stropping, the shave feels great and continues on for some time like that. This seems to be an indication that something went wrong during stropping but corrected itself the next time the razor was stropped. So much for consistency!

Ray

 

[rayman]

Well, my friends, this is the final chapter in my stropping experiment. Keeping the keen edge on my test razor has finally come to an end just two weeks short of six months usage. I have shaved exclusively with this razor for nearly the past year, and have only honed it twice in that period of time. I think I just might keep it.

I only have 5 other razors, two of them were my grandfathers and the others are nothing special, but they all seem to have very nice quality steel, just like the one I finished this experiment with.

So, what have I personally learned from this?

The key to razor longevity is absolutely learning how to strop properly. If you are new to shaving and keep dulling your edge by stropping and can't get it back by touching it up, let me know and I will help you. If you want to send me your razor for free touchups, you pay the postage, I will be willing to do that for you and try to help you with your stropping technique. Just shoot me an email.

Good luck

Ray

 

[Bart]

Excellent thread Ray, and a very sound suggestion, if you ask me. :thumbup:

Stropping is the first skill that should be learned. Being confident in shaving and stropping, probably also facilitates the learning curve for sharpening razors. Unfortunately, I don't think many new shavers are reading the threads on Coticule.be.
Perhaps we need a "learn how to shave" section. One where newbies are not treated like cattle being driven to their next gear purchase.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[Paul]

Excellent thread Ray, and a very sound suggestion, if you ask me. :thumbup:

Stropping is the first skill that should be learned. Being confident in shaving and stropping, probably also facilitates the learning curve for sharpening razors. Unfortunately, I don't think many new shavers are reading the threads on Coticule.be.
Perhaps we need a "learn how to shave" section. One where newbies are not treated like cattle being driven to their next gear purchase.

Kind regards,
Bart.

How would we line our pockets like that?



: :

 

[Bart]

How would we line our pockets like that?

Don't tell me you haven't received this months Researcher's paycheck yet!

Mr. Bart
CEO the SHITCA conglomerate.