what you guys think of this?

[rayman]

Jimmyman,
Before you venture any further on your journey through the honing maze, I would like to ask you a simple question that could shed some light on your issue.

If you were handed a newly honed blade, shaved with it, and only stropped it between shaves - how long would that one blade last? Days, weeks, months? Be honest here please.

Ray

 

[jimmyman]

if i stroped it after every shave i would expect it to last months why?

 

[rayman]

Not what you expect it to last, how long does it really last, please.

Ray

 

[jimmyman]

it really lasts a while but i feel its not sharp enough tugs etc

 

[rayman]

This is the same answer almost everyone of us had at one time. It seems to be a natural transition to go from your first shave directly to honing. For some reason or other we all just take for granted that although we need to learn how to use the straight razor, and hope that we can become proficient at honing - (everyone can cook, but not everyone can be a chef), we just somehow presume that we are all able to strop a blade with absolutely perfect results - NOT!

If you stop to think about this a little, it is quite possible to go directly to honing, hone an absolutely perfect edge and then ruin it by stropping before you even get to use it. This cycle can go on for a long time until one day you actually strop one correctly and are able to shave with it. WOW! what a great shave. Several days later the shave sucks and you think it is the stones fault, or whatever, and begin the cycle all over again.

No one ever stresses the point that you really need to learn how not only to shave, but to strop your razor properly for maximum efficiency. You need to get with someone who will mentor you through this part of the process. I don't know where you live, but I would even do that for you if you like. You should have a properly honed razor in your hand all the time to know if you are getting any better at stropping. Don't even think about touching a stone until you can keep that razor perfectly sharp for at least 30 days. Then you can start to think about the honing process and not before.

I am in the process of running an experiment, most folks here are familiar with it, I was able to get one week shy of six months out of my C-mon razor before it needed a touch up. I am now starting my third month with an 1860 Wade and Butcher and it is still like the day I started using it.

If you are able to get 3 to 5 months out of a razor and have 3 or 4 razors in your rotation, the cost to have them professionally honed will save you a lot of money and frustration from buying honing stones.

I hope this will help you.

Ray

 

[Guest]

If you are able to get 3 to 5 months out of a razor and have 3 or 4 razors in your rotation, the cost to have them professionally honed will save you a lot of money and frustration from buying honing stones.

While this is a statement that is quite counter intuitive for a site dedicated to hones, I would like to strongly second what Ray said. Learning to strop properly is imperative. http://www.coticule.be/stropping-a-straight-razor.html is a rather perfect summary of what you need to do. I was having the same problem, ie razor went dull after about 10 shaves. Then Bart taught me a very simple lesson: 'Do not flip your wrist, flip the razor.' Previously, I was doing 50/50%, and that was the problem.

And yes, I believe that for most people - especially those with two left hands like me, or those who are interested in shaving but not necessarily restoration - being able to maintain a razor is sufficient. Commercial honing can - but need not necessarily - cost some money. Given that you can get by with one razor for a very long time if you maintain it on a Coticule (which you already own), learning the techniques used to restore razors is not a requirement.

I know that in other forums you are considered an incompetent loser if you do not own a barrage of hones and have restored thousands of razors!!!!!!1 Incidentally, the quality of entire lines of razors is measured by 'how easy they are on the hones.' Poppycock. Marketing drivel by people making a living honing other people's razors. Incidentally, though, the reason why the otherwise rather unimpressive DublDuck razors (cheap German export stuff for the American market, you remember?) are fetching the insane prices they currently do.

So, go through the documentation again, make sure you understand how the Coticule works at various stages of dilution of its slurry, and maybe(!) check whether your stropping technique is really perfect. Because if it is not, you will be buying finishing hones until hell freezes over without any improvements in your shaves.

Regards,
Robin