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Can a straight razor last a lifetime?

I was gonna say, those scales were added about 100 years into that razors life... lol. Bet that sucker has quite the story if it could talk.
 
What they said. If you have ONE razor ONLY, but you take good care of it, it will last your lifetime. A bigger razor, say a 7/8, will of course potentially last longer than a 4/8 or 5/8. Most important thing is don't drop it or ding it, don't get water in the pivot, wipe the razor between some tp after you get it wet whether it is honing, shaving, whatever. Strop a dozen or so laps after shaving, on your hanging leather strop

Slash, at the risk of derailing the thread, I note you said a dozen or so laps on leather post shave.

I do much more, but you have more years experience. You find just a dozen enough?

Second question. For convenience, I bring a leather paddle when I travel. A good Tony Millar. Paddle is nearly as good as hanging. Also shorter. So more laps on the paddle to compensate? Maybe 20 hanging and 40 paddle?
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
I do a dozen laps post shave only to clean and dry the edge. I then go 50 on the lapped balsa with .1u diamond. That is post shave. The dozen on leather clean and dry the edge. If for some reason (travel, etc) I am not going to use the balsa or I don't have it with me, I still do the dozen on leather for the stated reason. A dozen is not enough to burnish the edge, no. But it will leave it dry and clean.

Pre shave, I do 50 on the leather.

I know it is tempting to go with a paddle, but I don't like them, myself. I think a hanging strop with its very slight sag places more effort on the apex and just does a better job. If the paddle seems to work for you, then that's cool.

Again, preshave, strop to burnish the edge. Post shave, strop to clean and dry the edge. At least that is what I do. But do it like you feel it. Sometimes you just gotta rock your own thing.
 
Many of us own razors much older that our age lol.

Properly maintained and without excessive horning a decent razor can easily last more than 1 to 2 lifetime.

This razor is around 170 yrs old and is still a very decent 13/16 in size.
IMG_20190505_104632.jpg
I have a couple of 15/16 that I'm very sure will outlast me lol.

Happy shaves,

Mawashi
 
My practice has been 15 linen and 25 horse post shave to clean and dry the blade. Right now I am doing 50-60 diamond paste on balsa followed by 25 and 50+ on linen and horse pre shave. These are MMTT Thuringian prepared edges otherwise.
 
I roughly agree, but post shave I do my palm a few laps then linen a few laps and save leather for pre shave. I never do loaded strops and my edges hold up pretty well. I think many people over strop and confuse that self induced problem with not having durable edges.
 
I roughly agree, but post shave I do my palm a few laps then linen a few laps and save leather for pre shave. I never do loaded strops and my edges hold up pretty well. I think many people over strop and confuse that self induced problem with not having durable edges.
Yeah, but you don't want them to hold up that well....LOL!
 
Yeah, but you don't want them to hold up that well....LOL!

Oh when I really nail an edge off a natural stone I sure do! I just finished nursing a great JNAT edge along for about 60 shaves. I rehoned it and it’s not as great as I remember the previous edge being, so a few more uses it’ll be going back In the honing pile for either fresh JNAT again or Ark.

If the edge is just average then 5-10 shaves.

If an edge is sub par then probably just that first test shave.

I find JNAT edges can hold up the longest, but they require the most work to produce also. Arks are probably the best middle of the road and if I wanted to do what the OP asked and run one razor as long as possible I’d probably be using either an Ark or a very fine Coticule and just doing touch up honing sessions maybe every 45-60 shaves.
 
Oh when I really nail an edge off a natural stone I sure do! I just finished nursing a great JNAT edge along for about 60 shaves. I rehoned it and it’s not as great as I remember the previous edge being, so a few more uses it’ll be going back In the honing pile for either fresh JNAT again or Ark.

If the edge is just average then 5-10 shaves.

If an edge is sub par then probably just that first test shave.

I find JNAT edges can hold up the longest, but they require the most work to produce also. Arks are probably the best middle of the road and if I wanted to do what the OP asked and run one razor as long as possible I’d probably be using either an Ark or a very fine Coticule and just doing touch up honing sessions maybe every 45-60 shaves.

I was joking because I know you enjoy honing.
 
Well... I think @Christian1212 is probably at least partly right here.

I’m a hand tool woodworker, and my most used tool is from 1908 but it’s on at least blade #3 from what I can tell because some things just cannot be sharpened frequently and last that many decades. I also have a box of nearly pristine hand made journeyman level tools that would’ve been a graduation right for an apprentice in the Dutch carpentry tradition of ~1850 in the Germanic towns around here. They are nearly perfect wrapped in late 1800s newspaper in a box. There is a 0% chance they would all be here if the man who made them had stayed in his profession and used them everyday past the level of graduating an apprenticeship. I would probably have found a mismatched box of tools which were whatever he owned at his death, but were the 3rd or 4th iteration for all the daily users.

The fact that many old items survived is not indicative of any type of durability in use over the same time period.

If your concern is durability in use then concern yourself with the longest lasting edge and best blade maintenance routine. If your concern is “can high carbon steel make it X years?!” Then clearly the answer is yes, and we’ve evolved significantly in the area of consumer grade VCI products in the last 20-30 years.
Wow! Your 19th Century journeyman tools sound like the find of a life-time.
How did you come into them?
I agree with your observation about old razors. Many of them have lain dormant for decades, scores, and in some cases, over a century.
 
Wow! Your 19th Century journeyman tools sound like the find of a life-time.
How did you come into them?
I agree with your observation about old razors. Many of them have lain dormant for decades, scores, and in some cases, over a century.

The tools came from an old family ranch house in mid Texas that had just changed hands. Supposedly a 94yr old woman was the seller and the tools were possibly her grandfather’s. I found them on Craigslist and emailed the guy. I guess he got a bunch of low ball junk offers and my email was telling him a museum to take them to or how to list them as a collection on eBay for more money so he offered to sell them to me for a song.

Yeah I don’t agree with what everyone seems to say here: I don’t believe any edge tool lasts a full lifetime in hard daily use. I use far too many edge tools in hobbies to think you could buy and constantly use just one razor or kitchen knife or anything really for 100+ years.

I think all of our razor collections will probably outlast us because we have rotations we go through to spread out the wear.
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
Depending on the humidity where you live not oiling a carbon blade will result in rust. Depending on the oil used, reapplication will be needed as the oil will eventually bead and evaporate, and rust will form. I have a few wedges that rusted on the bevel. I now check my unused razors more frequently.
 
The tools came from an old family ranch house in mid Texas that had just changed hands. Supposedly a 94yr old woman was the seller and the tools were possibly her grandfather’s. I found them on Craigslist and emailed the guy. I guess he got a bunch of low ball junk offers and my email was telling him a museum to take them to or how to list them as a collection on eBay for more money so he offered to sell them to me for a song.

Yeah I don’t agree with what everyone seems to say here: I don’t believe any edge tool lasts a full lifetime in hard daily use. I use far too many edge tools in hobbies to think you could buy and constantly use just one razor or kitchen knife or anything really for 100+ years.

I think all of our razor collections will probably outlast us because we have rotations we go through to spread out the wear.

I would not consider shaving everyday with one razor hard use and especially with honing only when necessary and careful handling.

Its intuitive that back in the day a professional shaving hundreds of men are going to drop or over hone in a hurry and ruin the blade. We can see this in eBay offerings. It's also true that back in the day carpenters and other trades did not have the tools for sharpening we do and overused low grit stone and grinders.

Heck, we are using old GEM and Gillette safety razor that are 90 120 years old made of brass that have made it this long and still work. No reason they won't. Of course the same cannot be said for pot metal covered in chrome as seems to be the way new DE razors are made today. Those things fail from corrosion whether they are cared for or not.
 
I would not consider shaving everyday with one razor hard use and especially with honing only when necessary and careful handling.

Its intuitive that back in the day a professional shaving hundreds of men are going to drop or over hone in a hurry and ruin the blade. We can see this in eBay offerings. It's also true that back in the day carpenters and other trades did not have the tools for sharpening we do and overused low grit stone and grinders.

Heck, we are using old GEM and Gillette safety razor that are 90 120 years old made of brass that have made it this long and still work. No reason they won't. Of course the same cannot be said for pot metal covered in chrome as seems to be the way new DE razors are made today. Those things fail from corrosion whether they are cared for or not.


I’m not arguing in the case of a barber, I think if someone bought one razor at around 16 and tried to use it for a lifetime... they’d be going through probably 3 or so razors over the course of an adult life assuming they shave daily at least one pass and a touch up and only hone as necessary on a natural stone that removes minimal steel.

I also believe old edges were every bit as good, and actually modern mass produced abrasives have only recently been available in a form that competes with the best natural stones.

The one HUGE advantage modern abrasives and mass produced cold rolled Steve give us is consistency and easy access for all. Every piece of .3mu lapping film will behave the same when used in the same way, and the abrasives are engineered in a format that lets them cut any razor steel very consistently. By contrast no two Washita Arkansas stones are identical, and a razor with stainless steel at RC63 will take three times as long to hone on a Washita as a simple carbon steel blade at RC59.
 
I remember my grandfather’s shaving setup and he had two straight razors and did an SR shave every day. One SR was very worn and looked ancient to me. My grandfather told me he had that razor since he was a teenager. He was in his 80s when he told me that.

I now realize that his old razor had significant hone wear and was showing the decades of use. My grandfather’s other razor looked relatively new and shiny.

If my grandfather used the razor he had received as a teen most every day over a 70 year period, then I would say it lasted a lifetime.

The razors are long gone, but I’m sure I would be using it today and maybe adding a few more years onto it.
 
I remember my grandfather’s shaving setup and he had two straight razors and did an SR shave every day. One SR was very worn and looked ancient to me. My grandfather told me he had that razor since he was a teenager. He was in his 80s when he told me that.

I now realize that his old razor had significant hone wear and was showing the decades of use. My grandfather’s other razor looked relatively new and shiny.

If my grandfather used the razor he had received as a teen most every day over a 70 year period, then I would say it lasted a lifetime.

The razors are long gone, but I’m sure I would be using it today and maybe adding a few more years onto it.

What a great memory of your grandfather using a tool that long. Wish for you, you still had them. :)
 
I’m not arguing in the case of a barber, I think if someone bought one razor at around 16 and tried to use it for a lifetime... they’d be going through probably 3 or so razors over the course of an adult life assuming they shave daily at least one pass and a touch up and only hone as necessary on a natural stone that removes minimal steel.

I also believe old edges were every bit as good, and actually modern mass produced abrasives have only recently been available in a form that competes with the best natural stones.

The one HUGE advantage modern abrasives and mass produced cold rolled Steve give us is consistency and easy access for all. Every piece of .3mu lapping film will behave the same when used in the same way, and the abrasives are engineered in a format that lets them cut any razor steel very consistently. By contrast no two Washita Arkansas stones are identical, and a razor with stainless steel at RC63 will take three times as long to hone on a Washita as a simple carbon steel blade at RC59.

Your post was followed by an example of a man who used the same SR for his lifetime. The point is, it can be accomplished. It depends on the user.
 
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