Daily honing the same razor?

[Jakebullet]

I have a small coticule I’ve been using a bit lately. I’ve just been using it on one razor as I learn how to get the best from it. I typically hone under trickling water and it takes about 30 - 50 light laps before i get stiction, then I slightly increase the flow and continue ever more lightly until the blade almost locks to the stone.
The first shave I get from a fresh honing is now generally great though after 3 or four shaves (tough beard 4 daily passes) I notice a very slight dulling though it’s still very usable.
If I honed the razor before every shave using the method described above would this damage the razor or edge or significantly reduce its life? I typically use that razor 4-5 times a month.

 

[RayClem]

You might want to take a look at some of the threads on using pasted strops to maintain a razor. Over time, hones do remove steel. If you are not careful in how the edge is honed, it is easy to get a frown in the edge because the center of the blade often spends more time on the stone than the edges. You have to compensate for this intentionally by emphasizing pressure at the heel and toe.
If your beard is so tough that it dulls a razor in one shave, you probably need a sharper blade.

I have a Coticule, but it won't produce an edge sharp enough for my beard, even on the first shave. I consider a Coticule to be an intermediate stone that needs an even finer finishing hone. Now if you were using a superfine finishing hone like the Suihiro G20K synthetic (0.50 micron) or the Shapton Glass 30K synthetic (0.49 micron), then you would not be removing nearly as much steel. Most people say that Coticules are somewhere in the 8K range on the Japanese grit scale, so that would be around 1.2 micron, much larger than 0.5 micron. When using pasted strops, abrasives as fine a 0.1 micron are often used. These will polish the edge without removing a significant amount of steel.

 

[kcb5150]

It may just be that your stropping technique needs more work if the coticule can get you in a very nice place out of the gate.

 

[haggis]

I resisted the whole Pasted Balsa Strop thing for quite a while out of pure contrariness (at least I know this about myself) but honestly, it has made life so much easier for me, especially with razors in rotation. I strop a quick 15-20 on suede when I'm done in the morning to ensure clean and dry, and set it aside overnight. Each day, at any random quiet moment, I grab yesterday's razor and give it 50 laps (takes only a couple minutes, like literally, two) on ye olde .1 balsa strop, strop it 60 laps on leather, and hang it ready to use when next I grab it.

 

[Jakebullet]

You might want to take a look at some of the threads on using pasted strops to maintain a razor. Over time, hones do remove steel. If you are not careful in how the edge is honed, it is easy to get a frown in the edge because the center of the blade often spends more time on the stone than the edges. You have to compensate for this intentionally by emphasizing pressure at the heel and toe.
If your beard is so tough that it dulls a razor in one shave, you probably need a sharper blade.

I have a Coticule, but it won't produce an edge sharp enough for my beard, even on the first shave. I consider a Coticule to be an intermediate stone that needs an even finer finishing hone. Now if you were using a superfine finishing hone like the Suihiro G20K synthetic (0.50 micron) or the Shapton Glass 30K synthetic (0.49 micron), then you would not be removing nearly as much steel. Most people say that Coticules are somewhere in the 8K range on the Japanese grit scale, so that would be around 1.2 micron, much larger than 0.5 micron. When using pasted strops, abrasives as fine a 0.1 micron are often used. These will polish the edge without removing a significant amount of steel.

Thanks a lot for the advice, I’d long suspected that the middle of the blade was getting the lions share of the action during an x stroke hone and would eventually frown.
Your idea of added pressure on the heel and toe sounds right to me.

 

[Jakebullet]

It may just be that your stropping technique needs more work if the coticule can get you in a very nice place out of the gate.

I’ve often wondered about my stropping, whether I was keeping it flat on the leather at speed. I’m encouraged slightly that my other non coticule razors all seem to hold the edge just fine. I wonder if it’s possible that I’m getting it just very slightly, barely over the threshold of a smooth close shave and after a couple of shaves it’s back just below it.

 

[Jakebullet]

I resisted the whole Pasted Balsa Strop thing for quite a while out of pure contrariness (at least I know this about myself) but honestly, it has made life so much easier for me, especially with razors in rotation. I strop a quick 15-20 on suede when I'm done in the morning to ensure clean and dry, and set it aside overnight. Each day, at any random quiet moment, I grab yesterday's razor and give it 50 laps (takes only a couple minutes, like literally, two) on ye olde .1 balsa strop, strop it 60 laps on leather, and hang it ready to use when next I grab it.

I, like you, didn’t go down the pasted balsa route at first.
I liked the idea of learning to sharpen.
I just used lapping films, some pieces of shale and Welsh slate or a Naniwa 12k.
I did ok and was very happy with my shaves.
Then I tried ‘The Method’ and it just blew all of my edges off the face of the planet. It’s as close to perfect as I think it’s possible to get. I have 7 razors and I’ve put the method edge on 4 of them. But I like the puzzle of using bits of stone and I’m particularly fascinated by this tiny pale yellow coticule with its ancient dodecahedral gemstones.

 

[kcb5150]

It may be a bit of both if you are new. Things will get better over time. You don't have to go as fast as possible stropping, it isn't a race after all.

 

[Jakebullet]

It may be a bit of both if you are new. Things will get better over time. You don't have to go as fast as possible stropping, it isn't a race after all.

I am still new, just over two years and I agree no great need for speed most mornings and a bit of slow care may be in order.

 

[camoloc]

Just my personal take on this.

I don't believe light touch ups on a finishing type stone removes much of the blade.....especially if really hard and slow to cut (arks, Jasper, jnat, etc)

it is not uncommon for me to do 20-60 laps on a stone just because I like playing with stones. with the jnat I have, will mostly be water only. with all of these touch ups I'm talking about light to no pressure on the blade. kid glove touch.

I have seen no ill effects from this process so far on my blades. I enjoy sharp edges.....anything else is no Bueno for me.

camo

 

[RayClem]

Just my personal take on this.

I don't believe light touch ups on a finishing type stone removes much of the blade.....especially if really hard and slow to cut (arks, Jasper, jnat, etc)

it is not uncommon for me to do 20-60 laps on a stone just because I like playing with stones. with the jnat I have, will mostly be water only. with all of these touch ups I'm talking about light to no pressure on the blade. kid glove touch.

I have seen no ill effects from this process so far on my blades. I enjoy sharp edges.....anything else is no Bueno for me.

camo

I agree that a very fine finishing stone will not remove much metal. However, I do not consider a Coticule to be a very fine finishing stone. It cuts faster than some of the stones you mentioned.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I don't think I would hit the coti after just one shave, either. But it will probably take a couple hundred sessions at least before you notice any reduction. I just think a coticule is a little coarse for that. A very smoothly burnished trans or black arkie, or a lvl 5 Jnat, no slurry, I could see that, yeah. But as for me, I will stick to my .1u diamond on balsa. It never lets me down an it barely removes any metal. Just barely enough.

 

[Gamma]

A lot depends on the definition of 'dulling' here.
A blade that is 'dulling' at 4-5 shaves is often the result of a marginal bevel set.
But what I consider to be dulling might not be what someone else is referring to.
IMO, a good edge won't need 'tweaking' after every shave. I'd go so far as to say that any edge that 'needs' tweaking after every shave has issues. But that's another story...
Every week ? Mmmmm - if the crisp 'off the stone' feeling is important, then perhaps a weekly touchup is ok to restore that sensation. I do't consider the lack of it to be dulling though.

Light light passes on a coti are probably not going to add much wear to the blade in a conventional/relative sense each time but over the long haul it will add up. But, it would be negligible I think - IF we're talking about butterfly-wing pressure levels, no slurry, and plenty of honing medium to reduce friction.
I don't believe it should be necessary though, not daily. Weekly, maybe - as noted.
That is about need.
When it comes to 'want' ... different story. long while back I honed the same blade every day for 3 months, just because. And that was honing, not just touching up. I honed my Jerry Stark about 6 times in 10 days just trying to see what that steel would do on which stones with what technique.
I guess it all doesn't really matter very much - it's just a razor, hone it at will and have fun. Love the edge and enjoy the shave. Don't sweat the small stuff. Wanna hone it every day? Every other day? whatever's clever, no rules, just hone it good....

 

[RayClem]

A lot depends on the definition of 'dulling' here.
A blade that is 'dulling' at 4-5 shaves is often the result of a marginal bevel set.
But what I consider to be dulling might not be what someone else is referring to.
IMO, a good edge won't need 'tweaking' after every shave. I'd go so far as to say that any edge that 'needs' tweaking after every shave has issues. But that's another story...
Every week ? Mmmmm - if the crisp 'off the stone' feeling is important, then perhaps a weekly touchup is ok to restore that sensation. I do't consider the lack of it to be dulling though.

Light light passes on a coti are probably not going to add much wear to the blade in a conventional/relative sense each time but over the long haul it will add up. But, it would be negligible I think - IF we're talking about butterfly-wing pressure levels, no slurry, and plenty of honing medium to reduce friction.
I don't believe it should be necessary though, not daily. Weekly, maybe - as noted.
That is about need.
When it comes to 'want' ... different story. long while back I honed the same blade every day for 3 months, just because. And that was honing, not just touching up. I honed my Jerry Stark about 6 times in 10 days just trying to see what that steel would do on which stones with what technique.
I guess it all doesn't really matter very much - it's just a razor, hone it at will and have fun. Love the edge and enjoy the shave. Don't sweat the small stuff. Wanna hone it every day? Every other day? whatever's clever, no rules, just hone it good....

Yes, I have a coarse beard and very sensitive skin. I like my edges to be very sharp, yet smooth. With DE blades, I only get 3-4 good shaves before they are either to dull for my beard or too rough for my skin. With the thicker SE blades and with straight razor edges, I can get twice that number. If I were shaving with the same straight razor every day, I would have to do a touch up about once a week. Because I rotate among SR, DE, and SE blades, I do not do weekly honing sessions. When a SR edge needs honing, I set it aside and use another SR until I have several in need of honing. Then I do them all at the same time. Because I have a number of straights, I will never live long enough to see significant wear to any of them.

 

[Christian1212]

Curious if you use linen in your stropping process ever? My coticule can get 15-25 shaves before I want to touch up but I might use some linen/extra stropping somewhere in the middle. I noticed after about the third or 4th touch up I need to drop down to a 4k ish range to refresh bevel.

 

[bluesman 7]

I guess it all doesn't really matter very much - it's just a razor, hone it at will and have fun.

This aligns with my thoughts. If you enjoy honing after every shave, you'll probably get your moneys worth of enjoyment out of a razor.

 

[Kyle89]

If you use it 4/5 times a month you will have that razor for a LONG time regardless. Don't worry about it.