Full progression. How often?

[albsat]

I finish on .1u diamond pasted balsa and leather between shaves and have razors that haven’t been below that for four years and the edge is good as first honed. I guess the answer is never.

Just curious. Do you ever need those other 2 balsa strops as required by the Method, which are 0.5 and 0.3u diamond pasted ones?

Does just one 0.1u pasted balsa strop becomes more than enough to maintain a shave ready razor?

 

[rbscebu]

Just curious. Do you ever need those other 2 balsa strops as required by the Method, which are 0.5 and 0.3u diamond pasted ones?

Does just one 0.1u pasted balsa strop becomes more than enough to maintain a shave ready razor?

You are about right. My 0.5μm and 0.25μm are generally only used in the initial honing progression. After that only the 0.1μm is regularly used.

I do however use the 0.5μm and 0.25μm on a newly honed blade just to check if an edge can be further improved. I also might use them occasionally if I think that a blade's edge is not quite up there with my other edges.

I have two 0.1μm pasted balsa strop (four balsa strops in total, not counting my mini travel 0.1μm balsa strop). The second is only used hanging for post shave maintenance.

 

[steveclarkus]

Just curious. Do you ever need those other 2 balsa strops as required by the Method, which are 0.5 and 0.3u diamond pasted ones?

Does just one 0.1u pasted balsa strop becomes more than enough to maintain a shave ready razor?

I rarely use them but like to have them available. I probably haven’t used them in a year or more. I do have a couple of razors I’ve never honed where I’ll need the whole kit but you can go a long way keeping an edge going just using the .1 and leather between shaves.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I may be an outlier here, but after following the method exactly for a few months, I found I had better luck doing about 20 laps on the .25, followed by 20-30 on the .1, and then 20 or so short x-strokes on the .1.

 

[JPO]

I may be an outlier here, but after following the method exactly for a few months, I found I had better luck doing about 20 laps on the .25, followed by 20-30 on the .1, and then 20 or so short x-strokes on the .1.

Maybe there is some oversized particles in the coarser emulsions that does not get imbedded in the balsa that compromise the edge.
How many 2-4 micron particles can you have in a 1 micron emulsion and still call it a 1 micron emulsion?
Even a 0.25 micron diamond can cut quite fast.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Maybe there is some oversized particles in the coarser emulsions that does not get imbedded in the balsa that compromise the edge.
How many 2-4 micron particles can you have in a 1 micron emulsion and still call it a 1 micron emulsion?
Even a 0.25 micron diamond can cut quite fast.

I think that's a good question, one that I don't have an answer for, but I'm not following how it applies to what I wrote. (not being argumentative, maybe I missed something).

 

[JPO]

I think that's a good question, one that I don't have an answer for, but I'm not following how it applies to what I wrote. (not being argumentative, maybe I missed something).

I thought you implied that you skipped some of the coarser pastes and got better results. I was just trying to think of what might be the reason you got better results.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I thought you implied that you skipped some of the coarser pastes and got better results. I was just trying to think of what might be the reason you got better results.

Oh, sorry. That makes sense. No, what I was saying was that after a few months of doing just the 0.1µ for maintenance, I was finding myself needing to do more laps as the edges seemed to be slowly degrading. So I added in a few laps on the 0.25µ prior to the 0.1µ and have been pleased with the results. That said, most of my razors have natural finishes on them now.

 

[rbscebu]

I may be an outlier here, but after following the method exactly for a few months, I found I had better luck doing about 20 laps on the .25, followed by 20-30 on the .1, and then 20 or so short x-strokes on the .1.

That's the way to do it. Once you are getting consistent results using the pasted balsa Method, then and only then start trying what you think may be better for you.