How long do they stay sharp for?

[crispy]

Gents,
I've been thinking about getting into the straight razors for a while now since I seem to be doing pretty well with the DE. The only thing I was wondering though, is how many shaves do you get out of them before they need to be honed or sharpened? Do you recommend that you mail them out to someone every time they need to be sharpened/honed?

 

[LX_Emergency]

Most razors will stay sharp (if properly stropped) enough to shave with for at least 6 months. I'd reccomend that you learn to hone on an old razor in the meantime. There's plenty stones that you could learn it on. Otherwise you'd have to find someone in your area to do it. (I've heard that some old barbers still know how to and could do it for you.) Or yes......send it out everytime.

 

[crispy]

Thanks for the reply! I thought it would only stay sharp for about a month or so. This is good news. Is that 6 months of daily shaving or just a few times a week?

 

[LX_Emergency]

hmm...hard to determine. My favorite held out for around 6 months of shaving with it every 3-4 days.

Most people have a rotation so it really is kind of hard to determine. For everyday shave (once again with good stropping) I'd say it should stay sharp somewhere in between 3-5 months.

 

[Howard]

If you get a double sided strop and use some abrasive paste on the linen side then the blade will get a bit of sharpening each time you strop it, and will stay sharp much longer. In fact, it may never need honing unless you put a nick in it.

Razors differ, as does everyone's stropping technique, so it is difficult to give absolutes.

Honing is not hard to learn.

 

[kozulich]

hmm...hard to determine. My favorite held out for around 6 months of shaving with it every 3-4 days.

Most people have a rotation so it really is kind of hard to determine. For everyday shave (once again with good stropping) I'd say it should stay sharp somewhere in between 3-5 months.

I tend to agree with that in general terms. It also depends on the type of steel. With some of the older blades, they don't stay sharp as long, but they are easier to sharpen and maintain. With the newer stainless steel blades, they seem to stay sharper longer, but they are harder to sharpen. It also depends on your beard and the number of passes you make, etc.. Really hard to put a number on it. With a rotation of blades, you could go years between honings.

 

[crispy]

Can you get nicks in the blade from just regular wear and tear, or is it mainly if you drop the blade, etc?

 

[kozulich]

Can you get nicks in the blade from just regular wear and tear, or is it mainly if you drop the blade, etc?

Pretty much just from abuse or carelessness. They are delicate though, so you do have to be carefull. For me the tricky spot is while rinsing the blade under the tap, if I get too lax I've come close to dinging the blade on the tap or the rim of the sink. You do have to watch what you are doing.

 

[mparker762]

Depends on what you mean by "honing". The norton mostly gets used on ebay finds, for regular shavers most of mine were honed once on the norton, then I use a little barber's hone for 3-5 laps every 4-6 shaves to keep the edge in perfect shape. I think lots of straight shavers do the same sort of thing with pasted paddles.

 

[Tony Miller]

Time between sharpening can vary depending on the razor, your stropping technique and your beard. Your tolerance for sharp plays in too. I have a very tough beard. I have razors honed by many of the experts as well as myself. Dovos and Thiers Issard and some are good for months, others maybe a single month.

I strop daily and go to pasted strops as they start top dull, maybe every month or two for a very few passes. Some guys never really hone their own using a barbers hone or paddle strop to keep the edge fresh and sending them out once or twice a year otherwise.

Oddly though when I was a Mach III shaver I went a month or more before swapingh cartridges and never had razor burn or issues with them. I seem to have a high tolerance for cartridge types as well as DE baldes where as on straights I am fairly sensitive to dullness.

Tony Miller

 

[crispy]

Awesome info! Thanks Tony.

 

[AFDavis11]

I'm also in N. Va. If you'd like you can bring the razor by my place and I can hone it for you and teach you how to hone and strop in person. I would offer you this instruction for $75 or a Diet Coke, your choice.

 

[crispy]

Hehe, sounds good! I'll let you know when I get a chance to pick one up.

 

[AFDavis11]

Cool. You can always just borrow one in the mean time if want. Send me a PM if you wanna stop by sometime.

 

[catatonic]

My answer for avoiding blade damage from the tap is to rinse spine up, blade down. That way only the spine smacks the tap when rinsing the blade.

 

[superfly]

Well, on my beard, my razors last 5-10 shaves. After that, it's hone time

Nenad

 

[ForestryProf]

Well, on my beard, my razors last 5-10 shaves. After that, it's hone time

Nenad

Thanks Nenad,
I was beginning to think I was the only one to get less than 30+ shaves out of a straight. Actually began to question my honing skills, but then I remembered that I've only gotten about 7 out of blades sharpened by Lynn as well. That said, once I've honed a blade well, it takes 5 minutes or less to refresh it on the hones; 2 or 3 sets of 3/10 passes on the Norton 8K/Coticule. After that it's back to shaving Nirvana
YMMV,
Ed

 

[superfly]

Well, I think the razor blade is no different from DE blade. Well, in theory at least. You get around 5-7 descent shaves out of one DE blade, and for me, its about the same with straight. On stainless maybe 10-15, if I really push it. I don't get how guys shave for months with their razors. Maybe it's our stropping technique, but I doubt it. I have a coarse and thick beard. I think you can get away for 20+ shaves on a very light beard...

One of these days I will try to shave with one of my razors without stropping, just to see what happens...

Nenad

 

[LX_Emergency]

Well, I do have a very light beard. Thin blond hair is what'll grow on my face. In fact it's so light that it takes up to 3 days before people start commenting that I haven't shaven.

So that might make all the difference.

 

[mparker762]

Thanks Nenad,
I was beginning to think I was the only one to get less than 30+ shaves out of a straight. Actually began to question my honing skills, but then I remembered that I've only gotten about 7 out of blades sharpened by Lynn as well. That said, once I've honed a blade well, it takes 5 minutes or less to refresh it on the hones; 2 or 3 sets of 3/10 passes on the Norton 8K/Coticule. After that it's back to shaving Nirvana

I never got the week out of DE blades that most guys claim, and never got the standard two weeks out of Feather AC blades either. My favorite trope is the claim that a properly sharpened razor shouldn't pull at all. I used to worry about that, till I pulled out my Feather AC again and noticed that it pulled too, and tried the multi-blade razors with my current prep routine and noticed that they also pulled on my beard. So I stopped worrying about it.

I do find that an occasional lick or two on a barber hone tends to keep my blades ticking along a long time, though. With the paddle strops my blades would only take one or two refreshes before it was time to go back to the hone. I'm also finding that the coarser grit hones leave a much longer-lasting edge.