How long will a razor remain shave ready?

[Elrod]

I'm looking at buying my first straight, and of course would like it shave ready. I found one by somebody who purchased it shave-ready from a reliable vendor, and now has abandoned straight razor shaving without using it once. How long does a razor remain shave ready? It does not appear to be stored with any oil on the blade.

 

[gull]

Mine is going strong for about a month. I think it needs a touch up, but in its defense I had (have!?) horrible stropping technique.

 

[petr]

Hard to say without knowing the exact steel type, and humidity of the area that would cause corrosion.

 

[azmark]

A few factors come into play; the honing technique that was used, the users stropping technique, and most importantly the razor itself as Petr said. Usually you can get a few weeks of daily shaving before having to touch it up. Rehoning can be a very long time with the use of a good barbers hone.

 

[ouch]

Linen and leather alone can keep your edge going for quite some time, but here's the Catch 22- you can only count on that after you've developed sufficient technique. Errant stropping strokes and incorrect shaving angles can dull that precious edge really fast. This is why straight razor shaving is different from any other form- you need to have an all encompassing relationship with your razor, from selection to honing to stropping to shaving. Sounds intimidating, and it certainly can seem a bit overwhelming at first, but you'll get there. You must plan on addressing your sharpening requirements, and sending it out for a honing on a regular basis won't cut it. Learn to get a competent edge by yourself, and the rest will be a piece of cake.

 

[JeffE]

Excellent advice above, but I think that Elrod's question was slightly different.

He has a friend, apparently, who received a shave ready blade some time ago and never used it, and he wants to know if the blade is still shave ready now. Do I have that correct?

The answer is this -- assuming that the blade has been stored and handled correctly for all of the time that it has sat dormant, it should be as sharp today as the when it was made shave ready for your friend.

The devil, however, is in the details. Yes, if the blade is in some super-humid, tropical environment, then it would need to be stored with oil, or else the steel will start to show some discoloration or rust. But even if there's no rust or corrosion at all, maybe your friend just dropped the razor on the bathroom floor once or banged it against the sink before putting it away for good. Maybe he decided to work on his stropping technique and rounded off the nice edge without even realizing it.

The point is that I don't assume ANY razor is in "shave ready" condition unless I have shaved with it -- and that includes razors that I have honed.

Now, is it terrible if you receive a razor as "shave ready" from a friend and then find out that it needs a bit of tuning up to get it into perfect condition? Of course not. Any decent honemeister here can help you, but I would check the edge out first and there's only one way to do it -- shave with it and find out for sure. Everything else is just a guess.

 

[huntmol]

Stropping technique is VERY important in how long a razor's edge lasts. I've had good blades that were professionally honed and they lasted for a year in a rotation with only stropping to keep them going.

(none of my edges have ever lasted that long however)

 

[Calder]

I got my Dovo 5/8 Christmas of 2009 and it's still going fine with regular stropping (anywhere from 20-50 on the leather post shave, and 30-50 pre shave)

However I think last time I may have nicked the blade on the faucet while shaving. I came back to do my post shave strop and it all looked fine until I tilted the strop and I saw about 30 distinct scratch marks where the blade had a tiny burr or other imperfection. Looks like I gotta find a honemeister again.

 

[sproosemoose]

I got my Dovo 5/8 Christmas of 2009 and it's still going fine with regular stropping (anywhere from 20-50 on the leather post shave, and 30-50 pre shave)

However I think last time I may have nicked the blade on the faucet while shaving. I came back to do my post shave strop and it all looked fine until I tilted the strop and I saw about 30 distinct scratch marks where the blade had a tiny burr or other imperfection. Looks like I gotta find a honemeister again.

Have you been using it every day? If you used it most days since the beginning of this year even with the best skill I don't think it would be sharp still.

 

[Woodash]

Linen and leather alone can keep your edge going for quite some time, but here's the Catch 22- you can only count on that after you've developed sufficient technique. Errant stropping strokes and incorrect shaving angles can dull that precious edge really fast. This is why straight razor shaving is different from any other form- you need to have an all encompassing relationship with your razor, from selection to honing to stropping to shaving. Sounds intimidating, and it certainly can seem a bit overwhelming at first, but you'll get there. You must plan on addressing your sharpening requirements, and sending it out for a honing on a regular basis won't cut it. Learn to get a competent edge by yourself, and the rest will be a piece of cake.

+1. Well thought out; well said.

 

[Elrod]

Thanks JeffE, that was the intended meaning of my original question, and thank you very much for the thorough answer. However as I will soon be in possession of a straight razor, all of this information on proper care has proved invaluable and probably saved me from making a similar post in the future!