How Often Do You Hone?

[Steve56]

Depends on the razor - and what I’m doing lol.

A falloff in optimum in-shave smoothness usually happens between shave 12 (soft steel) and shave 25-30 (better steel).

A falloff in optimum shave quality occurs much later, usually about 35-40 shaves.

A falloff in ’tolerability’ comes between shave 60 (Filly 14 DT and Japanese Cape 1000) and shave 150 (Filarmonica Sub Cero).

 

[Tomo]

Probably honing more than I need to.

 

[RumpleBearskin]

I use 6 straights a week (plus one GEM). All 6 get 0.1um pasted balsa on the weekend. So, I "never" go back to the stones.

(Minor fib there. Occasionally I do something stupid stropping or "kiss" the faucet or sink. Then I pull out the stones, or more often than not, the Swaty barber hone to fix my boo boo.)

 

[Sinnbad11]

this sounds right for me, for number of shaves as well.. but i dont normally shave with a blade that often in a row and I could do better of noting how many shaves i have done with each. I mean i kind of take count or at least i do every now and again, but i don't notice how many have gone by. so i go by feel as necessary

Yeah I never use a single razor for three weeks in a row. If I used each of my razors for three weeks and then switched I would have a rotation lasting about two years. I usually just choose a razor on a whim.

 

[jj_sharp]

I use 7 razors every week. I don't recall honing this year. I strop on only leather. This week I pushed one razor aside for sub par performance. Jj

 

[Scruffy Pete]

Re-hone? Refresh an edge that I have already honed once before? On average, I would say never. Although technically since an abrasive is involved, I suppose you could regard a balsa strop as honing, and I use a .1u diamond on balsa strop after every shave, so if you go that way then I would say every shave. But I never go back to stone or film for a touchup, once I get it sharp in the first place.

When it comes to honing new or new-to-me razors, I probably hone something or another every week, usually a whole batch at once. When I have a honing day, most of the time it is honing day and that's all I do that day. I batch process. I take the razors I want to hone and correct any bad heels or smiles or whatever on coarse rocks or sandpaper. Then I set all the bevels. Then I do a couple of midrange stages. Then finish, and then post-finish on the balsa progression. Any time I notice a razor is not at the same level as it's peers, it gets set back into another box and all the failures go through the process again after I finish the rest. On occasion I bite off more than I can chew and I have to finish a batch the next day. Generally the day after a honing day is a lapping and prepping day. Stones and balsa strops are lapped, sandpaper changed, film examined and discarded and replacement pieces cut, spray bottles filled, all that stuff.

I'm a little at a loss here. I'm only 8 months in and I've made a study of my blades on a daily basis. I check out each blade with a standard jewelers hoop after each shave to see how it fares. After 4 or 5 shaves I often see very small gaps in the edge. Looks almost like missing teeth. At this point, depending on the size and amount of the gaps I pull out stones starting with a 5000, 8000, or 12000. I finish with a strop with CrO and a hanging strop. Am I overreacting? Are these microchips too small to cause problems shaving? Should I ease up and just stick with polishing the edge?

 

[bluesman 7]

Your strop may have dirt or other contamination causing the chipping. 4 or 5 shaves should not cause that much damage.

 

[global_dev]

Your strop may have dirt or other contamination causing the chipping. 4 or 5 shaves should not cause that much damage.

could it be that he isn’t actually clearing out the micro chipping from scratch “gouges” by going back to the 5k? Only slightly hiding them in the new edge?

 

[Slash McCoy]

I'm a little at a loss here. I'm only 8 months in and I've made a study of my blades on a daily basis. I check out each blade with a standard jewelers hoop after each shave to see how it fares. After 4 or 5 shaves I often see very small gaps in the edge. Looks almost like missing teeth. At this point, depending on the size and amount of the gaps I pull out stones starting with a 5000, 8000, or 12000. I finish with a strop with CrO and a hanging strop. Am I overreacting? Are these microchips too small to cause problems shaving? Should I ease up and just stick with polishing the edge?

Four or five shaves? Back to 5k? Something is very very wrong there. How is the shave?

If this is really a thing, then I suspect fin edge. Next time you maintain an edge, try this. Go back to your 8k. Raise a slurry from the stone, using a diamond card or plate, and hone in the slurry with very light pressure and lots of laps. Then go to the 12k but without the slurry, and use the lightest pressure you can manage. Be sure to add some pull strokes and then very short x stroke laps at the end, when stiction is such that you would otherwise call it finished. THEN add shave lather to your 12k, hone some more, and try to just float the razor in the lather column with that same super light pressure, lots of very short x stroke laps. If the pressure is light enough it should be impossible to over-hone. Do that correctly and I can almost guarantee that you have zero fin edge, and the highest possible sharpness from a 12k, and the shave should be pretty sweet. The edge should last through a few dozen shaves even if your shave technique is pretty bad.

Which reminds me, maybe you are causing the edges to go North on you with your shave. Be sure you are not listening to all that "30 degree shave angle" nonsense. Lower that spine until it is only one spine thickness away from the skin. Or even less if the edge is very sharp. As in treetopping very well at 1/4" sharp.

And for the purpose of this exercise, I suggest a new strop. Decent cowhide is plenty good enough. Just make sure it is a nice new strop uncontaminated by your CrOx.

NOBODY should have to hone a razor again after only 4 or 5 shaves. It just isn't a thing. Isolate the problem and fix it. BUT, again, I must ask: How is the shave? Shave quality trumps micro-photographs any day.

 

[O.G.]

I rarely rehone my razors. Due to my skin, hair type, and the number of razors I have I can go a year or more without rehoning a blade. I like coticule edges because they are skin-friendly to me and not laser-sharp how everyone generally likes it.

 

[Scruffy Pete]

Four or five shaves? Back to 5k? Something is very very wrong there. How is the shave?

If this is really a thing, then I suspect fin edge. Next time you maintain an edge, try this. Go back to your 8k. Raise a slurry from the stone, using a diamond card or plate, and hone in the slurry with very light pressure and lots of laps. Then go to the 12k but without the slurry, and use the lightest pressure you can manage. Be sure to add some pull strokes and then very short x stroke laps at the end, when stiction is such that you would otherwise call it finished. THEN add shave lather to your 12k, hone some more, and try to just float the razor in the lather column with that same super light pressure, lots of very short x stroke laps. If the pressure is light enough it should be impossible to over-hone. Do that correctly and I can almost guarantee that you have zero fin edge, and the highest possible sharpness from a 12k, and the shave should be pretty sweet. The edge should last through a few dozen shaves even if your shave technique is pretty bad.

Which reminds me, maybe you are causing the edges to go North on you with your shave. Be sure you are not listening to all that "30 degree shave angle" nonsense. Lower that spine until it is only one spine thickness away from the skin. Or even less if the edge is very sharp. As in treetopping very well at 1/4" sharp.

And for the purpose of this exercise, I suggest a new strop. Decent cowhide is plenty good enough. Just make sure it is a nice new strop uncontaminated by your CrOx.

NOBODY should have to hone a razor again after only 4 or 5 shaves. It just isn't a thing. Isolate the problem and fix it. BUT, again, I must ask: How is the shave? Shave quality trumps micro-photographs any day.

Thanks for the feedback, I seem to have gotten off track in a number of ways.
I have gotten in the habit of opening up my razor angle on my second pass. I thought I was being more effective picking up the short stubble remaining. This may have created undue stress on the razors edge and definitely scraped my face to some degree. I’ll tighten up my angles from now on.
As for my honing, I believe I’ve been applying more pressure on my razors than intended. I’m coming from knife sharpening in the past and next to no pressure on a knife may be heavy on the more sensitive razor’s edge. This may apply to my stropping on my paddle strop with the CrO as well. It sounds like I may have unintentionally thinned out my razors edge.
I’m fairly meticulous in cleaning my blade between stones and strops so my hanging strop is not likely contaminated with the CrO.
I’ll follow your instructions and see if I can return my blades to a more optimal condition going forward. Thanks

 

[Climb14er]

Never! For the past eleven years, I use a Feather AC RG. Even though I have high quality Japanese Shapton, Naiwa Water Stones for my knives, 500, 1000, 5000, 6000, 8000... I never got into straights that I had to hone, strop, be attentive to... Perhaps... some day. One never knows. Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Thanks for the feedback, I seem to have gotten off track in a number of ways.
I have gotten in the habit of opening up my razor angle on my second pass. I thought I was being more effective picking up the short stubble remaining. This may have created undue stress on the razors edge and definitely scraped my face to some degree. I’ll tighten up my angles from now on.
As for my honing, I believe I’ve been applying more pressure on my razors than intended. I’m coming from knife sharpening in the past and next to no pressure on a knife may be heavy on the more sensitive razor’s edge. This may apply to my stropping on my paddle strop with the CrO as well. It sounds like I may have unintentionally thinned out my razors edge.
I’m fairly meticulous in cleaning my blade between stones and strops so my hanging strop is not likely contaminated with the CrO.
I’ll follow your instructions and see if I can return my blades to a more optimal condition going forward. Thanks

Usually when we say "very light pressure", we mean only the weight of the razor, or even less if you can manage it, pressing down on a stone being held in the unsupported hand. "Heavy pressure" is to me, the entire weight of my arm. Heavy pressure is useful for the initial stages of setting the bevel or shaping the edge. Very Light Pressure is very effective in the finishing stage, and also at the end of each grit stage.

At the end of a grit stage, it can be very beneficial to add some pull strokes and some short x strokes, with light to very light pressure. A pull stroke is performed like this; lay the razor on your stone or film as if preparing to stroke the razor away from you as in normal honing, but instead of stroking the razor away from you, pull it directly to the side. In other words, the direction of travel is parallel to the razor's edge. Travel distance should be about 3/4" and no more. Flip the blade and do a pull stroke on the other side. That's one pull stroke lap. Pull strokes help to strip artifacts, or "edge boogers" as I call them, from the edge. They also can slightly round the apex. At least that is what it seems, because it is difficult to verify this visually due to the very tiny amount of steel removed. And so, a series of pull strokes should be followed by a few laps of regular back and forth honing with very light pressure. The short x strokes are just what they are called, ordinary x stroke laps that instead of utilizing the full length of the stone or film or balsa, only use a travel distance of 2 or 3 inches. Just imagine that you are honing on a honing surface that is only 4" long and you will nail it. Very light pressure with these short x strokes, too. They way that they work is that in each stroke of the razor, before any burr can develop, you have already finished the stroke and are flipping the razor onto the other side.

Those two special honing strokes may seem like useless refinements that do nothing, but when you incorporate them into your honing at the end of each grit stage and especially when wrapping things up on your finisher, the effect is dramatic and there is absolutely no way that you will not notice an improvement over your usual edge. Part of this improvement is simply that fin edge is no longer an issue. Fin edge is a false edge that is too fragile and can never last very long. Usually it does not even last a full shave before perceived sharpness begins to fall off noticeably, but I could see the razor going 4 or 5 shaves with a small degree of finning.

You are correct in the differences between knife sharpening and razor honing. The thin and flexible edge of the razor cannot be treated like a knife's edge, with it's heavier grind and wider bevel angle. Much of knife sharpening must be unlearned when doing razors, but some of your understanding of blade geometry and steel and abrasive behavior carries over to razors. A bevel is still a bevel.

I believe you will see a considerable improvement in your razor's performance and edge longevity with the changes in this and my previous post. Good Luck, and Happy Shaves.

 

[Luc]

Depending on the blade. Usually around 15-20 shaves.

 

[Luecke2326]

I'd say every 20 or so shaves, I might give it a touch up on my Escher with water only. I don't touch them up until there is noticeable tugging that causes me discomfort.

Matt

 

[Brianskeet]

I rarely rehone my razors. Due to my skin, hair type, and the number of razors I have I can go a year or more without rehoning a blade. I like coticule edges because they are skin-friendly to me and not laser-sharp how everyone generally likes it.

Right there with you on what my face likes best, but I like to hone. I can't put an exactly how often on it, but I find honing enjoyable enough that I do it far more often than is necessary.

 

[trentr]

I just went a month on 1 and grabbed another and went a month. Both still shave, but I think I am going to touch up every week or 2 just to keep them tip top and so it does not take much. New to this so may change multiple times over the rest of my life.

Thought I would update. While the razors did bot feel as if they had "lost" much.. .I believe it was because it was so gradual. They did shave after the month but after a touch up on the stone, they shave better. So yep. Gonna go every week maybe 2 for a bit and see what I think.

 

[Christian1212]

I'd suggest have a razor or 2 that you can also hone whenever you have that *itch* and you don't want to keep honing away any lovely razor you might have. I have a few I mess around with whenever I need to think or make sure I am not too rusty haha

 

[Njguy1977]

I have 24 razors I use Saturday and Sunday only. Every year around this time I inspect each one under a 10x Loupe and determine if they need a touch up or not. This time of year there isn't much to do outside and after work so I can dedicate some time to the stones.

Larry

 

[Shangas]

Once a month, once every two months.