How often is honing necessary?

[Fletch]

As I'm falling deeper down the rabbit hole of straight shaving I have to ask this question: Assuming you have a shave ready razor and you keep up with the stropping and don't ding the edge... How often is a honing required?


The reason I ask is because I don't own a hone and am a bit worried about screwing up an edge if I do get one. So I'm trying to gauge how necessary owning a hone actually honing are? I mean is it worth getting everything or is it just as well to send it to a pro?

 

[johnmrson]

How long is a piece of string? It depends on things like the thickness of your whiskers, how many passes you do per shave, how good your stropping is etc etc.

 

[jtrops]

As long as you don't kill your edge by hitting it against something, or rolling it from bad stropping, it could go for a long while. You can get more mileage out of it if you use a balsa strop with some fine abrasive like .5 micron Chromium Oxide.

I did a test with a cheap razor last year and found that it lasted quite a bit longer than I expected it to. I gave it about 10 laps on the CrOX every 2-3 weeks, and was able to get through the year with the one blade. To be fair, I honed it up a week or so ago, and I realized how bad the edge had gotten.

So, in the end as your technique gets better you will be able to do more than you thought you could with a less than sharp blade. Couple that with a maintenance regime that slows down the damage, and you have a long stint between the hones.

Honestly though I would get a good barber hone. I'm sure that in my situation above I would have been able to go almost indefinitely if I would have done a few passes on my Carborundum 101a every month or so. I know it's a bit scary to hit the hones with your razor the first few times, but it's not terribly difficult, and it's very rewarding.

Maybe pick up a cheap vintage blade that still has decent geometry and practice on that. The worst case is that it gets totally screwed up, but you could end up with another great shaver to add to your rotation.

 

[azmark]

Giving that you have your stropping down, a barbers hone can keep a shaving edge for a very long time. Some say even years. That's the short and sweet answer.

 

[BladeRunner001]

It depends on a lot of variables, the most obvious one of which is technique and razor (steel, grind, etc.)

I wouldn't worry. What I suggest is getting yourself a few "practice" blades (different grinds) from eBay. These blades should be in OK condition (not be bent or majorly chipped...otherwise, nothing that requires major restore). Also, get yourself a few hones. Practice honing with those blades. Use the shave ready ones or the ones you like to be professionally honed

In no time, you will learn the ins-and-out of honing.

 

[Luc]

Depends on your stropping, technique, straight, area to shave, number of passes...

 

[BillEllis]

Properly tempered quality blade + Proper stropping technique = At least a year. Another year by using a pasted strop. Don't paste a strop if it's the only one you have.