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When will my razors get dull?

I’ve been using traditional straights for a year and a half now: I hone my own, but the thing is, I switch between everything. I use single edge, double edge, injectors, Shavettes, traditional straights and my CJB Kamasori.

I used to switch every other shave between safety razor and straight edge but for awhile now I’ve been splitting the month into 2 parts.

The 1st 2 week period I’ll use my SE’s, DE’s, injectors etc

The last 2 weeks I’ll use my Shavettes, straights, and kamasori

Doing it this way seems like it’ll take forever for my straight razors to need a touch up. it’s already been a year and a half, and I only touched them up on Chrom oxide one time just for fun and it didn’t even need it at the time! I miss honing, and don’t really feel like killing an edge for no reason.

If I used my theirs Issard wolf and sheep every 2 days or so I’m sure after 4 months it’ll start pulling lol

But I like to use everything
 

Legion

Staff member
Depends on your technique, your beard, and the hardness of the steel.

There are people here who claim over a hundred shaves with just stropping.

I’ve certainly never let a blade go anywhere near that without a touch up.
 
This is why I got into Restoring Straights in the beginning. I wanted to hone more as I was just starting to learn. Now with over 300 razors, I've still only touched up one or three razors as I have soooo many that I never use the same one twice in 1.5 to 2 years.

When I did hit a milestone in my honing abilities I went through them all and tested and honed again. But that's been years ago and the collection has grown. I may have to do this again soon as my honing has gotten rusty and I don't have much to hone now.

So be happy your just getting started Mike. Buy some eBay razors and join in on the restoring fun. It will help keep your honing in check.
 
Cycling through your whole collection constantly? A while. I have about 15 SRs and I cycle through arbitrarily. My favorite razors get more use. It would be well over a year before I had to hone anything, and probably over 2 years were I to use all razors equally. I'm not a daily shaver, ill say I shave every 3 of 5 days.

The last time I freshened up a razor and used it exclusively until it needed a touch up on the hones again, I got a smidge over 20 shaves. I was also still new to SR shaving and honing at the time, and my skill at shaving and stropping has improved since that time. I know I have blades now that have well over 20 shaves on them that still give excellent results.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I rotate through about 30 SRs, SR shaving daily. Each blade on average would only get used about 10 to 15 times each year. I will often refresh my edges between each use, although they don't need it. I just do it for the enjoyment.

A full honing progression is now rare for me. I only get to do it when I receive a new-to-me SR and my available budget doesn't allow that to happen often enough.
 
I do a light touch up on the weekend. I generally use the same razor for a week at a time. I wouldn’t say that the razor is dull after seven shaves but I do notice a slight improvement. I wouldn’t ever want to shave with a dull razor. Touch ups are quick and easy if you stay on top of the maintenance.
 
I do a light touch up on the weekend.

I was going to start doing that - I've got three straights that I'll probably cycle through one a week (then either a DE or who knows, another straight on the fourth week). What do you consider a light touch up? I'm doing diamond-paste balsas after every shave but wondering if I could just do that bit on the weekend.
 
I was going to start doing that - I've got three straights that I'll probably cycle through one a week (then either a DE or who knows, another straight on the fourth week). What do you consider a light touch up? I'm doing diamond-paste balsas after every shave but wondering if I could just do that bit on the weekend.
A light touch up for me is using a finisher only. The same would work with balsa but you might notice the edge dropping off with time. In that case I would do a full balsa progression at least once a month or as required.
 
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