Minimum for upkeep...

I've been doing a little reading here and other places about straight razor use and care. I'm curious, I want to get a shave ready straight razor and just maintain it. While I think straights are beautiful I'm no collector of any sort I just need it purely for functional reasons. Basically if the thing can shave my face without me looking mangled afterwords it's fine.

Now for that from what I've read, something like a barber's hone will work, Chinese 12k, or something within the 8k grit and up family. However I've also read about "setting a bevel" which is going to run me into getting a coarser hone like maybe a Yellow Coticle which supposedly can set a bevel and finish off, a Belgian blue, Norton 4k etc.

My question is basically for something thats already shave ready how long can I expect to maintain it and keep it functional on something like a Chinese 12k (for example, because it's dirt cheap) before I'm forced to set a bevel on the razor and buy a coarser hone?

As I understand it, if you get the razor honed to shave ready once and don't use a pasted hanging or balsa strop on it, it won't ever need to be rebeveled.

SliceOfLife said:

As I understand it, if you get the razor honed to shave ready once and don't use a pasted hanging or balsa strop on it, it won't ever need to be rebeveled.

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+1 This is my experience also.

SliceOfLife said:

As I understand it, if you get the razor honed to shave ready once and don't use a pasted hanging or balsa strop on it, it won't ever need to be rebeveled.

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+2

Unless you damage the edge you should not need to take it down to where it needs to rebeveled unless that's your intension to experiment.

So can I basically just get by on a bought shave ready razor, a leather paddle strop, and when it starts to pull hone it back with a Chinese 12k to keep it functional so long as it doesn't get dinged?

Also out of curiosity, why would a pasted hanging or balsa strop be used if they cause you to have to rebevel in time?

Yes to the first question. With the 12k you don't even need a barber hone when the edge starts to get tired, just be prepared for more passes than you would do on the barber hone.

To the second question: because the balsa strop puts one hell of an edge on the straight, for a mere 20ish bucks.

blubbergovernor said:

So can I basically just get by on a bought shave ready razor, a leather paddle strop, and when it starts to pull hone it back with a Chinese 12k to keep it functional so long as it doesn't get dinged?

Also out of curiosity, why would a pasted hanging or balsa strop be used if they cause you to have to rebevel in time?

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The slight rounding that pastes cause is part of what makes the edge feel smoother as you shave with it. But too much of that rounding will mean the bevel will have to be reset. Pastes are also fast, easy, and inexpensive.

Barber hone is just a generic term for a type of hone - it is generally used to refer to the pocket sized hones with stamps on one surface. They are synthetic and are usually estimated to be around 10k or so, though that varies from hone to hone. Really, any finisher will serve the same purpose - they will finish honing and can also be used to maintain a razor indefinitely (barring damage).

Personally, if I were only going to get one hone. I would probably get an old barber hone that is in good condition. It will probably be cheaper than the C12K and they cut faster in my opinion.

I basically use my 12K for the very final polishing of a blade. I don't know if it's conventional or not and its possible that I just do it out of habit, but if I am doing a refresh on an edge, I use the barber hone first and then finish up on the 12K. If I had to choose between them, I would probably pick the barber hone. I like my 12K. But it is just too fine and slow to be very versatile. I guess a barber hone isn't really very versatile either. Although the barber hone is quicker in my opinion.

You can catch a good barber hone on the B/S/T or the Bay for around $50 bucks or less. I bought one the other day that does not need lapping and was $52. Only 2-5 passes apparently needed for touch ups (haven't used it yet).

This is my touch up routine at the moment if chromox isn't bringing back the blade. I just added the white paste to experiment which makes it even sharper but a little too much for me so that's why I do a quick pass on chromox.


Minimum up keep:


Chinese 12K- $40 (or any finishing stone)
Chromium Oxide pasted on balsa from Rayman
White polishing paste
Strop

Take your 12k about min 20 passes

40 passes on white paste on balsa or pasted cotton

10 passes on chromox

50 passes on latigo strop

50 passes on horsehide.

Thanks for the input guys, exactly what I was looking for. It's nice to know that it doesn't have to cost a small fortune to get and maintain a straight razor.

Im looking into the same thing...

if a person got a norton 4k/8k, a chinese 12k, and a strop would they be pretty much set and self-sufficient as far as maintaining their razors go, assuming they purchase only shave-ready, and they learn how to use their equipment?

would the chinese 12k eventually leave a person wanting an even finer shaving edge and purchasing an even finer stone?

what is required to maintain the stones (what is lapping? what do you need? how much does it cost?)

1. yes

2. The C12K will put a nice polished edge on your blade.

3. Lapping is the act of keeping the stone completely flat. It can be accomplished with sandpaper on a perfectly flat surface (marble, glass, etc) or you can use something like a DMT diamond hone. Diamond hones always stay flat and they cut fast. Both of those things make them good candidates for lapping. If you ever need to set a bevel, a 1200 grit diamond plate will come in handy anyway.

charismata said:

If you ever need to set a bevel, a 1200 grit diamond plate will come in handy anyway.

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And how much would that set me back?

Lowkeyberserk said:

And how much would that set me back?

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It depends. anywhere from $20 - $70, depending on brand and size.

I think Amazon sells the Ultra-Sharp 1200 diamond plate for $18 or so.

You can't use the DMT 1200 to lap hones. It will strip the DMT.

holli4pirating said:

You can't use the DMT 1200 to lap hones. It will strip the DMT.

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I'm don't think I can argue this point one way or the other. But I'd be interested in hearing more. I don't understand how almost any given hone could be harder than diamond and aren't the diamonds embedded in the nickel plate?

I'm willing to listen and learn.

If it strips the DMT then it does it exceedingly slowly.

The diamonds are bonded to the plate in (I think) a nickel compound. The diamonds won't break, but they will be stripped out of the bonding compound. I don't know why it happens more quickly with the higher grit plates, but I would guess it is because the smaller diamonds on the fine plates cannot be embedded as deeply, so there is less of the bonding compound holding them on so they are ripped out more easily. That's just my totally ungrounded theory.

DMT has a cutoff at which grits are suggested for lapping, but I don't remember what it is. From experience, I don't think anything over the coarse (325) should be used, and I've seen those stripped too.

Lapping with pressure or allowing slurry to build (i.e. not under running water) increases the rate/chances of stripping. I would assume in both cases the reason is that the diamonds are pulled harder in the compound, which makes them more likely to be pulled free.

BTW, my theory on "breaking in" is that the higher sitting diamonds get stripped out first. Though they are all about the same size (DMT's mesh grit rating system or whatever), they don't all sit at the same depth. So the ones that sit higher will cut/scratch deeper, and will be removed. As the higher ones are removed, the DMT will cut less aggressively, and the "effective grit" may seem to increase. Much like with naturals, it's not only the size of the grits, but the way in which they cut.

Again, that's all just my theory, except for that I have seen DMT's stripped.

I use a combo of a Leather strop, Linen strop, CrOx paddle strop as well as Naniwa 5K, 8K, and 12K stones. Basically, the upkeep is the following:

- Every shave (40 Linen, 60 Leather)
- Every week (5-10 passes on CrOx)
- Every month (30 passes 5K, 20 passes 8K, 10 passes 12K, 5 on CrOx, 60 Leather)

This keeps my blades very sharp and smooth. As the stropping gets better, I might be able to go longer than a month between touch-ups. However, I don't see dropping any of these items they are all useful in maintaining the razor. All in all, this is about $250 assuming you have a normal Leather/Linen strop combo.