I wish I could keep my blade sharper between honing.....

[madcap3693]

I use the same straight razor every day (vintage Boker). I have a set of Norton's , a Naniwa 12000 and chrox / ferox. I can get a really sharp edge by just touching up my blade with the Naniwa 12000 and then finishing with chrox / ferox prior to finishing with a linen / leather strop. Getting a sharp edge is not really my problem.

I strop linen / leather after every shave (25 strokes on linen and 50 on leather). I'll touch the blades up with only chrox / ferox every few days 3 or 4 (25 strokes on each). Within two or three weeks at the most I need to rehone on the 12000 Naniwa. I don't mind having to rehone every couple of weeks or so, but I wish my blade was sharper in between.

Could it be my stropping or honing technique? My straight is really sharp off the hone (in my opinion requiring little-no pressure while shaving). I use virtually no pressure when stropping on linen / leather. Should I invest in some type of other pasted strop with diamond paste or something else for daily maintenance? Is is typical for blade sharpness to decrease so rapidly (I do use this razor daily and have a thick tough beard)?

Any advice recommendations or tips?

[Kentos]

I have a hunch...

You use the straight with a more upright angle opposed to flat, you don't use scything strokes, and you love ATG to get BBS?

Has the blade ever seen a coarser grit stone than the 12k? Are the powders on balsa?

What kind of strop do you have?

Many things affect edge longevity. Technique has a lot to do with it, as well as blade geometry, lather slickness(IMO), hardness of razor steel, condition of bevel, and type of fabric strop(IMO).

I had good luck stropping daily on 0.05 poly diamond on leather to maintain a keeness between touchups- but it won't help much if you use a large blade angle and hit all your stubble at right angles perpendicular to the edge.

How long have you been shaving for?

[Gammaray]

I have a hunch...

You use the straight with a more upright angle opposed to flat, you don't use scything strokes, and you love ATG to get BBS?

Has the blade ever seen a coarser grit stone than the 12k? Are the powders on balsa?

What kind of strop do you have?

Many things affect edge longevity. Technique has a lot to do with it, as well as blade geometry, lather slickness(IMO), hardness of razor steel, condition of bevel, and type of fabric strop(IMO).

I had good luck stropping daily on 0.05 poly diamond on leather to maintain a keeness between touchups- but it won't help much if you use a large blade angle and hit all your stubble at right angles perpendicular to the edge.

How long have you been shaving for?

Good questions all. I would add that you may be stropping with too little pressure which can have almost not effect. I say this cautiously because most new users strop too hard and too long resulting in dulling the blade. In order for the stropping to have any effect it must adequately, but very lightly, touch the edge. Here are my suggestions.

1. Make sure you are not holding the strop very taught and horizontal. The strop should barely be level with the slightest dip in the middle. This ensures that the leather will contact the edge.

2. Now strop light and loose with even strokes perhaps emphasizing the point, middle, and heel for 5 or 6 strokes then finishing with very even, light laps of 20 or so. The total should not require more than 40-60 laps to bring the edge up to shaving level. If it needs more than this then back to the CrO or the Naniwa.

Don't give up. You should be getting at least a month or so with leather, then CrO every quarter, then Naniwa two or three times a year. This only applies if the bevel is set properly to begin with.

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[madcap3693]

Kent,

I had been shaving with an higher angle about 30 degrees, but have more recently have been using a lower angler about 15-20 degrees. I don't use scything strokes much only on some tougher areas, I mostly use straight strokes. I do not shave ATG at all, because it has always given me irritation and I get a fine shave only shave WTG and some XTG. I do get really good shaves in my opinion.

My blade has been honed on Nortons 220/1000 and 4000/8000 grit prior to the Naniwa 12000. The powders are on Balsa. I use a Rup Razor 2 part El Toro Canvas / leather. I only started using straights 6 months ago, but have been shaving with them daily since.

[Kentos]

So no ATG. I was almost batting a 1000 ;)

The only fabric component that I found to actually maintain the sharpness of an edge was natural linen, a la TM strops. Regular cotton didn't do anything for me.

Like Gammaray mentioned some pressure is actually good, and also zippy speed is needed as well-1 second per full round trip lap is a minimum speed for me.

Also try avoiding the head on cutting style. If you imagine a knife cutting through, say, a thick rope, a slicing action would cut much easier as opposed to a chopping motion. Not to mention the area on the knife that chopped through the rope would be dulled more than the rest of the edge too.

I find an edge maintains its sharpest edge only for a few shaves with only linen and leather as well. However scything strokes on XTG and ATG, even WTG give BBS even on less than super sharp edges too.

[Disburden]

As said use the slicing stroke, head on is not how a straight razor was designed to work. All old manuals I have seen explain that stroke as a diagonal/ slicing type of stroke over an ax stroke.

[rickboone1]

Leave the pastes/ crox, feox, whatever alone. The edge is more brittle, thus not lasting as long.

[Kentos]

By nature a keener edge would be less robust than a duller one. But proper shaving technique can help to prolong that edge. Brittle sounds like it would be full of microchips after a shave or sumthing.

[madcap3693]

Does the slicing / scything motion move in an arch or is it a straight stroke but on an angle?

[Kentos]

Both! Just be careful.

[madcap3693]

I tried combos of the guillotine and scything this morning after a touchup of crox/ferox on my blade. Wow! and I thought straight razor shaving couldn't get any better. No cuts, but i did have a bunch of weepers. It's amazing how my razor just sliced through my stubble. By far the best shave I have gotten yet. This is definitely not a maneuver to try when in a rush.

[Blix]

Shaving with an angle to the blade is certainly a must.

I would sure look into using a bit more pressure when stropping also.

[tomjr]

if my razor starts to lose just a little keenness my favorite thing to do it a touch up on my c12k.

[Kentos]

Weepers are usually from too much pressure. With scything you just need to barely keep contact with the skin. Skin pulling will pull the whiskers out from the skin so when you release, voila BBS
.

[madcap3693]

Two days later, using guillotine and scything still no cuts, but my razor definetly does not feel as sharp....