How Many Shaves

**Obiwan** · 07-18-2012, 07:11 AM

Still staying strong I see. Try adding the Proraso to the refrigerator next time :)

**Doc226** · 07-18-2012, 07:29 AM

Originally Posted by Obiwan

Still staying strong I see. Try adding the Proraso to the refrigerator next time :)

Going strong. I'll try the proraso in the fridge-sounds good

**Doc226** · 07-20-2012, 05:35 PM

Shave # 22
Prep: Hot shower
Soap: Tabac
Strop: Kanayama 25 suede, 50 leather
HHT pre shave: 4
Shave: Great shave, no irritation. This was a shave after trying out a razor honed on a coti and finished on an escher. This one was sharper and smoother than the escher edge that was newly honed.

AS: Clubman.

Keeps going and going

**drathgeb** · 07-20-2012, 08:51 PM

This shows that I really need to work on my stropping and shaving technique. I am able to dull a razor before I even finish shaving. That is if it survives my inferior stropping.

**paco664** · 07-20-2012, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by drathgeb

This shows that I really need to work on my stropping and shaving technique. I am able to dull a razor before I even finish shaving. That is if it survives my inferior stropping.

practice grasshopper... when you can snatch the stypic from my palm....

**Doc226** · 07-21-2012, 05:56 PM

Just had a shave

Shave # 23
Prep: Hot shower
Soap: ARKO
Strop: Kanayama 25 suede, 50 leather
HHT pre shave: 4
Shave: Great shave, like new

Here is a HHT test before the shave. This one I was actually trying not to cut the hair, I was trying to play violin with it, it cut EASILY. I had to put music over the video because my 4 year did not shut up the whole time

**FlyingMonkey** · 07-22-2012, 06:47 AM

I'm incredibly interested in this discussion as I have my sights set on a whipped dog sight unseen (pun intended) in the not too distant future. I was under the impression that professional honing would only be required a few times a year as long as you are stropping and using the balsa wood every so often. Have I misunderstood the guidance? I have no idea how to hone (beyond watching the videos) and had planned to acquire the skill at some point in the future, but I wanted to be able to focus on learning to shave properly first. Now it sounds like I will have to purchase some hones and attempt to develop that skill as well. I know that you can send razors out to be professionally honed, but being stationed in Japan, I was hoping to be self-sufficient. Any suggestions?

**ladykate** · 07-22-2012, 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by FlyingMonkey

I'm incredibly interested in this discussion as I have my sights set on a whipped dog sight unseen (pun intended) in the not too distant future. I was under the impression that professional honing would only be required a few times a year as long as you are stropping and using the balsa wood every so often. Have I misunderstood the guidance?

Nope, you haven't misunderstood.

You can bring a razor up from non-HHT to shave-ready with the paddles - if the razor is simply a bit dull due to use. They won't set an edge or take off much metal but they are great for maintaining the blade. Doc's experience is showing that, if the razor is in good shape to start, stropping-only is all that is needed to get a good life out of the blade.

The paddles will keep you going for a while so you don't need to purchase stones. Be slow and careful about stropping on the paddles and the strop - develop your technique and you will be fine.

The really cool way to maintain your razor is to get some lapping film - there is so much mojo with that stuff. It is cheap, does the job, and a sheet of 1 micron will keep your razor going for a very long time (probably forever).

**ladykate** · 07-22-2012, 06:56 AM

Originally Posted by paco664

practice grasshopper... when you can snatch the stypic from my palm....

**alx gilmore** · 07-22-2012, 07:05 AM

Ladykate
I am curious since you seem to be a film fan, how many shaves have you gotten from your paddles, that is without refreshing your blade after the initial edge formation? I know that it is easy to maintain an edge with film, but how about an "film edge" with no refreshing. Will it hold up past lets say, 3 or 4 shaves with clean leather stropping only? Longer? sincerely, Alx

**ladykate** · 07-22-2012, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by alx gilmore

Ladykate
I am curious since you seem to be a film fan, how many shaves have you gotten from your paddles, that is without refreshing your blade after the initial edge formation? I know that it is easy to maintain an edge with film, but how about an "film edge" with no refreshing. Will it hold up past lets say, 3 or 4 shaves with clean leather stropping only? Longer? sincerely, Alx

I just went out on a trip - thought I was going to be gone two weeks but came back a week early. I used the same straight but with stropping only. Six times was no problem. I was expecting to use it 14 times but the trip was cut short. If anything, it was getting a bit nicer to use because I had the time to dork with stropping it. I stropped it about 100 times total per day because I was a bit bored waiting for my morning to start. I had prepped it with film and it was just grabbed at random in my rush to pack so it wasn't set up in any special way.

Oh... and I did a similar experiment last year with a GD that I had prepped with stones and CrO2. That one was a full two weeks and the blade was noticeably mellower but very functional by the time I got back. I didn't need to hone it - I just touched it up a tad on diamond paddles (could have been iron or chromium oxide, it's just that the diamond paddles were the nearest thing to grab).

I'm a film fan but I'm not completely ate up with it... just partially ate up with it. ;-} It is a nice easy way to maintain a blade. It doesn't do anything more than polish the edge so the longevity would be the same if you treated it the same way you would a blade prepped on a stone.

**alx gilmore** · 07-22-2012, 12:37 PM

ladykate
That sounds great, 2 weeks is very respectable. Alx

**Doc226** · 07-23-2012, 05:10 AM

Shave # 24
Prep: Hot shower
Soap: MWF
Strop: Kanayama 25 suede, 50 leather
HHT pre shave: 4
Shave: Just like the other 23, great

AS The Veg

**Doc226** · 07-24-2012, 08:28 AM

Today was a little different, I was trying out an edge for a fellow member, did a WTG pass with his razor, but it was tugging a bit so I decided to shave again with the TI.

I still did another WTG pass and the usual other passes with the TI

Shave # 25
Prep: Hot shower
Soap: Tabac
Strop: Kanayama 25 suede, 50 leather
HHT pre shave: 4
Shave: Great shave

AS The Veg

**Obiwan** · 07-24-2012, 08:51 AM

....and the madness continues.

**ladykate** · 07-24-2012, 09:23 AM

Good stropping is obviously a godsend. In another thread, I found that Dorco AC blades gave up the ghost fairly quickly (2 or 3 shaves) but, being a bit obsessed about these things, I put the blade in a used CJB and extended it out a 1/4" (to the mounting holes). I then stropped it on a medium-loose strop. 30 linen, 60 leather. I just finished shave 6 (stropping before each shave) and it was a close comfortable shave - close to DFS. Very comfortable and no leaks. It is acting like a nice regular straight shaver.

I'm thinking Doc will have to finish this test sometime in 2013.

**Doc226** · 07-24-2012, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by ladykate

I'm thinking Doc will have to finish this test sometime in 2013.

Let's see 160 days left in 2012, I shave about 5-6 times a week (well say 5), that is about 120 shaves left this year, I don't know if I'll make if that far-but I have no idea.

**alx gilmore** · 07-24-2012, 01:51 PM

I am thinking that the quality of the original edge is important here. The edge geometry, the polish on the blade at the edge, or lack of. Are we talking a perfectly flat bevel or a slighlty convex bevel? Also Doc you metioned that you got the same HHT 4 after you shaved before stropping, the same results you did after stropping. "

I have gotten a few PMs to show more HHT after shaves. I will do it after every fifth. Here is the HHT after a shave, no stropping before the HHT."

This leads me to believe that the character of the edge itself is carrying much load. I do not doubt that the strop does help. Any thoughts? Alx

**Doc226** · 07-24-2012, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by alx gilmore

I am thinking that the quality of the original edge is important here. The edge geometry, the polish on the blade at the edge, or lack of. Are we talking a perfectly flat bevel or a slighlty convex bevel? Also Doc you metioned that you got the same HHT 4 after you shaved before stropping, the same results you did after stropping. "

I have gotten a few PMs to show more HHT after shaves. I will do it after every fifth. Here is the HHT after a shave, no stropping before the HHT."

This leads me to believe that the character of the edge itself is carrying much load. I do not doubt that the strop does help. Any thoughts? Alx

This razor was honed on a JNAT no tape (just made Slash smile). I think the HHT being the same before and after the shave just means no deterioration of the edge during the shave (or not noticeable). I think it would be interesting to see how many shaves someone gets with a freshly honed razor and only the initial stropping. I would guess 2-3.

Someone else can volunteer to do that one.