Thread: How often to hone - advice needed

I've been shaving with a half hollow Dovo every day for about a month now, and it seems to be noticeably less sharp than when I bought it. Assuming I've been stropping reasonably well, how many shaves should I be able to get before needing to get my razor honed? Any advice on strop paste vs barber's hone vs sending the razor for service?

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Seriously, it depends on too many factors that are specific to your honing/shaving prowess. When I started, a straight would last me a week at most, now it last much longer. If you are new and it lasts for a few weeks then I guess you are doing alright and should see improvement over time.

Stropping decreases the number of times you will need to hone your razor. I vaguely remember the last time I honed mine, just to practice honing. I hone so infrequently that I'll do it, sometimes, just to maintain muscle memory. Six months, and up to a year, or beyond, is not impossible or unreasonable for a single, every day razor. But that's after a lot (years) of experience.

I seem to get about 2 months of daily shaves out of one razor before having to hone. This is with daily (no pastes) Stropping.

I am still very much a beginner but one thing I noticed has had a dramatic effect on the quality of edge is not only your skill in shaving and stropping but very much the quality of the razor and the quality of the strop. For example I recently switched from using a standard issue strop to using a kanayama 80k and i honestly think I may never need to hone again. The thing puts the edge to perfection every time, no pastes or sprays.

I guess what I am saying is the equipment matters at least as much as you do. Get a good quality vintage henckels and a good quality strop and your mileage will vary.

When you notice a drop in performance, that is usually a good time to do a "touch up honing".

What hone(s), paste(s), or spray(s) do I need? - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

When you notice a drop in performance, that is usually a good time to do a "touch up honing".

+1

When you notice it needs to be honed! That could be 1 week because you rolled the edge or 12 months or longer because you really look after it - there is no set time

I've got 26 shaves on the Hargreaves razor I've been using lately, with just stropping on linen and leather. It seems as good as it was after honing. I'm going to keep using it that way to see what the limit might be.

As often as you feel the urge, but it is a private, personal affair...

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

When you notice a drop in performance, that is usually a good time to do a "touch up honing".

What hone(s), paste(s), or spray(s) do I need? - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Originally Posted by ace

I've got 26 shaves on the Hargreaves razor I've been using lately, with just stropping on linen and leather. It seems as good as it was after honing. I'm going to keep using it that way to see what the limit might be.

Time was when I was very keen to a hard and fast rule like, every XX number of shaves my razors will get a hone. With experience however, I've learned that "as required" is the best solution. I seem to have some razors that can go 25 or 30 shaves with only a good stropping before each shave and other razors that need a touch up hone after only 10 or 12 shaves. So my rule of thumb is that when the edge starts to feel "muddy" which for me is just an edge that hasn't yet started tugging but just isn't all that crisp, I'll do a touch up hone. This method seems to work pretty well. If I notice a muddy edge today, I'll hone the razor and use it again tomorrow to make sure the edge is fixed and then I'll move on.