WetShaving
This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
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Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
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I think I could comfortably go 30 shaves between refreshes, but I don’t. I normally refresh after 15-20 shaves. But I also tinker with edges a lot to see what I can get out of a stone or a razor.
I am not concerned with wear from stones but I know others are. I have razors that are over 170 years old, have a lot of hone wear, and work perfectly.
For those who aren’t interested in honing, I suggest using a pasted strop. I prefer a bench strop for this, but it seems most straight razor users paste one side of a linen or flax hanging strop.
I think if you strop normally with every shave and use the pasted strop every 15 shaves or so, you could go a long time between refreshes.
I don't have (for the moment) a pasted strop, but I have stones. I guess I'll just take the stones, and pass on the strops.
You don't need much for a strop. Some denim, a 2x4 (38mm X 89mm) that's about 6" (15cm) will do just fine. Staple the denim to the 2x4, and spread some chromium oxide (the green crayon) on it and you should be good to go. I made one of these recently from a wood scrap. It took all of 15 minutes I think.
Handicraft project! Nice!
Does the chromium oxide dry out or vaporize, or what's the reason for keeping it in a zipped bag?
I do this primarily to keep it from rubbing off onto other things. The feel of these is like a hard wax candle. I don't know of any issues with keeping them in open air.
Ok, thanks 😊
I use a pasted strop after honing. I find that edges feel rough fresh off the stone. I don't use pasted strops to prolong the life of the edge, though
The two times I put my straights to the stones (a Shapton 12k synthetic), I didn't have the impression that it was rough - maybe I 'm lacking the proper comparison. I used 100 strokes on unpasted denim, and 200 on clean leather.
That's a lot more stropping than I do. I do maybe 30 or 50 on loaded canvas and it's done.
I'm realising it's really difficult to compare methods over a text based forum😅
If you're not loaded, you have to strop longer 🤣
@PorkButtsNTaters666
😂 very true!
How much do you strop between shaves?
@[email protected]
I do 30 on canvas to make sure the blade is dry, and then 50-70 on leather. And you?
Same! I do 15 on canvas and 25 on leather right before the shave, and again right after, so 30 and 50 like you