I don't know if this belongs in the straight razor shaving, shave school, or the general area. Because this thread pertains specifically to shaving with a straight razor I thought it would work best here. I've used the same mildly smiling 5/8thish open razor since about mid-August (I think). I used it almost exclusively, except for 3 days when I tested out and broke in the last honed-from-scratch blade. So as you can tell it's now November 1st. I must say, I only refreshed it on a chromium oxide pasted paddle strop somewhere in early October and it's been shaving real nice. Although of course as the blade subtly and inevitably dulls I can take additional liberties with my technique. Also the shave is less close, but if I exert more pressure on the skin I can get fairly close to the desired smoothness, except for ATG. It's quite subtle, a hour or two creeps up when the tell-tale bristlyness of hairs when stroked in the most aggressive direction of the shave. Also the shave takes a few more minutes, in the end. More strokes across the stubborn parts of the beard. But I'm impressed with how little sharpening maintenance is needed for a good open razor. What inspired me to finally breakdown and re-hone my razor was that yesterday morning, Halloween, I decided to use a big (to me) 6/8th spike-point German razor I'd honed many months ago and hadn't used much since. I think this was the 3rd or 4th shave since it'd been honed. It's a loud blade, too, so kind of dramatic (scary!) for Halloween. Well, the difference was kind of night and day from the razor I'd been using for over two months. Fast shave, super-smooth, too damned easy. So I took my old 5/8th's edge out on my replacement for the bad Norton 4,000, a Naniwa 5,000 "Superstone." Did that for about 10-15 laps, then on up to the regular progression of Norton 8,000 (which I love to use) and the finisher: Spyderco's Ultra-Fine ceramic. I let my razor dwell for a nice, luxurious stay in a soapy ultra-fine hand-held (barber's hone style) vacation. When she came back to work she was as good as new! The shave was so fast and close and smooth and safe and refreshing. This time I put it on the paddle strop for about 150 laps to tame the wildness of the edge off the hones. I had a pink bloom that lasted several hours but I consider it a success for a first shave. Didn't even bother to use the chromium oxide pasted paddle strop. As I get better at honing I have a harder time discerning the difference between and edge finished off the chromium vs. the finishing hone. I'm thinking that hone has a very high grit level, which would explain why people complain it is a slow cutter. I've read plenty of accounts that most DE blades are machine-honed to a level of sharpness that most open-razor metal doesn't get to see, but I have to say when I pushed and pulled my newly resharpened open-razor through the thickest, coarsest parts of my beard that it made very quick work of it, and the resistance, while there, seemed very comparable to what I experience when using a fresh DE blade in a double-edged safety razor. I think I'm lucky to have a hone that can be an impressive finisher. It just takes some time at the last stage, and probably a light touch. It's kind of magical to experience the exhilaration of a truly sharp razor, one that has been transformed under one's own hand from mediocrity in just tens of minutes.
