guided sharpeners for straight razors?

[bardman01]

I just bought my first ever straight razor.

It is shave ready apparently but when the time comes to do more than just stropping I wonder if a guided sharpener will work? Was thinking I could clamp the steel at the exposed tang/shank adjacent to the blade and sharpen that way?

Any recommendation on sharpening angle or stone progression. I have venev stones up to F1200 and gunny juice w strop. I know this is not a traditional approach to sharpening straight razors.

Total beginner with straight razors.

 

[jeffbird]

No need. Razors are sharpened laying flat on the stone. Add a layer of tape on the spine to protect it from wear. Buy a decent set of synthetic stones to start and a couple of old razors off ebay for practice. You’ll need stones up to 10-12,000 grit for finishing.

The cheap digital magnifiers that plug into a computer are extremely helpful and money well spent. $30 - $40 models are good enough.

Then practice, a lot. I sharpened every night for weeks before really developing a true hair popping edge. A great edge makes shaving so much easier. Now my edge is ready when it tree tops hair a 1/4” - 3/8” off the skin, it is doable.

Use light pressure and don’t get in a hurry. Sharpening a razor is much slower than sharpening a knife, and will improve your sharpening skills overall.

Also, buy one of Tony Miller’s beginner horsehide stops with linen backing. You’ll cut it up and it still will work fine. Then buy a fresh new one from him down the line.

Once everything settles into place in a few months, shaving will with a straight will be a real treat.

Badgerandblade.com has a great subforum for sharpening straight razors.

 

[gadgetgeek]

Basically all this, but also treat your razor honing stuff and your knife stuff as separate, they are different beasts. In general, most knife sharpeners never need lapping, but a razor hone needs to be as flat as possible, so finding some method that works for you for lapping will also be important. The norton 4k/8k water stone is considered a good starting point, and in general, an 8k edge will be good enough to shave on, though many prefer to push higher. 10k or 12k Naniwa stones are a good option. Search for terms like "honing pyramid", "over-honing" and "false edge/ feather edge"
You will also want a strop that is isolated from your normal knife stropping, as the final finish is going to be very high, stray grit from other stones can be enough to harm razor edges. Also that strop will be nearly dry, as too agressive/wet of a strop will make it very easy to kill the edge.
There is a big wide world of learning in front of you, so I hope you planned on spending a few bucks (it's only a cheap hobby if you consider that its almost all buy once, cry once sort of stuff, and you plan on living a long time)
Good luck, work slowly, read lots. And don't just look at someone's post count in old threads, compare the thread date to when they joined that forum, because a lot of dudes find out a year or so after they have a "great idea" that it actually wasn't working out all that well.

 

[bardman01]

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful. Time to cry once and buy some stuff .

 

[jeffbird]

Good points from gg.

A handful more of random thoughts.

Starting off, use the straight on the easy to reach areas like cheeks and use whatever razor you use now for the more challenging areas. As edges improve and confidence grows, move to the tougher areas with the straight.

Different stones will create different feel on the face. Synthetics such as from Naniwa or Shapton are the same stone to stone and will reliably produce good results. At some point, you may want to experiment with some of the natural stones, especially as finishers. Different stones can create very different end results and feel on the face.

Natural stones even of the same type will vary stone to stone. How a natural stone is lapped can and will change the feel of an edge. So starting with synthetics isolates variables to the user.

At the end of the day, trying different stones is part of the enjoyment for me. For “go to” results when I need to put an edge on and just get it done, Naniwa synthetics to start and highly lapped Dan’s Arks to finish, then strop on a Tony Miller horsehide is where I’ve landed.

Enjoy the journey.

 

[scdub]

Welcome to razors!

I’m not in disagreement with any of the above, but you might not need to get a bunch more equipment to get satisfactory results.

I only have one straight razor - an old Japanese kamisori. I received it with a tiny chip, so I sharpened it on fine stones laying the razor flat on the stones - no tape and no special techniques, just low pressure. Since that it’s mostly just stropping with a homemade leather strop with some .25 micron diamond spray. I’ve done a gentle resharpening twice in several years.

This has all been possible in part due to the fact that I wear a beard and therefore only have to shave my neck, and also to, I think, that my skin has become accustomed to getting shaved with a straight.

Maybe my technique or sharpening has improved as well, but it feels like my neck is simply more resistant to cuts and so I very rarely get them now.

Anyway - good luck and don’t be discouraged if you don’t have good initial results.

 

[UncleBoots]

Maybe my technique or sharpening has improved as well, but it feels like my neck is simply more resistant to cuts and so I very rarely get them now.

Anyway - good luck and don’t be discouraged if you don’t have good initial results.

Much as I love the idea of a cut-resistant neck, I can't quite bring myself to believe in it. What I do believe is that shaving technique and honing technique improve so gradually and subtly that we don't really notice.

I think there's one more thing, which I was reflecting on just half an hour ago, when I was shaving with my straight: I've added some new reflexes. I can detect the feeling of starting to cut skin, both through the skin being cut, and through the hand holding the razor, and reflexively jerk away before I get far enough to draw blood. Happened during today's shave, and all I have to show for it is a short slightly-red line that will be invisible in an hour or so.

 

[scdub]

Much as I love the idea of a cut-resistant neck, I can't quite bring myself to believe in it. What I do believe is that shaving technique and honing technique improve so gradually and subtly that we don't really notice.

I think there's one more thing, which I was reflecting on just half an hour ago, when I was shaving with my straight: I've added some new reflexes. I can detect the feeling of starting to cut skin, both through the skin being cut, and through the hand holding the razor, and reflexively jerk away before I get far enough to draw blood. Happened during today's shave, and all I have to show for it is a short slightly-red line that will be invisible in an hour or so.

You’re probably right - it’s not like I’m growing callouses or anything.

 

[garry3]

I just bought my first ever straight razor.

It is shave ready apparently but when the time comes to do more than just stropping I wonder if a guided sharpener will work? Was thinking I could clamp the steel at the exposed tang/shank adjacent to the blade and sharpen that way?

Any recommendation on sharpening angle or stone progression. I have venev stones up to F1200 and gunny juice w strop. I know this is not a traditional approach to sharpening straight razors.

Total beginner with straight razors.

I prefer a natural edge as I find them more comfortable. If your straight is really shave ready it can be maintained almost indefinitely with just a finisher.

Coticules I find to be some of the most useful stones, usually as part of a progression to a finer finisher. I don't feel the need for large stones, so small hand held will keep the cost down and probably give a beginner better results anyway.
I don't like to fool around with tape but when I do it's Kapton, it's much better than electrical tape.

 

[Jcsixx01]

I don’t know about guided, but restoring and sharpening straight razors was my hobby before knives/edc. I have a awesome collection of razor hones.

If you would like me to sharpen it up…I will put a wicked edge on it for you. My finishing stones are in. The 24-26k grit depending on the razor, where it was made, whether new or antique.

Also, tips for shaving…most people like heat/hot water for straight shaving…I get better results with cold water. I can shave with a straight razor (2 passes) just as fast as folks to shave using whatever they use.

Also, bath and body works sells CO Bigelow shaving cream (similar to proraso). It is always on sale or buy one get one.