How many know how to sharpen a straight razor?

B

Bo T

Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
2,520
Is it 1 in 1000 or 1 in a million, or some where in between. I am into obscure skills (I am thinking about learning to make files and floats for cutting metal and wood) and straight razor sharpening seems to fit into a fairly elite category. It really triggers my interest. :)
 
It's not to difficult if you have some solid experience working with your hands but with that said I don't know many people who can take a regular razor ti shave ready let alone a wedge, smiley razor or fix a bad edge.
 
Much as I thought. I've seen your wedge and it seems that patience would be a virtue when removing the metal that is already gone from the hollow grounds. But, again it seems that, as long as the spine is thinned out appropriately you will always have the same edge angle. Are there inexpensive razors to practice with? Recommended books?
 
Lynn Abrahms has a very good DVD and there are a few good videos on youtube (will link them later). If you want to practice, you can find vintage razors or take a gamble on a Golder Dollar Chinese Razor but they seems to have quite a few issues like crooked spine/tail and shoulders that are too thick.
 
I'm not sure of the numbers but it is a small handful of people relative to the general population (most people cannot even sharpen a knife, and razors require even more).

You could learn, but it takes a bit of learning and a lot of practice. Most people do not have access to enough razors to develop the skills and maintain them at a VERY high level...this part of the reason that there are so few professional honers. I honed about 150 razors last year and that is a mere handful compared to the well known names.

Regardless, you can study up and learn it you are inclined and driven.
 
My first shaving experience was with a straight razor. Ouch! My grandfather used one daily. This is where I learned the value of a strop. This is the only way I know how to sharpen one...on a leather stop.
You can buy a Rough Rider to practice on for around $13 or $14. I think they are 440A. The carbon blades are the best but I do not know where to get a cheap one. I have an ivory handled one that is very old.
 
I think I'll bite on this one. I'll figure on putting together a kit over the next year or two. One a side note I did manage to put a shaving edge on a Mora 2/0 using some 1 micron polishing film. I'd thought that I'd rolled the edge as there was zero sensation of removing the hair from my arm. I have a DE packed away somewhere and the Mora was as sharp as that with a fresh blade.

Because I'm familiar with the technique I'm thinking of using lapping film on plate glass. I haven't been very successful honing on leather?
 
Lapping film will work and there are a few who use it. You will need to strop though to keep the edge fresh. Once you get your honing technique down, that Mora will seem dull in comparison. ;)
 
You may want to try putting a layer of painters masking tape between the glass and lapping film. Works great for a light convex edge using a rod guided system.
 
Learning to hone a straight is a long,rocky and frustrating road to follow. That is just to get a decent enough edge to give a good shave and not in the class of the pro honers but definitely good enough. When you do succeed it will bring a smile to your face. The word wedges gets a lot of play and thankfully there are very very few true wedges to deal with. Most of what people refer to as wedges are really near wedges with some small concavity to the blade and these hone relatively the same as a hollow ground. Shaving with a straight constitutes such a small percentage of people who do shave and an even smaller percentage of those who shave with a straight learn how to hone a straight. It really is an arcane hobby. If you are into that go for it.

Bob
 
carbonsteel928 said:
Lapping film will work and there are a few who use it. You will need to strop though to keep the edge fresh. Once you get your honing technique down, that Mora will seem dull in comparison. ;)
Click to expand...

Lapping Film works excellent and I would recommend that to anyone as a starting point to try and sharpen your own.

Lapping film and a flat granite slab I use more these days than all my natural sharpening stones.

The key to sharpening a straight is to make sure the bevel is set correctly on your 1K or equivalent stone. If the bevel isn't set no amount of work on finer stones will get the razor shave ready. If the bevel is set you can literally use 3 micron then 1 micron lapping film and have a very nice edge.
 
With some practice and patience, it really isn't that hard. I've been using straights for well over 15 years. I once bought a razor from a "honemeister" to see if his edge was any better, and it wasn't. So practice and don't buy into any of the "mysticism" that surrounds this. If someone recommends a certain approach or technique, always ask why. If they have a good reason, you'll hear it, otherwise, don't sweat it.

Personally, I use Norton waterstones down to 8K and then a loaded strop with Thier-Issard paste, then a plain leather strop. Works great, and I can just use the leather strop for about a month before needing to go back to sharpening. YMMV.
 
Yes same here. I got a razor honed by one of the big name guys and found it was no better than my own. In fact I ended up taking it to the hones the very first time I used it - I have an extremely sensitive area under my jawline on my neck that needs the edge to be just "so" or I get major irritation. I second the advice given above that the bevel set is very important. As said earlier - and it bears repeating, it is so important - get the job done right from the start! If you don't it won't matter what is done on the later hones, it will never shave well. The pressure must be very little in my experience after the bevel is set, on every stone right to the finisher.
 
Thanks for the advice. Right now I am starting to put together a kit. I'll check around the second hand stores, yard sales, etc.. Also, refurbishing a razor is not out of the question.
 
Sharpening a razor is a lot simpler than sharpening a knife, for the simple reason that the angle is provided by the combination of spine and edge. Get yourself a razor that is in fairly good condition, has been cleaned of rust and that has an edge that is fairly intact, by which I mean that the edge amounts to one straight line with no chunks of steel missing (oh, the specimens one finds at flea markets!). Then see to it that you have two or three sharpening stones from medium to fine or exta-fine. Then get yourself two level (flat) pieces of leather about 2x8 inches which you then coat with very-fine and very-very-fine polishing paste.

Then watch what Murray Carter has to say about sharpening a razor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTV4ph1LE3c

If you want a really smooth shave, you usually have to go a step further than Carter recommends and use leather with polishing paste (he uses newspaper and things like that, nice to look at but not as effective as things can be, as he himself says). What I have discovered, after watching Carter videos, is that using a leather strop that is suspended in mid-air, like barbers use or used, tends to round out the edge and does not achieve the finest possible level of sharpness. A piece of leather lying flat on the edge of a table and coated with very fine polishing paste will give you the finest shaving edge ever (provided the razor has already been applied to medium to very fine stones).

One other very important thing: When sharpening the razor on the stones, the only real test for sharpness is optical. Keep working on the stone until the edge, while being pushed forward across the wet stone, begins to slide under the water on the stone. When the water and slurry and mud on the stone are being moved forward by the razor'#s edge, you know the bevel of the cutting edge is in full contact with the stone, and then and only then it is time to move to a finer stone or, if you already are on the finest stone, to the leather strop. The true test of sharpness when working with the strop is to apply the razor's edge to the softer hairs on your arm. If hair suspended above your skin is being "caught" by the razor's edge, or is lopped off on first contact, then congratulations.

Have fun.

Sam
 
A couple of other things to watch out for when looking at a vintage razor is the presence of black inactive rust on or near the bevel and hairline cracks that can be hard to spot. In the case of the black inactive rust on or near the bevel, when you set the bevel the pitting under the rust may make the bevel look like Swiss cheese and you will have to remove a fair amount of metal to get to good solid steel.

Hairline cracks usually call for immediate rejection of the blade. Full hollow and extra hollow blade are extremely thin and flexible near the bevel and seem to be the most prone to these.

If you are looking at a set of hones to take a vintage razor to shave ready you could start with a Naniwa super stone 1000K for a bevel setter. Follow that with Naniwa 3000K and 8000K super stones. You should be able to shave off the 8000K but I like to use a Naniwa 12000K super stone as a finishing stone. Follow that with a few strokes on a balsa strop pasted with Crox. Any hone you get should be lapped before use to insure they are flat.

This is a pretty good tutorial using Naniwa stones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQd8lOd1yqI .

Bob
 
if you want smooth edges a coticule, if you want keen a jnat. I actually like both, no amount of paste will compare to a jnat as far as keen goes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top