Sharpen a straight razor?

M

mdole

Joined
Dec 13, 2009
Messages
237
I have a Beau Brummel straight razor that I bought at an antique store because I find it cool...and now I want to shave with it! It has a very thin edge, but it's not sharp, certainly not shaving sharp! How do I get it to where it needs to be? I do most of my sharpening on a paper wheels system, but before I apply my straight to it, I wanted to hear some feedback! Help! Thanks in advance!

-Matt-
 
Most people use a progression of hones from around 1000 grit up through at least 8000. Most go to 12000 or higher.

Personally I use a belgium coticule. Can you post a picture of the straight?
 
Took me awhile, and these pics were taken with my camera phone so I apologize in advance for the crappy quality! Here goes!

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It does have a tang stamp that says soligen, and carbon, but it's very faint and impossible to capture with my camera. Thanks again for your time and input!
P.S.- Does a polishing paper wheel have a high enough grit to sharpen a straight razor? Would it get it sharp enough to finish the job with a strop? Thanks again!

-Matt-
 
I have no idea, I have never used a paper wheel system.

I will say that I think the blade of a hollow ground straight razor is too fragile to be succesfully sharpened using a wheel system. The blade will flex, and you would have a hard time getting a consistent bevel. I also think you could run the risk of cracking the blade. I really don't have any experience with using paper wheels though, so I don't know.

I will hone it for you for free if you want to send it to me and pay return shipping. That will get you started and if you get a barber hone, a chinese 12k, or make a balsa strop with some .5 micron Chromium Oxide or diamond spray then you should be able to keep it shave ready for a good long while. At least long enough to know if you are going to like using a straight or not.
 
I'm not sure you could properly hone a straight razor on a paper wheel. When honing a razor, you lay it flat on your sharpening stone, using the spine of the blade as your honing guide. It is not sharpened by lifting the spine off the stone, as you would with a knife.
 
i have put a shaving edge on a razor with the wheels before but i forgot what rouge i used other than the white that comes with the wheels. if you look down on the edge as if you were going to cut your nose in half, see if you can see the edge shine like you would with a butter knife. if there is a shine then that is a dull spot or a burr. give the slotted wheel a try and see what happens.

i have 2 razors that were sent to me for repair due to chips. i have to make an adapter to put a smaller wheel on my belt sander so i can thin the edge out more since i had to take the edge back to get rid of the chips.

matt, i would take kg up on his offer if you dont have any luck.
 
Kg4ghn, that is an extremely generous offer! PM sent! Thank you!

-Matt-
 
Use stones. Put the blade on the stone so that it is flat, and so that the heel is touching the stone. Begin your pass, keeping the blade flat so that all points along the edge are still touching the stone, and pull sideways so that you begin sharpening toward the tip. This will ensure that in case you might have some unevenness in your stone or blade, the complete edge will be sharpened.

For "reprofiling" my edge, I used a DMT F stone (~600 grit.) Then I moved onto DMT EF (1000) and then finished on Spyderco UF (8000.) The jump from 1000 to 8000 was pretty big, so if you have similar stones, you might like to add something between.
 
Thanks THG, I'm looking into buying a barber's hone, and then using it to sharpen up a razor I just bought on the 'bay. Out of curiosity, how hard would it be to remove a section of razor if it were too badly chipped? Here's a pic of what I'm dealing with...
MattDolerazor.png

Thanks guys!

-Matt-
 
THG, Those Spyderco UF stones are only 2000 grit unless your thinking of the Japanese equivalent and the EF diamond DMT are 1200 grit. Mdole, thats a nice looking razor (first photo) and your second one could be shaped up easily on a stone . Just go easy and take your time. DM
 
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David, do you think the second (chipped) razor would be better shaped by cutting it down with a hacksaw, or grinding it down with a bench grinder stone? I'm worried about the heat treat with the grinder, but I'll have to de-bur it (probably with a dremel) if I use the saw. What do you think? Thanks again!

-Matt-
 
mdole said:
David, do you think the second (chipped) razor would be better shaped by cutting it down with a hacksaw, or grinding it down with a bench grinder stone? I'm worried about the heat treat with the grinder, but I'll have to de-bur it (probably with a dremel) if I use the saw. What do you think? Thanks again!

-Matt-
Click to expand...

Personally, I'd use a cut-off wheel on a dremel to just slice the chipped section off. So long as you let the spinning disc do the work with no added pressure, don't have it on for more than 2 or 3 seconds at a time and make sure to check the temperature with your finger between passes, it shouldn't heat up enough to do anything to the temper. Also, I'd cut from spine to edge as you're less likely to cause further chips that way.
 
Thanks Killa, I'll look into a cut off wheel, and the spine to edge method makes a lot of sense to me...I'll try to snap some pics of the WIP just for fun!

Thanks,

-Matt-
 
Concepts, tips are sound. But I think more of the end could be salvaged and I would not use a grinder. DM
 
mdole said:
Thanks THG, I'm looking into buying a barber's hone, and then using it to sharpen up a razor I just bought on the 'bay. Out of curiosity, how hard would it be to remove a section of razor if it were too badly chipped? Here's a pic of what I'm dealing with...
Click to expand...

I would use some kind of power tool, as others have said, and try to keep the blade cool. I don't claim to be an expert in this field, though.

I would also practice on a cheap razor before sharpening my good one. It does take a little while to get used to the motion of sharpening a razor evenly. Also use sharpie marker to see where you're grinding on the blade.

David Martin said:
THG, Those Spyderco UF stones are only 2000 grit unless your thinking of the Japanese equivalent and the EF diamond DMT are 1200 grit.
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Hmm... You could be right. I do remember hearing that Spyderco UF is 8000, though, but I can't remember where. I think it was someone on the Spyderco forum that said that it was 3µ particle size? I'm pretty sure that they're finer than 2000 grit, though, since it's definitely finer than my 2000 grit sandpaper. That handy old grit chart that went around a while ago does seem to say that Spyderco UF is around "2000" used for water stones. Although in micron size, it says that DMT EF is 9µ and Spyderco UF is 7µ, which sounds too close to be true... So now I'm confused as to what to call it... lol

And yes, I did call the DMT EF 1000 grit when I should have said 1200; I have a bad habit of rounding that one down, for some reason.
 
I should'nt have said anything---as we get too nit picky here. I know you know the grits or where to find them. DM
 
David Martin said:
I should'nt have said anything---as we get too nit picky here. I know you know the grits or where to find them. DM
Click to expand...

No, no, don't take my word for it. I could very well be wrong. All I have is this chart that someone printed up a couple years ago, but I have heard more than one person say that there are a couple things on it that don't seem right.

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If someone could provide the correct numbers, I'd like to know them.
 
The Arkansas's look close (within one micron of other charts), the diamond look good, for the Spyderco med. & fine ceramic try looking at another chart. Heck, it takes looking at 2-3 charts printing them out, visiting their sites and making some notes . Then you'll end up with something that most agree on. Thanks, DM
 
soory but i have never seen a powersharpened razor that would shave nicley (not even the placethat puts the factory edge one and you woudl think sharpening that many blades the guy at the wheel would get good at it :)

the spyderco UF acts much much higher grit the the rated 2000 as such i dont even use mine any more a bit of sueaching fines most ppl say that once broken in its more like a 8-12k grit but cuts slower

a good and mostly complete setup would be a norton 4/8 combo hone and a 12k china hone
i jsut made myself a new leather bench strop loaded with crmox and thats really making the hairs pop (last nights shave with my cpm154 razor was the best i can remember and ive been using it for testing nearly a year )

one thing that you will find is the different steels and HTs liike different combos of hones to max them out (i am testing so that my 2 pet razors steels are getting the best edge i can put on one )
 
yeah, I tried the paper wheels on a cheapie to try to knock out some chips that were in the blade...yeah I made it WORSE! :eek: What I did find was that my little tri-hone plus a barber's hone got the blade almost shave ready, and with a trip to the strop I'll be ready to roll! Thanks guys for your help!

-Matt-
 
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