The razor I've been using for a month needed some touchup. So decided to hit the stones and just do a relatively quick sharpening. The total time start to finish was about 30 minutes including taking photos of the edge as thought others might find them of interest. The photomicrographs are taken with a digital microscope that cost about $35 on the big river, which is plugged into a laptop. This cheap digital microscope is very helpful in checking the whole edge for areas needing work. Anyway, this sharpening was more of a just put on a new edge and get it done rather than going for the ultimate, perfect polished edge, which takes me about an hour. The razor is a no name old German razor from ebay purchased for under $20. It takes a wonderful edge.
First stop is a Dan's Hard Arkansas using mineral oil for about 25 passes. The key thing I look for is an absolutely straight edge at the apex. Once that line is perfectly straight for the length of the blade, then it is time to go to the next step.
The next stone was a Dan's Translucent for about 25 passes. If I would have spent more time on this stone, there would be less time on the strop, but was trying to move things along pretty quickly today.
The next step was about 50 passes on a Tony Miller horsehide strop to which is added a light mist of 0.25 micron diamond spray from Ted Pella.
The final step is a plain Tony Miller smooth horsehide for about 25 more passes. The edge now easily tree tops arm and chest hair about 1/2" above the skin, which is my check on whether it is ready to shave. Is it a perfect edge? No, and I can produce a perfectly polished edge, but that takes an hour or more to really remove all of the scratch marks. My face realistically cannot tell a difference. This edge is easily maintained on the strops for weeks as long as I pay attention and have some coffee before stropping.
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In this progression, spending some more time on the translucent Ark would have reduced the stropping time, but it knocked out a very nice edge quickly. So, two stones, two strops, and it is done. I have lots of different slates, coticules, and a nice set of water stones, but the Arks with mineral oil really are my go to stone choice for the razors.
Anyway, using these low cost digital microscopes for sharpening razors is very helpful and informative and they are very helpful for knives too.
First stop is a Dan's Hard Arkansas using mineral oil for about 25 passes. The key thing I look for is an absolutely straight edge at the apex. Once that line is perfectly straight for the length of the blade, then it is time to go to the next step.
The next stone was a Dan's Translucent for about 25 passes. If I would have spent more time on this stone, there would be less time on the strop, but was trying to move things along pretty quickly today.
The next step was about 50 passes on a Tony Miller horsehide strop to which is added a light mist of 0.25 micron diamond spray from Ted Pella.
The final step is a plain Tony Miller smooth horsehide for about 25 more passes. The edge now easily tree tops arm and chest hair about 1/2" above the skin, which is my check on whether it is ready to shave. Is it a perfect edge? No, and I can produce a perfectly polished edge, but that takes an hour or more to really remove all of the scratch marks. My face realistically cannot tell a difference. This edge is easily maintained on the strops for weeks as long as I pay attention and have some coffee before stropping.
.In this progression, spending some more time on the translucent Ark would have reduced the stropping time, but it knocked out a very nice edge quickly. So, two stones, two strops, and it is done. I have lots of different slates, coticules, and a nice set of water stones, but the Arks with mineral oil really are my go to stone choice for the razors.
Anyway, using these low cost digital microscopes for sharpening razors is very helpful and informative and they are very helpful for knives too.
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