how do i sharpen my straight razor?

Well, if the edge is beyond stroping, you'll have to use a stone. Sharpen at around a 17 degree angle. Many straight razors were set up so you could just set the blade on the stone, and stroke away.
 
They sell razor stones, you can find them on Ebay quite often. If you get caught in a pinch, and don't have one, a standard(India, hard Arkansas, surgical black) should work fine.
 
Honestly, I don't know of any good modern razor hones, most are repackaged standard sharpening stones. A good old one on Ebay in a non-collectable brand should run $15-30.
 
do you know the motion that i move the blade across the stone do i move it in a slicing motion or a scraping motion
 
Straight across, slicing motion, keeping very light* pressure on the back of the blade to steady it.

* Very, very, very light- you don't want to crack the blade.
 
Contact redtrader99 on ebay for new/old stock hones. Always lay the razor flat on the hone, using the spine to set the correct sharpening angle. Use an X sharpening stroke, edge leading. Join thestraightrazorplace for all information that you will need to hone, strop, shave with a straight.
Mike Morris
 
http://www.classicshaving.com/articles/article/590351/4057.htm
They also carry strops, diamond paste, Norton waterstones etc.
I've heard that Dovo uses Belgian brecca and coticule stones (blue is about 4k grit and champagne are about 8k-10k grit)... these are fine garnets in schist and, while traditional, are not as consistant as Japanese or ceramic water stones. There was a really good US artificial razor hone but the lady that made them in the early 1900's, died and nobody has been able to recreate them since (don't remember the brand or dates or you might be able to find one on e-bay or an antique store)

You'd probably want to finish on 8k or finer before stropping. If your blade is damaged, you might want to send it in to be honed (classic shaving has a honing service). Otherwise there are some nice stones here:
http://www.hidatool.com/woodpage/stones.html (heard good things about the Naniwa lobster stones, though haven't tried them)
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/dept.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&dept_id=12341
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/...en=CTGY&Store_Code=toolshop&Category_Code=THW
(they have Belgian stones if you want to try them and a decent 1k,4k,10k Ice Bear kit and micro fine polishing film too)
http://www.getsharper.com/ (I've got one of their 15k pro series I really like for tweaking xacto knife blades)

A super fine DMT or ez-lap diamond plate can keep those fine finishing stones flat for you (these are about 1,200 grit so too coarse for razor honing), though I don't think you'd dish out one of those polishing stones anytime soon (more of a problem with plane blades and chisels).
 
You mean like pyramid power / feng shui type crystals? Nope, not by magic rays or anything... people into crystal power seem to forget that most of the world around them is crystal... salt, sugar, sidewalks, even steel (as well as the aluminum or chrome oxide in sharpening stones or the garnets in Belgian stones, arkansas stones are novaculite, which like opal is made of quartz). If you mean some sort of big crystal thing you can hone on, then yes, but I've never heard of anyone sharpening things on the corner of a single crystal.
 
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