Sharpen a straight razor

sodak said:
Hence the need for a little research.

I use 2 stones and a strop, and have been shaving this way for almost 30 years. It's really not that hard. There is a lot of "mythology" (also called BS) around honing razors.

To the OP, do some reading, check out a variety of sites, google is your friend. I always wondered if my edges were good enough until I bought a couple of razors from the so-called "honemeisters", and they were not any sharper than mine. Don't be afraid to try, but do remember that it is very different from sharpening a knife. If you want more concrete suggestions, I'll be happy to give them. If you want to send your razors out to be sharpened, that's fine too. However, it's nice to be able to fix them yourself when you need to do that.
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Maintaining a SR with two hones or strops is not hard, fixing old blades that needs a bunch of work is another story. You are correct there is a lot of BS about honing out there though.
 
mainaman said:
Maintaining a SR with two hones or strops is not hard, fixing old blades that needs a bunch of work is another story. You are correct there is a lot of BS about honing out there though.
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Yeah, if there's damage to be fixed, then you'll need a lower grit and a lot of patience. A lower grit for a straight is a whole different grit than a lower grit for a knife. :D I once put a serious ding in one of my Dovos by careless handling and bumping it on - my fingernail. :D That was a pain to fix, believe it or not...
 
Central EU? One of the finest st razor makers in the world, perhaps the best of all of them, is in France and their most expensive razor is just over $400 with most of them in the $300 range. Thiers Issard is their name. Contact them online and they will point you to a person who can hone your razor. Not sure what kind you have but it kind of sounds like a kamisori type razor which does not fold up. Either way good luck.
 
Sounds like an unfortunate expensive mistake :(

However, I will gladly take it off your hands. Let me send you a postage paid box...:)

Seriously though, I am amazed at the sound advice being given here. You guys are really very great as a forum group! With eBay you should be able to ship it for far less, I have dealt in rare books for several years as a sideline, and have never once paid that much in shipping anywhere in the world and I generally carry quite a bit of insurance (max in some cases)
 
Are you talking US Dollars???
neredsenvy said:
Man this seems like a very expansive sport. 599$ for the Razor 89$ for the Brush xD 100$ for the Oils and Foam : )) almost a grand and it seems I still can shave it xD Well I had worse
purchases : ) I have no one locally that could sharpen this thing for me the blade feels pretty sharp but I'm guessing this need machine tuning or whatever : P I asked the local barber
but they use the double sided straight razor where you replace the blades.

One more thing for the trash : )
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I've been doing some experimenting with my straights since posting in this thread. Just for fun, I skipped my usual process and dug out my Spyderco ultra fine ceramic stone (a big one, 3 x 8), and used that, followed by stropping on leather. About 20 passes back and forth on the stone, 40 on the strop, and got a really smooth shave.

I greatly prefer this to waterstones, much less mess and much quicker. As always, YMMV.
 
if the bevel is set a Norton 4k 8k combo and a finisher would do it for him as long as he understands bevel set and polishing he should be able to hone it laying the spine on the stone and no pressure on the blade is a no brainer. sharp comes from the early stages, shave quality comes from the finish, I use a 1k bevel, 4k mid, 8k pre finish and the apache strata stone for final, 100 linen and 100 leather strokes and go shave. if it wont tree top arm hair 1/4 above the skin it isn't bevel set, next thing if you strop improperly or use too steep an angle while shaving you can hose the edge that was there. shave ready should only require only a wipe off of oil and shave. if he stropped it first it may have been entirely shave ready. and one thing I do agree on no one who dosent know how to hone a razor should touch it a knife shop may or may not.i have shaved with straights for over 40 yrs and never sent a razor to anyone but me for honing. had a barber friend who let me bring my razors there to sharpen and strop, said it was good for business. people liked to watch and some would get a haircut and shave while there.
 
I've used the Spyderco UF for my straight razor before also - it gives a pretty good shave. If you lap it flatter it will give an even better one but will cut a good bit slower also if you lap it super fine. My lapped UF yields an outstandingly fine finish, among the finest of any stone I've ever used - considerably finer than my Apache stone, and on par with the new "found" natural stone I posted about in MT&E a while back.
 
one of the biggest mistakes a newbie honer makes Is trying to sharpen a razor on a far too coarse grit stone, the second is trying to sharpen it as a knife.i do both equally well and there are differences between the way you go at it. never attempt to sharpen a razor with a frown or smile till you know what you are doing. a ever so slight smile or frown makes no differencein the outcome some razors shave well with a frown started. never use a coarser than 1k until you know the ropes. use a 1k,4k 8k progression and be sure to set the bevel at 1k. the sharp comes from the early stage of bevel setting. polishing at the 4k 8k up stages ,polish is commonly referred as keenness. the more polished and refined the keener the cut. make a practice of shave test using same lather prep etc before each trial. you will learn as you go overhoning = to thin an edge where it will fail quickly and underhoning where it just simply isn't shave ready. always and I mean always keep the spine on the hone with a slight pressure toward the edge edge first push away flip and pull toward edge first. the bevel is set when it will slice into a cherry tomato evenly and cleanly throughout the entire edge. the tomato is a trick I learned from doc226 on another forum.i hear to much about skill, and it isn't that much skill in as much as learning properly, I can and have taught a 10yr old to hone both knives and razors. he did hand hold the hone and used a cut glove in case of a slipup but none the less he delivered as good an edge as you would want or expect from anyone.
 
anyone sharpens their razors using sandpaper? i do my knives from 280 down to 2500 (finest available)
 
I've done some touch ups with 3M micro film (0.5 micron) backed with a piece of polished fake granite. It can definitely be done, and for just a couple razors once and a while, it would be cost effective. But the film does add up, so for an industrial sized collection, it probably wouldn't be great. given that the effect is pretty close to stones, It would work for a beginner who didn't want to invest in stones, if they were not sure straights were for them.
 
I've used the abrasive films before, they are available much finer than 2500 grit - I used 1 micron particle size paper as my finest sheet (10,000 - 12,000 grit JIS) but I believe it's available all the way to something like .1 micron - possibly even finer. Personally I prefer my stones though. To me at least, having to buy new sheets all the time is a PITA.
 
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