Quote Originally Posted by JimmyHAD View Post
Not to belabor the point but the tech side has a certain amount of interest for me too. OTOH, I am way behind the curve in that area but it seems that IME theory isn''t a prerequisite for honing razors successfully. Still interesting though.

With my limited knowledge of sharpening anything other than pocket knives and straight razors I would think that the difference is the thickness of the bevel. Razors are a heck of a lot thinner and finer than most other tools needing sharpening. Maybe that is too simple to be correct ?

Sharpening needs to be done to suit the edge to the job. I once had to quickly install some deadbolt locks in a few doors where there was no time to get proper modifications in the steel frames for flush mounted strike plates. I mostly drilled out rectangular holes with a series of small holes and chopped the rest of the hole square and true with one of my favorite chisels. I ground the bevel more obtuse than usual for wood, but still honed it to an edge fine enough so I could actually shave the steel. Good tools are a marvelous thing.

I kinda tried somewhat the same approach when I first attempted honing a razor - not a regrind, just a hone, but it was a pretty ham-handed approach to creating a chisel's edge on a razor. And I guess I ended up with a chisel's edge on a razor 'cuz it wasn't worth doodly whoop for shaving. Athough it was a start and sharp as they are now, I wouldn't think of shaving steel with them -- but that old Stanley, tough steel.

But I digress -- never been there before