Thread: Sharpen a straight razor

I posted the following over at bladeforums:

I ordered a new straight razor it arrived yesterday along with the brush. The item was as described handle is steel+wood handle and the razor/blade is steel as well. The blade is a straight blade not the curved one I washed the blade and tried shaving but this thing just isn't cutting I tried every possible angle and pressure but nothing. I tried against and with the grain nothing : /

I even tried shaving some hair on the arm but it's just not cutting at all. However the blade does feel sharp to the touch when I press on it with my finger.

What I have in my disposal is a sharpening stone, sharpening file both for kitchen knifes and I have few straps of Japanese tooling leather some are regular some are vegetable treated and off course the old
military leather belt.

I tried 100 swaps on the tooling leather and the blade is just not as sharp to cut when you pull against the direction of hair growth even if I apply pretty decent pressure I don't want to hit it with a stone to ruin the blade. What are my options ?

They told me to come here. I'm a novice at all this I tried a shave with a straight razor before using my grandfathers and I loved it but after my grandfather passed however was packing up the house seems to have thrown it away. I found a very similar model on a Japanese store all steel (I did not like what you get in some barber stores wood+blade or plastic+blade it feels way to light) on this one both handle and blade are steel and pretty heavy to the touch.

I paid 599$ for the razor and then some 200$ for oils, brush and what no but did not get a strop. The razor feels very sharp to the touch but won't cut hair regardless of pressure. I was pretty disappointed that this is not shave ready.

Question: Is there anything I have or could have at my disposal that could help me sharpen this thing up, up to a point where I could use it for a shave ?

Otherwise what is my best option, (I was thinking of taking it to a local work shop that sharpens knifes for restaurants see if they can help me out) ? I'm central EU with no local honemeister to take this to, closest one I found was UK the postage makes it some 120$ for two way shipping + then some 20-70$ for sharpening, which is not that big of a problem if this is a once a year thing. But this again means sending it then waiting up to a month to get the thing back so I was thinking of possibly joust keeping this one as eye candy and buying a new one in some 80-150$ range that's shave ready but not sure which one to pick.

My geography s not good. If you go the top bar there are two menu lines. On the bottom line click community, and then from the drop down click member list, then search members, then advanced search you can search by location. If you find someone near by the send them a private message. There are ads for honing here Member Services - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

Can we see the Razor ???

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Can we see the Razor ???

I don't have the camera with me I will upload a photo tomorrow.


Very similar instead with steel & wood handle.

But it was a Hart ??

Weird, they usually send those out ready to go. Sounds like it wasn't honed completely and you may have dulled the bevel they put on it. Or they may not have completely set the bevel in the first place. Honestly I wouldn't use the sharpening files, they normally aren't more than 1-2k in grit and you are bound to roll the edge. The cheapest option sounds like a Narniwa 3k/8k or henkels combo and bite the bullet and learn. Otherwise you are still going to have to send it out 2-3x's a year unless you find a cheap barbers hone to maintain your edge every few months, or diamond or chrome are good as well

Did a quick search in the member services here. Both these guys are in Europe.

Honing in the Nordic/Northern Europe area - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

Honing services EU / Finland, handmade leather goods - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

Hope this helps

Well,

worst case scenario, I would do it out of the curiosity of testing a Hart, since a Hart is out of my budget, if you pay for port back and forth (France).

But for such a piece, you should go to a professionnal. Or, well, send it back for a check.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ead-first.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...icipation.html

Have a read at the posts above.

I wouldn't do anything with the blade until you try a couple of more shaves as you learn how to use the razor. You can always send it back to where you got it for them to have a look at it as well.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by Lynn

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ead-first.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...icipation.html

Have a read at the posts above.

I wouldn't do anything with the blade until you try a couple of more shaves as you learn how to use the razor. You can always send it back to where you got it for them to have a look at it as well.

Have fun.

I looked in the member list as RezDog suggested and what are the chances I found an active member on this forum from Slovenia (even same city as me) xD who sharpens his own straight razor he also refereed me to a SRP like site in Slovenia he offered to help me out but is very busy atm. However I did find a local workshop that makes and sharpens the swords and blades and what not they said they had done a few before, they also sharpen regular knifes and swords like katana they told me that they have equipment for fine sharpening the price is 30 euros so I decided to go with them.

Since it can be done right away and no need to ship it off. I will take it to get sharpened and post the pictures and first shave result.

On the other hand they said that depending on the type of steel if it's soft steel then sharpening it will work once or twice so there is a chance that this will be joust eye candy in the long run.

I'm trying to find a decent straight razor with replaceable blades.