Thread: Hone and Pinning questions

Since you mentioned Ken Rupp I assume you are in the San Antonio area. He is a mentor and I would rely on his advice and judgement. He will not steer you wrong. Major advice is to go a step at a time. Pro honed and self maintained with a strop. Good stropping delays having to re hone. And honing a razor is a separate and precise skill set beat learned after you get all the early steps of shaving down - a year at least. I liken it to the Tortoise and Hare race. The Hare moves so fast he overshoot the finish line and finds himself in limbo, confused as all hell. The Tortoise moved slowly, discovering all the twists and turns involved to get to the finish line and discovers he can repeat all the steps successfully.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Since you mentioned Ken Rupp I assume you are in the San Antonio area. He is a mentor and I would rely on his advice and judgement. He will not steer you wrong. Major advice is to go a step at a time. Pro honed and self maintained with a strop. .

Yes what can I say "Go Spurs Go".

Naniwa are great honing stones. I own Naniwa, Norton, Shapton & I have a Coticule with a slurry. I also own the gray/green stone with slurry (can't think of the name right now). I also have an 8" Franz Swaty barber stone which is rare for an 8" one. These are all good stones but you would basically want a Coticule for a really good finishing stone although I do have a 10k Naniwa & a 16k Shapton. I'm not done yet, there are a couple more I want to get. I take it you found the pinning in the Library. For those that don't know where to go, look here:
Un-pinning and re-pinning a razor - Straight Razor Place Library
If anyone wants to watch video's on honing go here:
Honing videos - Straight Razor Place Library
For stropping you need a good strop. One of the best strops you can buy for an affordable price is a Tony Miller strop. He hand makes his strops & Lynn talks nothing but good about them. A good strop is your final sharpening procedure that you need to do in order to have a good sharp blade. It is a must & you can't skip that step. You can buy cheaper srops than a Tony Miller but you get what you pay for & if you buy a Tony Miller you are buying quality. There are also some other quality strops out there as well. It is easy to cut your strop by accident so you might want to practice with a popsicle stick at first until you are comfortable. Just take your time at first. There are stropping instructionals on here as well. The strop I use I bought from Straight Razor Designs, the forum store. I have a large Mastro Livi loom strop because I'm right handed & I don't have a collarbone in my left shoulder at all due to a motorcycle accident yrs ago. I was using a conventional strop but I realized that I was loosening up on the strop with my left hand unintentionally & my razors weren't getting sharp enough, I was having problems but a loom strop is pre tightened which I like a lot. It works great for me so if any of you have a problem of not keeping the strop taut as it should be then a loom strop is the way to go. Mine has a 25" working area & I love it.One bad pass on a trop can affect your blade like if you lift up on the spine by accident, you can curl the end of he blade up & it will not be sharp anymore. I just read an article about that awhile ago. Stropping is very important in the final step of sharpening your straight razor & like I said, one wrong move can screw it up & you would have to hone it over again 99% of the time. It isn't hard to strop at all, but it is very important. That is why I talk so much about it. You will also read that you can use a sharpening past on a strop that has 2 parts to it. One side will have a fabric & the other, leather. You can use a paste or spray to add to one for ext a sharpening but it isn't necessary as in the old days, they never had those things but in these modern days, it is up to you whether you want to try some out or not. if you are stropping correctly but don't get the edge you're looking for then you can experiment with the different pastes & sprays. You can get chromium oxide paste or diamond paste, whichever you want. You have that option but to keep it simply for now just try w/o it. You can always try it later to see if it is what you want. Lynn has videos about using pastes on strops. Like I said, just start out with the basics for now so you don't get confused thinking you have to have it because it is only an option..I hope this helps out & feel free to ask questions anytime.Good luck & have fun!

Engine46 wow what a bunch of wonderful stones. Impressive !
Thank all of you guys for taking time to help me out. I just can't say Thanks enough.

I'm on an old Iphone and still figuring tap talk out. No I hadn't found the library yet. So I really appreciate the link. You guys really are the greatest.

I've spent my time trying to figure out restoration. I've watched a few shave videos. But I just haven't thought much about stroping.

I have a little Chinese Ren-Ren strop. I got in lot purchase not long ago. It has a rough swede leather side and the other side is maybe reconstituted leather ( looks like leather cork). I'm guessing this is not what we are talking about.


My blade is 3" wide this want to be strop is right at 2".

Normally you won't be stropping straight up and down but doing 'x' strokes. In general the width of the strop is immaterial. The quality of the strop is paramount. Good 2-1/2, 2-3/4 and 3 inch strops at a reasonable price are available from a number of reputable vendors, many of whom are SRP members in the vendor section. Check their threads and then you can make an informed decision and add to your knowledge of shaving.

More newby questions: I'm trying to rescale this razor. The scale-wedge was less than 1/16".
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I kinda like the look of a 1/8 " wedge. Does it matter? [

The width matters because the wider the wedge the deeper the blade will set into the scales. Just be careful the blade does not go through.
I like the look of the thinner wedge myself.

Originally Posted by Chevhead

The width matters because the wider the wedge the deeper the blade will set into the scales. Just be careful the blade does not go through.
I like the look of the thinner wedge myself.

Thank it seems like more blade in the scales had be better.

Is it the blade smashed against the scales that make it tight?
My blade is too lose...

I think this link will be very helpful!!

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html



Howard

Originally Posted by SirStropalot

I think this link will be very helpful!!

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html



Howard

Wow thanks lol I have actually read some of these threads, but never have I seen so much and it appears to be very organized...

Thanks Howard