Thread: new to SRP, have 10 successful shaves.

My name is Adam. I picked up a pair of straights at an antique shop a couple years ago. After starting a remodel of a room in my house, I found one of them. It's a M&G Toledo blade made of radium steel. I broke some cardinal rules as to sharpening, but I have gotten 10 shaves out of it, and only dressed the edge twice. I freehand it on a belt sharpener the belt I use is an "X4" which is P3000 equivalent at 10sfpm speed. I will try to get some pics up soon.

Originally Posted by 67Exec

My name is Adam. I picked up a pair of straights at an antique shop a couple years ago. After starting a remodel of a room in my house, I found one of them. It's a M&G Toledo blade made of radium steel. I broke some cardinal rules as to sharpening, but I have gotten 10 shaves out of it, and only dressed the edge twice. I freehand it on a belt sharpener the belt I use is an "X4" which is P3000 equivalent at 10sfpm speed. I will try to get some pics up soon.

Well if it's working for you I suppose, i don't know much about the machine you used, but if it caused the blade to get too hot it may not have done it much good, also a 3 edge is pretty coarse for a razor.
Sorry I should have started with a welcome, welcome to the forum

Welcome to SRP!

Well that is one way to set a bevel. Either have it professional honed or hone it yourself up to a 12k level and your shaving experience will be even better.

Welcome that's crazy dude I've never heard of anyone honing that way but if it works it works. Many roads get to the same place.

Originally Posted by 67Exec

My name is Adam. I picked up a pair of straights at an antique shop a couple years ago. After starting a remodel of a room in my house, I found one of them. It's a M&G Toledo blade made of radium steel. I broke some cardinal rules as to sharpening, but I have gotten 10 shaves out of it, and only dressed the edge twice. I freehand it on a belt sharpener the belt I use is an "X4" which is P3000 equivalent at 10sfpm speed. I will try to get some pics up soon.

WOW!!!!

Originally Posted by engine46

WOW!!!!

LOL, I knew that I would get one of those. I built a denim strop last night, that should get me by until a leather gets here. the edge isn't probably as refined as it could be, but it glides effortlessly across the edge of my thumbnail with no catches. The sharpener is the ken onion edition by work sharp that I use on all of my knives, made or purchased. Anyways, here are some pics.

Welcome to the forum. Using a belt sander ala knife sharpening is not too common a practice in honing a straight. If it works for you what can I say. Nice looking razor for sure.

Bob

Welcome to SRP! Nice razor. BTW Ken Onion makes some of the best knives. I'm not sure but he might make the Zero Tolerance knives which is what I carry on me at all times.If it was his sharpener, it might not be really bad but like BobH said, it isn't very common to use that method to sharpen a straight but if you got ten shaves out of it, you did a good job sharpening it. Best to invest in some hones & learn how to use them plus a strop unless you already have one, I can't remember but knowing how to strop is very important. Look in the Library on how to strop & how to hone. Oh, you will need a good lapping plate also. Even new hones need to be lapped flat. You'll be ok. Just learn the do's & don'ts on here, it isn't that hard,just getting it down can take some time but you sound like you will be able to get it down right. You have done better than others who have used belt sanders on here but you were able to get ten shaves in so you didn't do bad really. You now what to do now, just follow the instruction on hw to get it sharp the right way & you will be good to go.

Hi and welcome. The best suggestion I could give is to get your razor pro honed. Once you know how it should be you know what to aim for when doing it yourself. You could be robbing yourself of the experience and not knowing it. Good luck

I also have a 12000 micro mesh belt, that I had totally forgotten about. All of the abrasives for my sharpener are made by Norton.