Thread: It's Here! Now then, to hone or not to hone?

Originally Posted by Sirnanigans

Well, I am about an hour and a half away from Chicago. For those who don't know where Crystal Lake is, I just list Chicago.

I am hoping, perhaps in vain, to not drive so far. I have been researching local pros, but it seems like the trip is inevitable.

Sirnanigans,

I lived in Gurnee for a time not far from where you are. Currently I live in Milwaukee and you are more than welcome to visit.

Wow, lots of opinions in just one day. I suggest that you try shaving the hair on the back of your hand or your leg and if it shaves then I would just strop it and try a shave. You have nothing to lose and all to gain.

And yes the 4-8 hone and Crox on a cotton belt strop.

Some rather significant plans and events just wrapped up recently, so my attention turns back to my new razor now.

I have decided to make a minimal (and inevitable) investment which may get this razor ready on my own. I am already making a strop, and I already have some Dico Stainless Buffing Compound - the grade just below chromium oxide.

In my impatience and excitement, I have been practicing shaving my sideburns and cheeks with the blade. It's not smooth, and a touch uncomfortable if the hair gets long, but it does shave. So with the blade so close to shave ready, I think I will make a second strop with the stainless compound and strop it with that before CrO2, then finally bare leather.

My strop is complete enough to practice on and it comes quite naturally. No nicks and I don't sense a risk of any (save the inevitable foolish mistake). I feel that the strop or stropping action won't be a weak link with this approach, I am familiar with both leather working and tool stropping, so if the shave isn't smooth and comfortable after this, it's time to mail it out.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Chances are someone in this community will hear from me about honing the blade of necessary. No listed professional within an hour drive of me will sharpen a razor…

Don’t use the disco paste, while it may polish the bevel, it most probably has aggressive and irregularly sized grit that may cause chipping on the edge.
Buy some good Chrome Oxide, SRD stick and paste leather, nylon strop or a 3 x 12 in piece of foam core.

If you are really impatient, try stropping a finished edge on your leather strop. If the edge is close and it sounds like it might be, you should be able to get a shaving edge with just leather.

But, if someone like Obie is offering you, one on one tutoring… jump on that generous offer. You will learn more in one day than months of reading this forum.

Originally Posted by Sirnanigans

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Chances are someone in this community will hear from me about honing the blade of necessary. No listed professional within an hour drive of me will sharpen a razor…

Are you saying in the Chicago area there is no one available to hone your razor? Have you checked with the Senior Members of SRP in the Chicago area? Have you thought of driving up to Milwaukee to see Obie? PM him, I'm sure he would be happy to hone a razor and show you the ropes on the specifics of razor honing as opposed to too/knife honing.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Don’t use the disco paste, while it may polish the bevel, it most probably has aggressive and irregularly sized grit that may cause chipping on the edge.
Buy some good Chrome Oxide, SRD stick and paste leather, nylon strop or a 3 x 12 in piece of foam core.

If you are really impatient, try stropping a finished edge on your leather strop. If the edge is close and it sounds like it might be, you should be able to get a shaving edge with just leather.

But, if someone like Obie is offering you, one on one tutoring… jump on that generous offer. You will learn more in one day than months of reading this forum.

That's surprising to hear, that the DICO pastes might cause chips. I guess I figured that on the scale of grit that I am deal with, minor imperfections would have a negligible effect on the performance of the razor. Of course I can't say that my level of experience or knowledge of such things is enough to trust. I will look into other pastes.

The DICO Cr02 paste is something I found in other forums and is used by apparently many people. Is it only the Stainless Compound that presents a possible issue?

I did strop it for about 50 passes on the bare leather. The strop needs more breaking in (the elbow-grease type, not regular use 'breaking-in'), though. The strop to be charged with the Stainless (or better alternative) compound will be denim. I plan to have two leather/denim strops. One is bare leather and bare denim (regular use), the other is leather with 'stainless' and denim with Cr02 (honing). My sharpening experience and scientific knowledge tells me that the more aggressive grit should be used on the tougher leather surface to avoid rounding the edge, while the Cr02 ought to go on the denim because it's more forgiving.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Are you saying in the Chicago area there is no one available to hone your razor? Have you checked with the Senior Members of SRP in the Chicago area? Have you thought of driving up to Milwaukee to see Obie? PM him, I'm sure he would be happy to hone a razor and show you the ropes on the specifics of razor honing as opposed to too/knife honing.

Chicago is just outside of an hour's drive. I would rather pay postage at that point, and then I might as well just send it to anyone here in the Midwest, since I am mailing it anyway.

I would love to visit someone for hands on experience but currently my job, wallet, and car make long trips a greater expense than I am willing to pay at this moment. Perhaps in the near future when I have money to change my brakes and some free time to spare.

If you are sending it out send it to Lynn in Missouri. Might as well have an edge by the Guru himself to compare to any other edges you have.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

If you are sending it out send it to Lynn in Missouri. Might as well have an edge by the Guru himself to compare to any other edges you have.

Awesome, I am glad to have such a quality source so close by. Thanks for the reference, I don't know anybody here so I am lost as to who the masters are.

I bet I could find this on my own, but I am already here typing, so… how does the transaction work? Send with cash? Paypal? What's the most convenient method of payment in this community?

Go to Straight Razors Designs, click on honing section (I'm sure there is one). Not enough info, email them for costs, etc. They are quick responders. Paypal is the easiest, most convenient way for most people. Still a few Luddites around, but hard to identify. (I'm a partial Luddite, still like snail mail and the like, still hate cell phones.).