Thread: Newbie Intro

Well, after lurking here on and off for many weeks, I've finally decided to join. My interest is in straight razor shaving is based in returning to the old ways of doing things, a masculine ritual of by-gone days. I remember my dad using a brush and cream with a DE, the skill needed for a proper shave. I don't have any probles with the cartridge shave I get now, but it is pretty expensive, and it has no romance. I am also interested in fine-edged kitchen knives, well---- because I am a classically trained chef!

So I have yet to make any purchases, but will in the coming weeks. My first question, though, surrounds honing of straight razors. I already have a 1k, and 5k, Shapton Pro stones, and a 8/12k Kitayam polishing stone. Can I use these on razors AND my knives, or do they need to be kept separate. I keep them very flat, lapping on a polished marble with wet/dry paper.

The other question I have on honing is, do you really keep the spine on the stone when honing? It seems that be abrading away too much metal, yet it would be almost impossible to keep the spine off the stone and maintain a very tight tolerance for honing the edge properly.

Well that is enough for my first post, I look forward to hearing other's opinions.

I'm a newbie myself but slowly learning. From what you describe your 5k stone and the 8k/12k should be all you need for str8 razors.

Regarding keeping the spine on the hones, definitely yes. From what I am learning, there is as little pressure as you can manage on a razor when honing so wear will be negligible for quite some time. An alternative is to use a piece of electrical tape to cover the spine. Usually only done when trying to protect engraving and so on.

I'm starting to get the impression that extensive knife sharpening experience might actually be an impediment to razor sharpening. Others, more experienced than I, hopefully will address that topic as well as your original question regarding stones.

Welcome to the clan and good luck.

Hey there !!

I use the same stones at the moment, but I use them for razors right after flatening. My Hiromoto AS knives take the flat right out of the stones SO frigging fast

Electrical tape is reccomended when working on some razors, also on coarser stones. I use it on the 1200 king but not the 4k/8k norton. If you have a flattened spine from excessive honing I would tape it just to avoid further wear.

Honeing a razor is a different world from kitchen knives but the fundamentals of the edge are the same. Knowing how the stone works the edge is a huge help when starting out on razors. Took me about a month to really get razor honeing down, than getting a pasted strop was icing on the cake

Good to see ya here

Hey DC,

Since I lap my stones before any sharpening, they are always very flat. I am going to guess that honing a razor will require a very very light touch. The edge is far thinner than any knife I am sure, and since its such a specialized tool, its wear pattern is going to be far different.

So tape the spine... won't that leave a residue on the stone? And yes I realize that I need to get some 1.0 & .5 CrO2 on a paddle for finalizing an edge. I don't bother with the kitchen knives because I think its overkill.

Welcome. I am quite new myself, but I am interested in some quality knives for the kitchen as well. So many choices out there, hard to decide. Cool to have another aboard learning the art.

Thanks guys. So my next question is, how does one decide on style of razor? What size and what kind of point?

Or is it just tial and error, until you find the razor that fits you?

Honing a razor is about as personal as selecting a razor. with most newbies it is suggested to start with a round tip, 5/8 or 6/8 razor. In my own opinion I would suggest a more hollow grind (easier to hone). Remember, these are suggestions, Yes you will have to learn, Then you might figure out what you like. Look in the library, and read some of the post. You will not only need a razor, but at least a brush, soap and a strop. My suggestion is that you can find all of that here, buy it here. These are all folks who know straight Razors. Go slow and be patient, there's a learning curve. Sorry for the long post, to much coffee.

Phil