Thread: My old straight razor will not shaprpen

I have done my research before getting everything I needed for a straight razor. I have a strop and a stone. I got my straight razor from an antique mall. I it is hollow ground and carbon steel. It has pitting but not on the edge of the blade. I have spend hours trying to hone the thing and strop it, but it won't get sharp enough. I was told the trick is to be able to cut a hair and I even tried it on my face, but it skipps (I do try to shave at the 30 degree angle). I am using a figure 8 or X pattern when honing and stropping and I go away from the blade when stropping and towards the blade when honing.I am pretty gentle, trying to let the blade slide with te weight of the blade and it makes that "shing" sound. I rubbed my thumb accross and i cannot feel any imperfections and it peirces the skin pretty easily, I think anyway, but I have not had experience with a shaep blade to tell.This id frustrating

Welcome, and I commend you on trying to hone yourself! You may be using too low a grit or may have a double bevel..

To better help we will need more info, what hones are you using and do you know the grit? What kind of razor do you have? is there uneven hone wear? Im not a honemiester but feel free to PM me.

I agree with the frustration part. Be careful not to over hone.

I understand the frustration!

Short answer, get back to us with info on your hones and the razor.

Trying to restore the edge on an old razor is a bit of work.

Antiques often require you to reset the edge bevel using a fairly low grit hone.

What kind of hone are you using?

Originally Posted by shadowfarside

I have done my research before getting everything I needed for a straight razor. I have a strop and a stone. I got my straight razor from an antique mall. I it is hollow ground and carbon steel. It has pitting but not on the edge of the blade. I have spend hours trying to hone the thing and strop it, but it won't get sharp enough. I was told the trick is to be able to cut a hair and I even tried it on my face, but it skipps (I do try to shave at the 30 degree angle). I am using a figure 8 or X pattern when honing and stropping and I go away from the blade when stropping and towards the blade when honing.I am pretty gentle, trying to let the blade slide with te weight of the blade and it makes that "shing" sound. I rubbed my thumb accross and i cannot feel any imperfections and it peirces the skin pretty easily, I think anyway, but I have not had experience with a shaep blade to tell.This id frustrating

Wow, attempting to learn both honing and shaving at the same time!

Sorry guy - It would be doubly frustrating to learn how to shave and hone at the same time, because it's just as hard to shave as it is to hone when first starting. Your razor may be as sharp as it needs to be and your technique & beard prep need much work, or it may be as you say that the blade is the problem. Or more likely it is both.

It would probably help to have another sharp blade to compare yours to and learn to shave with, but with practice you should be able to do it on your own. Be careful not to expect too much at first though

You can read all the manuals and resource material in the world but the only way to learn to shave and hone is to actually do it. Once you have some experience under your belt then all the stuff you read starts to make sense and can help you tweak your techniques.

In general trying to learn shaving and honing at the same time is not a good thing. However as the others have said tell us more about your razor and pictures will help even more and we'll see if we can't get you on the right road to successful shaving.

Cutting hanging hair is childs play. You don't even rate a reputation around here until you can make a razor sharp enough to shave and smooth enough to produce a good shave at the same time.

I suggest you get your razor professionally honed. A beginner has no business doing anything more than updating a blade dulled by shaving. Setting a bevel is complicated and requires geometric analysis of the spine and a car loan deposit invested in hones (or atleast enough money to buy some serious rocks).

After that you've still got lots of challenges to keep you interested. Shaving at the proper angle and stropping for a perfect edge are great endeavors that should last you months. On top of that you'll be dulling that pro blade and updating it is easy/peasy stuff for any beginner.

Soon, with a small nudge of help from a pro, you'll be easily getting the best shaves of your life. Hang in there and keep working on it.

It took me years to understand the complexities of it all and you know what, it was fun every single minute of the ride.

Big times 2 to Alan

I am using a "Colonel Ichabod Conk Straight Razor Sharpening Stone" and a "Zeepk Straight Razor Profesional Leather Strop". The blade says "The Cranford" on it, it is hollow ground, and it is carbon steel. The origianl scale was old and snapped when I got it, so I learned how to make a scale, carved it and pinned it. It's not the best job, but it works. I am still working on my teqhnique, I suppose I need to be more patient with it. Like I said, I try to go even with the balde in a figure 8 pattern, but I am possibly just going too fast. I wet the stone pretty well, but when sharpening, it will usually hear a scraping sound which I think may be my problem, but I thouguh was just natural with the spine of the blade dragging. I have watched quite a few videos on honing on youtube and I am still trying to perfect my style, but if that is all it is, then I will keep working at it. I have seen honing done without the figure 8 pattern and with it. The instructions that came wit the stone don't say to use the figure 8 pattern. Would it be better not to?

As for prep, I bought a bager hair brush, some handmade soap that contains all natural glycerine, bentonite clay for slip, castor oil (additional moisture), all natural colorant, and all natural essential oils and/or fragrance oils. I took a sower beforehand, I stretched the skin, and I shaved only the side of my face with a thirty degree angle. It was able to cut but it sounded and felt like I was sanding my face. Did I mention I grow a full beard in a week? Yeah, that's why I want to learn to hone.

I really do not respect the comment making this such a far off adventure, such comments make me feel excuded and give me the feel of an incusivistic forum. I don't want to make this into a technical scope beyond my reach, I just want to learn as I go. I am a poor college student just making it by. I want to be able to hone on my own. I am sorry i am not as good nor experianced as any of you, but I will try till I get it right.

Thank all of you for the concern and advice. I appreciate your help down this road.