Thread: Some n00b questions

Hi gents! I made the switch from a Fusion 5 and canned goo to a Merkur DE and C&E Sandalwood a few weeks ago and I am getting the best shaves of my life. But it hasn’t taken me long to want even more. I want to try a straight. But I have some questions. First, when y’all mention a 5/8 razor, what is the 5/8 a measure of?

Also, when it comes to honing, I am kind of a knife/steel nut so I have some sharpening stuff already and I am wondering if it will be sufficient for a straight razor. The razor’s I have seen appear to have a convex grind—that is the cross section of the blade is shaped like the nose of a bullet. Is this true? I know a lot use whetstones to hone their blades on but I am wondering how this would be able to maintain a convex edge because the stone will not give at all. I’d think it would create a flat grind on the edge over time and not cut as well.

In order to save money and make it a little easier I’m wanting to hone my razor on my Spyderco sharpmaker with ultra fine ceramic stones. Anyone who knows what the sharpmaker is, would that be okay to use? And one more question regarding keeping the razor sharp…do you guys load up your strops with a polishing compound like chromium oxide or just use straight leather? I’m thinking a compound would help but the videos I’ve seen do not look like they use any.

So I hope what I have written makes at least some sense you y’all don’t mind helping out a newbie. Thanks ahead of time!

Welcome to SRP,

You will find a lot of info if you read the posts esp. in this section (start from the stickies).

5/8 is the width of the blade in inches.
The grind of a blade is always concave and never convex (extremely rarely may be flat).
As far as what hones you need, usually the knives are kept at much lower level of sharpness than razors, so I'm not sure if what you have is enough. You need hones in the 4000-10000 grit range and 1000 grit if you need to set a bevel fast.
Some people use strops pasted with CrO to get sharper/smoother edge, but before shaving you want to use plain leather.

Hope this helps.

Hi

I'm a knife knut too, and unfortunately the sharpening stuff you have is probably unsufficient for a razor, mine was

My strop is leather on one side, and CrO on the other and it works fine for the moment.

For more details, I'll let people that are not noob like me answer.

The Spyderco Sharpmaker won't do, but Spyderco does make some inexpensive ceramic bench hones that work very well.

The hones you use for sharpening knives are generally much too coarse unless you are restoring a damaged blade. If you purchase a blade in shave-ready condition, then the only hone you would ever really need is a yellow coticule. The quality of these varies but they are generally reported to be in the 8K range with a slurry and in the 10K range with just plain water. So, while this might be the only hone you would ever need for razors in good condition, it generally does not keep us from developing a hone acquisition disorder and getting an entire assortment.

As far as the CrO, lots of folks including myself use it after coming off of the final hone on a separate strop before going to the plain leather. I also find that I can put a fresh polish on the blade when I notice it barely pulling and it makes my edges last much longer and my shaves much more comfortable.