Thread: Sharpening

New guy here. How's everyone? I have a straight razor, it is a Hoffritz. Quite old. I got it at a junk shop and it was locked up due to rust. I cleaned it well and put it up for about 5 years. It had a lot of chips in the blade and a good bit of pitting on the edge. About 3 months ago I cut the edge of with my Dremmel and re-ground the edge. Diamond stones and Arkansas stones (fine) I have a makeshift strop (leather strip tacked to block of black walnut imbedded with polishing compound) This thing is SHARP! I have shaved quite a few times with it. How many times would you recommend hitting the stone. I strop after each time I shave, but I am uncertain of the frequency to "sharpen" on the stone. As a side note I have shaved with this and it rolled the hair right off. And I have shaved with this and felt it tugging at the hair. I know that is indicative of needing resharpening. So how often? Let me know. Thanks.

wow, i must say, you have some gusto for cutting the edge off, that would scare me spitless, lets see some pic of it! as for the topic at hand, you whouldn't have to rehone a razor but maybe once every three months or so just to refresh, but what grit diamond stones are you using? and i'm not sure if the 'fine' arkansas stone is fine enoubh grit for final polishing of a razor. How is your face after a shave?

Aha

Your stone is relly not optimal, according to general consensus. I remember Michael Parker was doing this for a while testing and moved on. You *could* do it, but you could also do much better.

Since this stone is very slow, iirc - you may need hundreds of passes on it to get a good edge (depending on there you start)

As for maintenance - some people do not sharpen for months, maybe even a year. I have only done months w/o honing. Others find they need to refresh every 7 or so shaves. Depends on your edge, whiskers, technique, etc.

Cheers
Ivo

My rule of thumb for sharpening is when stropping no longer gives me a good shave I hit my pasted strop for 20 laps, restrop, and try again. If it's still not giving a good shave then it's time to hit the hones.

Thanks guys for getting back to me. First off; yes cutting the edge was a hard decision. I could let it set on display or make it shave worthy and use it. The stone in question is quite slick. With hardly any grit to it.I have India, diamond and Arkansas stones. I have a wide assortment of Arkansas stones. The diamond and India stones don't get used on the Razor AT ALL! They are for pocket knives and the like. I actually used the diamond for setting my edge after cutting it off. Now how about the stropping technique? Flat against the spine or at an angle? Do tell, I need to know.

As a side note my face feels great after shaving when the razors sharp. I have coarse hair and the upper lip feels the tug the most when shaving. The cheeks and neck are quite easy, but the chin is a pain and is made worse by a dull blade. My hair is kind of patchy (think mange), but what is there is coarse.

Welcome to SRP. The spine and edge are flat when stropping. The spine determines the angle. If you get a razor really shave ready you won't have that pulling on the mustache and chin. Check out the help files in the tool bar up at the top of the page. A lot of good info there.

Try playing around with the angle of your blade on your face. Too much angle can cause pulling, too little and you will miss hairs. The cheeks and neck are easiest for me, and the chin and upper lip the most difficult also. I have to take my time with those areas. I'm getting quicker, but it still takes me a while. My wife was making fun of me yesterday for how long it took to get ready.

Also, try stropping right before you use the blade, not after. I was reading a post here the other day that suggested stropping removes small amounts of corrosion. Spend some time reading the how-to's in the honing and stropping forums.
J.

Originally Posted by Detach

...i'm not sure if the 'fine' arkansas stone is fine enoubh grit for final polishing of a razor. How is your face after a shave?

The Arkansas stone I have is much finer than the 12k Chinese I have. It takes FOREVER to get anywhere with it though.