Thread: Question about the sharpening of my razor

I was looking around for someone to sharpen my brand new straight razor, and found this guy at a knife shop who said on the phone he could do it. The guy didn't seem too knowledgeable about straight razors when i arrived. He then proceeded to put the blade on this electric saw-mill type thing and ground it in about 20 seconds and passed it to me.

From what i researched sharpening entailed using a honing stone and was slowly done.

The blade feels really sharp though, but it didn't pass the hanging hair test. And he might have took half a millimeter off the blade.

Opinions on this?

I hate to be honest but this sounds like a horrible and wrong approach.
For starters grinding a blade like that heats up the edge and changes the structure of the steel. Secondly it's imprecise. A millimeter is WAY too much metal off of the edge and fine point like the bevel are probably totally off now. Secondly it does take a razor hone and some skill to do this. If it was easy the honemeisters would charge way less than 20 bucks and there would be a lot less posts in the honing forum from people trying to learn than there are now.
Your blade may be damaged now. I would suggest sending it to Lynn or one of the other experts in the classified section and having them professionally assess and sharpen your blade.

your are going to get a lot of feedback on this one. do not feel bad if all are telling you it was a really bad idea. it sounds like you are new and i can honestly say that before i found this place i would have done the same thing.

now, i would strongly recommend not trying to shave with that razor as it will wbe very seraded(i don't know how to spell this but basicly jagged) and not nearly sharp enough to truly straight shave. i would send it out to a honemeister to be honed, if you are lucky he may have set a bevel for you (albeit the hard way ) but i'm sure they could get it shave ready. the honemeisters on here are very well recommended.

i know how it is getting a razor and wanting to get started shaving and having to wait for it to be honed. but in the end it pays to wait for the honing work.

for interest sake, what kind of razor is it, do you have a strop (which is essential) and what have you been using in the past?

OH man....

Check the classifieds, depending on which one of us guys is closest to you get one of us the razor...
Not taking anything away from the "Honemiesters" but you might want to check with one of us that does actual restoration work, because that is not going to be a standard honing.... Please, please, all of you new guys read this below...

*Never ever, never, let a knife guy touch a razor to their stones or wheels*.....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

OH man....

Check the classifieds, depending on which one of us guys is closest to you get one of us the razor...
Not taking anything away from the "Honemiesters" but you might want to check with one of us that does actual restoration work, because that is not going to be a standard honing.... Please, please, all of you new guys read this below...

*Never ever, never, let a knife guy touch a razor to their stones or wheels*.....

Another member did the same thing recently, when I got his razor it had a double frown. It was side by side, each about an inch wide with a tooth in the middle. The "honemeister" that did this told our fellow member that he did razors all of the time. Please dont be too anxious to get your razor honed "right now", send it to somebody at SRP! Dont let this be you>>>>

i agree every word gssixgun is saying.
that blade will need special honing because of the edge already damaged by heat.

Your not in Jacksonville Florida by chance are you? I'm sorry to hear about your razor. The same thing kinda happened to me with my expensive Henckels knives. I had them sharpened by some redneck knife shop and he totally screwed up. From that point on, I decided to learn how to do it myself. As the other suggested, and there's no need to beat a dead horse, send it to Lynn or Glen, or someone on here who can fix it for you. Check the classifieds

Sad... Very sad...

I bet this happens more than we hear about it.

I think Glen's words are worth repeating

*Never ever, never, let a knife guy touch a razor to their stones or wheels*

Ouch. There's a lesson learned and it bears repeating:

*Never ever, never, let a knife guy touch a razor to their stones or wheels*

X

Sorry man, I wouldn't even think about tryin to shave with that. Did you pay him? If so I'm doubly sorry. Hopefully the steel isn't heat damaged. I'm afraid Glen is right, a restorer is probably your best bet, its not so much that they can do more than any good honemeister for your situation, but that they actually have the tools to grind out any damaged steel and get you back to a good edge holding blade if needed.