Thread: Can a Pakistani razor be sharpened for use as a knife?

Originally Posted by ndw76

A Pakistani razor would make a good letter opener.

Although an actual letter opener would make for a better one.

Lol! Yep, those Pakistani razors are so dull you cant even use them as a letter opener.

I used to use a Zeepk to spread butter on my toast, but the crumbs dulled the edge...

Originally Posted by Sailor

Few reasons come to my mind why straight razor is not good for those things you mentioned.

1. The grind shape, be it wedge or hollow makes it difficult to make precise straight cuts when doing slices etc.
2. The blade is usually so thin that it wont last any harder materials than few times until you need to hone it again.

Maybe with little reshaping you could make a cool paper knife or something like, but straights are not handy in kitchen, be it Paki or any other blade.

Sailor makes good points. A razor may not be very durable for butchering...
Unless it's a "chopper" Couldn't resist

Originally Posted by khaos

Something I realised today is that I have a SORE need for a SHARP, precise butcher's knife. Not necessarily for skinning or carving, but for certain other parts of the animal-to-food process. Like a very large scalpel.

Speaking of large scalpels. What about one of these from our friend 330mate

Japanese hand forged Shuzon Damascus knife & your name - eBay Carpentry, Woodworking, Tools, Tools, Hardware Locks, Collectibles. (end time 24-May-10 15:16:34 AEST)

A razors edge is so fine that it would degrade pretty fast if you used it for anything other than shaving. The steel, especially on hollow grounds, is very thin and would wear out pretty fast.

You'd be better off getting a set of proper knives. Even a cheap knife would perform better as a knife than a cheap razor.

Back to the original question, yes !!!!

But as usual it depends on the razor...

Pakistani - Badger & Blade

In that thread, you will see how some people at B&B started a thread about shaving with them, and of course it takes a person () from SRP to do the actual work... and then the thread died...

You are more than welcome to that POS blade that is already sharpened to shaveable (I don't guaranty it hehehe) but I am pulling the scales off of it...
PM me if you want it...

Originally Posted by Stubear

A razors edge is so fine that it would degrade pretty fast if you used it for anything other than shaving. The steel, especially on hollow grounds, is very thin and would wear out pretty fast.

You'd be better off getting a set of proper knives. Even a cheap knife would perform better as a knife than a cheap razor.

+1.

The razor would be beautiful--for the first few cuts. Then it would be worse than useless. Too thin a blade to hold an edge when being used to cut, rather than dragged along a surface, I think. The razor's edge would degrade so fast that you'd be re-honing every five minutes, particularly if what you're cutting up has any bones in it. Just MO, of course.