Thread: First Straight Razor Build (A learning Process)

Btw. Thats the best song ever written and composed. Its my favorite. ever.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

You said you had 'flattened' the Norton, how smooth is the surfaces? If they still feel anything like the sides of the stones, you need to keep lapping. Both of my 4/8's needed a lot of work on the 4K side, but the 8K smoothed out on both really quick.

Just wondering? It never hurts to practice the 6 P's.

When you fine tune your blade it should be a really nice shaver

Glad i read this... I recently started honing and I have a King Icebear 1k and a Norton 4/8. I didnt "flatten my 4k side well enough I dont think. I drew a grid on it and lapped it on the flat counter with some 320 grit sandpaper and got it flat. Really strange though, the 4k feels more rough than my 1k!!. Not knowing I thought that it was just a "fast cutting" stone that would feel like that. So thank you, I need more work on the 4k to get it right. This explains my crappy shaves even off the 8k

Any advice?

Originally Posted by Bruno

+1 on the Chromium oxide. However, I would not use it until you can get really comfortable shaves off the 8K. At that point, the paste becomes a help.
If you use it to fudge over the fact that your 8K edge isn't good, it becomes a crutch.

Please correct me if I am giving false info being as new to honing as I am. After my 8k I have been covering the stone in newspaper and doing about 10 laps on that and it seems to work really well!

I went back to the 4k, made a slurry and re-honed through 8k. Since then I have gotten two very good shaves in a row (stropping as well of coarse). The shaves were as good as if I had used my shavette. So all-in-all, I'm pretty happy with it. Thanks again to everyone for all the help! I will keep using it and practicing with other razors as well.

There are also a variety of grits for any number grit... i bought a wusthoff 3000 8000... and the 8000 is more coarse than my 1600 grit other unreadable name stone... and the 3000 is coarser than my 800grit king stone... dunno if this is the case here... but it is a possibility... all stones have been lapped a few times...

Hey guys, it has been a long time. Much has changed for me but I'm still using that same razor. We have moved further north and it took me a couple of years to get the shop set back up. I know that it has been a while since I posted anything, but I have never forgotten what you guys taught me. I still really appreciate all your help.

Recently I've been making and forging knives again. The other day I thought "Why not make another razor? This one has worked so well over the past 5 years." So here it is. Forged from a car leaf spring. I honed it up and tested it out. All was good so I sold it. It was really fun and made me wonder why I haven't been making more of them. I've ordered more coal and some different forging tongs. Also, my rail road track anvil is getting some upgrades so it should be easier to use going forward. I'm looking forward to having more to show you guys.
Thanks again for all of your past help.