Thread: smooth vs sharp - how to

Like the other guys have said, the balance of keen vs. smooth is a very personal preference. For what it's worth, I finish with a hard Arkansas stone followed by lots of stropping on canvas and then leather. After that I maintain the edge as long as I can by only using those two stropping surfaces.

The goal of honing is to first get the bevels flat and meeting at an edge. At that point it is sharp enough to cut hair.

To get the bevels to meet, we use an abrasive, that cut steel with grit that leave stria. Low grit stria leave deep stria that can end at a serrated edge.

The shallower you can make the stria, the straighter the edge, the straighter the edge, the more comfortable the shave, because the edge is riding on your skin.

So, we use a progression of grit to speed up the process. Higher is not always better and at some point, the issue becomes, if the razor steel can hold the edge. You can go as high or low. as .0005um/ 3.2 million grit polycrystalline diamond compound, but for me .25um CBN is as fine as my skin will take and feel comfortable. And most razors steels can not handle an edge higher than .125um.

The beauty of a straight razor is you can tailor, the edge to your razor, beard, and skin type, and have a new edge every day, with minimal effort.

Past .50um you need to, go to paste. Chrome Oxide is .5um/30K and will calm most edges, high grit synthetic edges tend to be harsh because of the uniformness of the grit, random fine grit like coticules, fine slates, Jnats and hard Arks tend to have smoother cutting edges.

It all comes down to user abilities and personal preference.

“What do you do to get the edge more comfortable? id love to hear everyones process, try them all, and see what works best for me.”



I take an edge to 20k, after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12k. I do strop after 8k and 12k and remove almost all stria, then hone on the SG20, or a Natural finish stone, Slate, Jnat, Coticule or Hard Ark.

Yes, it is over kill, but...

Depending on the finish stone, post SG20, I strop on leather, then .50um and .125um CBN. The razor is then shave ready and can be maintained at a very high level of keenness and comfort, with .50 and or .125 um CBN on a paper strop. This is how I hone customer razors unless, a specific finish stone is asked for.

For Jnat, Arks, Coticule and some Slates, I strop on linen and leather only for maintenance. As those are special edges and stropping on CBN would leave a CBN edge and not the stone edge, which are unique and the reason for using them, for me.

From a 12k super stone edge, which should be almost stria free, (make sure your 12k is free of loaded up swarf, for your final laps & that you are using light pressure), strop on razor quality Chrome Oxide (very important) on a canvas or nylon strop, leather works, (but not as well IMO), or .50um CBN.

I have been using a hard ark, an old Lilly White, to refresh stones, works great on Super Stones and SG20 and remove less stone material than a Diamond plate.

You can strop on leather, (20X) then Chrome Oxide or .50um CBN daily, (40-50X) with no ill effects to the edge, in fact, eventually, a week or two, all stria will be removed from the bevel and the edge will be super straight and very smooth. The edge can last indefinitely and can be easily refreshed on a high grit stone in just a few laps if needed.

The trick for most new Straight Razor users is stropping, as one errant stroke can wipe out all your work. If you are lucky a jointing and a few laps will bring it back.

Find a system that works for you, then perfect it, learn to max out each stone in your progression. If you change something, change only one thing at a time.

And lastly the absolute final, definitive test, is the shave test, that is how you judge progress. You will know when you hit the sweet spot.

Enjoy.