Thread: I messed up my razor

So I read an article that said it was ok to hone with sandpaper so I got 800, 1000 and 2000 grit sandpaper and worked my way up to get rid of a chip in the blade. I started at 45 degrees and then 30 and then went to 10 or so degrees.

I then tried to use a leather belt to hone it but I realized honing wouldnt do anything, and that it would need to be sharpened?? Right?

So my stepbrother has some whetstones but i'm not sure what grit. I read online that you can use porcelain to sharpen blades, so I used the bottom of a cup then honed. This didn't really make a difference, not sure if maybe the cup wasn't porcelain..

So... what do I do to fix this besides send it to a professional sharpener? I'm at my wit's end... the blade worked 99% fine but I got too caught up fixing it that now it's at 1%. Please help.

A photo of the razor would help but from what i read sending it to a pro for a do over might not be a bad idea.

Sorry to hear that you messed up your razor. There are a couple of options. The obvious is to send it to a pro to hone it. Or you can look into the local help section and reach out to a mentor near you for help learning how to hone properly, but if your fairly new to straight shaving then it’s best to wait on learning to hone. And if your going to learn to hone, I would reccomend to buy a cheap razor since it’s time consuming to get it right, and can drastically reduce the lifetime of a blade during that time.

Honing is done on whet stones. Stropping is done on leather. Sand paper is best used for repairs and restoration.

What kind of razor are we talking about?

First, Welcome Aboard,,,,,

After reading your first post, I'm not sure we will talk you through a successful result with your razor.

My advice is to send it to one of our professionals, see the link below, first communicate with them via our PM(private message) system & arrange the work. It probably will cost little , other than the shipping costs.

My very first razor, a family heirloom from the 1830's , had to be sent out. I tried to polish it & messed it up, chipped it. A professional here fixed it as good as new.

Your razor,,,, your call.

Look through this thread & pick someone who obviously has the skill,,, PM them & see if they will fix your razor.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...u-working.html

Never hurts to reach out and ask a Mentor. There is a list of Mentors from various states on SRP. I had no experience whatsoever in honing a straight razor so I scoured the Wiki on SRP and watched numerous videos on it. Take it from me, use a razor that you have very little attachment to and is cheap to practice your honing and chip removal. I'm far from a master but I've learned a lot by messing up some beater razors. Your destruction of those cheap blades will save the others that you would rather keep around for a lifetime or two. Good luck.

If your experience with shaving and honing is reflected in your join date, then I would suggest sending it out to be the best plan. There are three separate skills sets, honing, stropping, and shaving. Trying to learn honing and stropping at the same time is usually enough, but to learn honing at the same time it brings the variables quite high and it begins to get difficult to figure out where things are not working out. If you start with a good edge, you can strike that off the variables list. There are a lot of people you can get to hone your razor, so I’m not sure why anyone would want to try to learn it all at once. If you can find a local mentor that will flatten the learning curve a little.

If you intend to take straight shaving seriously, you will need to be more careful where you take your shaving advice from.

I have never come across credible advice that you should hone a razor with sandpaper, or sharpen a razor blade on porcelain.
I’ve seen a picture once though where someone showed a brick and a razor, alluding to the possibility that you could hone on a brick, but that was meant as a joke.

In the meantime, I suggest you visit forums like this one (and there are several others) and get a feel what is “best practice” in honing, stropping, and shaving. See what many straight shavers agree upon and use it as your guidance.
If you discard the outlier (crackpot) theories, you may soon get an idea what works.
Note also that advice that may be valid for sharpening knives does not commonly apply to straight razors.

If you want to salvage your razor, send it to someone who has a proven track record in honing and hopefully it can be saved.

Don’t expect instant gratification in straight shaving.
As RezDog mentioned, this is a process where you have to learn three disciplines: stropping, shaving, and honing. Neither is easily learnt, mistakes are to be expected, and it requires patience and perseverance.

Keep in mind that we all have been at this point at some time in the past. Eventually, you may find that there is no method that gives you better shaves and that a straight shave in the morning may turn out to be something that you look foward to.


Good luck.


B.

Welcome to the forum

here is a link to find people in or near Austin.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/memberlist.php?do=search

Posting a pic of the razor and type all the words found on the blade and scales will be a big help.

As said, it might not be worth the postage to get it honed and then again, it might be a real heirloom.
We can help you make the decision on what to do.

Everyone is giving sound information.
When first learning it is best to have a pro hone your razor. And in my opinion dont try honing or sharpening at all yourself in the beginning. Its going to make your shaves very uncomfortable and you will mostlikely give up as razor burn day after day is a bad thing.

Honing a razor is done with special whetstones. Not regular one you would put a knife on. Although it is done from time to time. Honing on real stones takes months of honing to learn just like sha ing with a straight. If you put your sha ing razor on a hone, even a good hone, and dont know what your doing you will damage the edge. This is why you practice honing with a razor you dont shave with. Only test shave with it until you learn to hone.

Stay away from youtube vids unless they are recommended from members of this site as lots of folks think they know what they are doing but really have no clue.

Welcome to the forum. Take your time and learn to shave and strop. Have your razor honed by a pro from here and you will be so surprised at the difference in the edge it will be like night and day.