Thread: Books, magazines, other websites?

Well guys I've been lurking here for less than a month and I must say I'm having a blast so far. I"ve been a knife collector, user, enthusiast for many years now and I've had a few straight razors in my knife collection and I've been meaning to learn more about them for some time and it looks as though I've arrived at a great destination.

SAy just to get started I just thought I would ask you guys if there are any books on razors? I would also like to know if there are any good books on stones, hones and sharpening equipment you all might recommend?

I currently subscribe to 4 major knife magazines and I was wondering if there are any really good magazines on straight razors?

I doubt if I'll need to find any other websites for razors because this website is just superb. But if there is another one that might specialize on honing & stones and so forth I wouldnt mind knowing the URL.

Any good videos, YOUTUBE videos on the subject? Any VHS tapes I could get that might help.

Guys I want to learn this stuff and I want to learn it right. I know it's going to take several months if not years to really learn to sharpen and maintain my razors and to learn the ropes about this great subject.

I got a feeling I'm going to get deluged

I don't know of any books on hones in the English language. If you can read French there is a newly published book on the Belgian coticule that I've read is comprehensive. Not on how to use them but more on the history and geology if I understand it correctly. If it is ever translated to English I will go for a copy.

On razors my favorite is out of print. Collecting Straight Razors by Robert Doyle is very good IMO. You can find it on used book sites on the web or occasionally on ebay. There are some others but I am not familiar with them. Someone who is will be along.

I learned how to hone my own razors through this website and the folks on it so don't worry about that. It can be done right here.

Everything I have ever needed is right here, welcome to the family!

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Everything I have ever needed is right here, welcome to the family!

Hey brother I'm very humbled by this great website. I thought I really knew a lot about sharpening stones until I got to looking at all the posts there are here on all the various stones out there. I was aware of many of them but there were also many of them I had never heard of before.

Actually I'm finding this site just as enjoyable as Bladeforums.com where I usually hang out at as well as Spyderco.com forum. I go by the name JD Spydo on both those forums. This forum wouldn't let me use that name for some strange reason

But I'm looking forward to this expansion of my blade hobby. I find myself reading more of this forum than I do any of the others I frequent. I can't believe how educated most of the guys seem to be here at SRP.

Have you had good luck with the Spyderco hones ? I've got them and don't like them. Maybe I need to mess with them more than I have. They don't give any feedback is what I don't like about them. Tried them wet, dry, wet with a drop of soap, lather... can't find a way that suits me. Knives and razors BTW.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Have you had good luck with the Spyderco hones ? I've got them and don't like them. Maybe I need to mess with them more than I have. They don't give any feedback is what I don't like about them. Tried them wet, dry, wet with a drop of soap, lather... can't find a way that suits me. Knives and razors BTW.

Jimmy that's kind of funny that you would ask me that. Because in the past 24 hours I've summized that sharpening knives and sharpening straight razors are 2 completely different skills all together. And I'm quickly gathering that stones that are "Kick Ass" for knives might not be worth a "Tinker's Damn" for sharpening razors.

Well let me put it to you this way. I've had great luck with Spyderco's Benchstones, the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker, The Spyderco 701 Profiles and their older Galley V sharpener. But I must admit that I've only tried to sharpen 2 razors on my Spyderco ultra fine benchstone and it seemed to me to do at least a reasonable job. But I'm new to the razor world and I've got a feeling that I haven't seen anything yet. But from what I'm reading here at SRP that honing razors is much more detailed and precision that putting a super sharp edge on a fixed blade or folding knife.

But I'm hoping as I get to know more about sharpening stones in general it might open up a whole new chapter in the area of sharpening skills. But I can tell you that I've produced some very wicked edges on my Spyderco Temperance fixed blade knife. I truly believe I could shave comfortably with that VG-10 blade if I had to. But then again razors use more of a shearing action whereas knives do more of a slicing action.

Spyderco stones do work good on knife blades and I don't think anyone who knows knives will argue against that. In my opinion Spyderco makes better sharpening equipment than any other knife company period. As far as ceramic sharpening stones go I've yet to use any that are better than Spyderco's. I've heard that Shapton makes some very good ceramic stones. From what I've gathered Shapton is the "Rolex Watch" of sharpening stones. I'm eager to get some of their stones for sure.

That's about all I can say about Spyderco stones for now.

Thanks for the info jdx. I will have to knuckle down and try the Spydercos I have on a Puma gelder pocket knife I have. The Spydercos I have are the medium, fine and ultra fine 8x2 bench stones.

Here are a bunch of videos on honing from the SRP Wiki help files that may be helpful.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Thanks for the info jdx. I will have to knuckle down and try the Spydercos I have on a Puma gelder pocket knife I have. The Spydercos I have are the medium, fine and ultra fine 8x2 bench stones.

Here are a bunch of videos on honing from the SRP Wiki help files that may be helpful.

Yeah that's those model 302 Benchstones of theirs. They have sure gone up in price here lately and if you ever wanted to sell them you could probably get close to what you paid for them..

Now with sharpening a good quality German made knife like that Puma that you mention there is one tool that could help you a lot. There is a company out of Ely Minnesota known as Razor Edge Systems. They have sharpening guides for fixed blades and folders and they do a great job when used on top notch sharpening stones. They have a guide for blades that are 4 inches and under and they have one for blades that are 4 inches and over. I've had really great luck using my Razor Edge sharpening guides with all of my Benchstones. They are not all that expensive either. There are YOUTUBE videos on using those Razor Edge guides as well.

I just sharpened one of my fillet knives yesterday on my set of Spyderco 302 Benchstones and it floats through flimsy paper with ease. Like I said they work great on knives. My jury is still out on whether or not they'll do razors in grand fashion. JD

Thanks for the tip on the blade jigs, I'll look into that. I went fishing in Ely, MN back in the '70s when I was ironworking up on the range in Mountain Iron,MN for American Bridge Co. but that is another story.

A razor's spine is all of the guide you'll need for sharpening them.