Thread: Establishing an Edge and honing antiques

Hey everyone... I'm new to straight razor shaving. My mom found my grandpa's old Crane straight razor and strop and got me interested in taking up and learning the art. I recently ordered a Dovo 5/8 carbon razor with a curved tip. I've read a lot of forums that say beginners should start with a professionally sharpened razor. I want to pick up some whetstones to learn to hone the blades myself. The Norton 4k/8k combo is in my sights as one of the stones I might purchase. Also I suppose I need to get a 1k stone to establish an edge on my grandpa's razor to get it back into shaving condition. If anyone would please give me any advice and tips for a beginner... I would greatly appreciate it. Also I am from Asheville, NC and there is a straight razor convention coming up in a few months, that I'm going to attend to learn from people who know what they are doing... any thoughts?

I look forward to being a member of this forum!!! THANKS A LOT!!

Thanks so much Jimmy... Guess I should have done a little more reading on the site before I posted... that is a great help!!

- Pat

Hey pat, have you seen the video on youtube called "Kenrup resto part 1" ? It actually has like 20 videos for honing and stropping an old W&B. They show the whole restore, from establishing the bevel on the norton 220 all the way through to stropping. This helped me out a ton when it came to honing my smiling wedges. The other video posted above is also great.