Is this good enough?

Hey guys,

I'm going to attempt to give my razors a sharpen today (for the 5th time) but I'm not feeling very confident. I bought 2 vintage razors that have nice blades but they need honing and sharpening. I have two diamond stones and my father gave me a piece of ceramic tile that he claims is space-age technology which seems to be a super high grit. Every time I use it it seems to polish the blade, but it isn't sharp enough in the first place. I have a green and blue diamond stone but I don't think either one is any higher than maybe, 1000. I get the basic sharpening technique and I've sharpened knives before but can anyone give me some advice to get these at least in a decent shave condition without spending $200 on some stones? I heard someone mention bark/newspaper.

Anything helps!
Caleb

Considering we have no clue as to what you are using to hone it is pretty hard to answer...

Here is a good read about Hones

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ml#post1148199


Being as I see some clues in your post here is what I can tell you

Vintage Razors = Tells me you are going to need all 3-4 stages of honing..

Bevel set = Around 1000 Grit

Sharpen = Around 4000 Grit

Polish = Around 8000 Grit

Finish = Above 8000 Grit


How you achieve those 3 or 4 stages is where all the discussion happens and the Grit recommendations are there only for illustration of the stages which is explained in that article I wrote..


Note: This does NOT say you have to go buy 4 stones

you might do well to buy some lapping film.

I went 6 years on a Norton 4/8 and did very well. Perhaps one of your diamond hones can serve to help set your bevel if you have an extra fine (read very aggressive for razors!). I used wet/dry sandpaper on a flat piece of granite to lap the hone. You may be able to use your diamond hone if its decent. Put some pics on here and we can set you straight.

You might do well sending out those two blades to be sharpened professionally. You said they are vintage razors with nice blades. You don't want to keep practicing on those.

I would try to find an old junker razor, and learn to hone on that. Without knowing what grit stones you have, it's hard to give much more advice. You need something in the 4k/8k range.

If they are DMT's, then blue = 325 mesh (45µ) and green = 1200 mesh (9µ).