Thread: 2 cents worth a nickel

maybe its just me but sharpening a straight razor if far easier than sharpening any knife. Unlike a knife where you have to manually control the angle of the blade to achieve a cutting edge, with a razor you lay it flat on the stone and the sharpness comes from the design of the blade itself, the angles are already set. Besides pressure are there any other tricks to proper technique?

wow that's a deep one. I think you are in part correct. If the geometry is correct and the edge is straight it can be fairly straight forward. It get complicated as soon as it gets off just a little here or there. It does not take much for the whole thing to be complicated. There is a lot of threads about overcoming very little things to get on track. Glen has a funny saying that I'm sure I can screw up about it being quite easy and straight forward right up until it stops being easy and straight forward.

Something like:
People say honing is easy, and it is...right up until it isn't..

I like to think of it this way: You go to Lowes for a plumbing demonstration and the guy comes out and does the repair and everything looks real easy and simple. So you go and buy all the tools and materials and when you try the repair at home things aren't so simple. There's a wall in your way and you have to contort yourself into some impossible angle, and your fittings are all non standard and the fittings are all corroded or frozen on and a little 10 minute job turns into a 2 hour ordeal and maybe you wind up needing a plumber.

The same with honing. You never know.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I like to think of it this way: You go to Lowes for a plumbing demonstration and the guy comes out and does the repair and everything looks real easy and simple. So you go and buy all the tools and materials and when you try the repair at home things aren't so simple. There's a wall in your way and you have to contort yourself into some impossible angle, and your fittings are all non standard and the fittings are all corroded or frozen on and a little 10 minute job turns into a 2 hour ordeal and maybe you wind up needing a plumber.

The same with honing. You never know.

well the next time you know how to do it ....im not saying its so easy anyone could it. I said its easier than honing any knife, my point is, if you can sharpen a knife, sharpening a razor will be an easy task.

Have you tried honing a razor?

An edge for a razor needs to be closer to perfect than on a knife.

Originally Posted by jsmiff

well the next time you know how to do it ....im not saying its so easy anyone could it. I said its easier than honing any knife, my point is, if you can sharpen a knife, sharpening a razor will be an easy task.

It will give you an advantage because you understand the basic principles..

The biggest difference is with knives and tools, Sharp is good enough, so there is not much finesse in getting them sharp..
With something you are dragging across your face there is the element of Smooth that gets into play so it takes a bit more "Touch" to work that out

ie: Sharp is easy, pushing a razor across a hone will get it sharp, getting it smooth isn't quite as simple.

One other thing to keep in mind is minor little mistakes that can still get you a shaving edge today can add up in the future to cause major issues in the geometry, basically SR's work on a much smaller scale of error...

As Kyle just said above

It is not important whether you win or lose, until you lose. jsmiff, take a look on these forums in the honing section and section on hones.....step one: humility, step two, read.

If you had to get your knife to shave as comfortably as your straight razor, then yes I'd agree that would be the more difficult task.
It's like saying it's easier to paint the Mona Lisa than my house because it's smaller.