Thread: New to straight razor honing

Hello all, firstly I must apologise if any of the questions I ask have been covered before (I’m sure they have).

I have finally taken the plunge and awaiting delivery of my first straight razor. I have gone for a 5/8 Boker King Cutter, this one Boker King Cutter in addition i have purchased a leather strop with a canvas back (one of my questions) and a 12k Naniwa Super stone.

A big part of the enjoyment of a straight razor for me will be the honing of the razor itself. I have been sharpening knives now for many years and while I don’t think you ever stop learning I believe I’m pretty competent when it comes to getting kitchen knives hair popping sharp but honing a razor is completely new to me and when all said and done I don’t take a kitchen knife to me face

I already had a fair selection of stones ranging from 300 Grit all the way through to 8k (mostly naniwa super stones which after trying everything from cheap pound shop type stones to expensive natural stones I find them to offer the best value for money and give consistently good results). I’ve added the 12k super stone to that set just for the razor. This brings me to my first question, is 12k for a razor the best point to stop with the hones or is there a benefit to going any higher ?

My second question is regarding the canvas side of the strop itself. I read that it is “recommended” but I don’t seem to be able to find much information as to why and when you use this side ?

On the same lines of honing, are the pastes worth going for or will a honing to 12k followed by a good stop be sufficient to provide a good shave ? Is there a noticeable difference to a blade finished with say 0.5 micron paste over a blade finished without ?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and again a apologize if this has already been covered.

Exited 1^st time straight user J

Hope I can help a bit with this. The 12k is easily enough for shaving. It is generally recommend that you start honing only to the 8k level as that is considered the start point of shave ready. If you can't get a razor smoothly shaving at 8k you need to work on your technique till you get that level sorted. You will see it said round here you can't polish a turd. You need to set the bevel properly and work up to 8k without issues or there is no point in going further. The .5 crox is often used to smooth out the edge after honing or just add that final touch of sharpness. Lynn himself in vids uses the naniwas up to 12k then the crox pasted strop. Try watching the vids by Gssixgun and Lynn Abrams on YouTube. Stropping is recommended at 25 linen and 50 leather. The linen cleans and warms the blade and is also believed to be very mildly abrasive. Hope this helps.

I touch up with 8-10 on the Naniwa 12K, 8-10 on balsa crox, 8-10 Irox, 50 on leather, and as Al Pacino would say, nothin' but nothin' but right...

I can't remember who said it on this site but I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when he said "use lava soap for lather... that way you can hone and shave at the same time!". I must be slap happy this morning because I still think that is hilarious! I personally hone to 16k as necessary and then use a leather strop before every shave with great results. I haven't seen any use for the pastes in my routine yet (I am still pretty new to this myself), but maybe someday I'll surprise myself and give them a try. I know others who swear by them. That is part of the fun of straight razor shaving though - there is always something new to try. The point I want to make is that you can get a close baby but smooth and comfortable shave just using hones and not utilizing any of the sharpening pastes. The key is how sharp the razor is. How it gets there is a matter of personal preference. By the way, welcome to the site!!

Mike,
I don't doubt your abilities as a knife sharpener, however razors are a complete different animal...ask me how I know. My experiences almost mirror yours. My recommendation to you right now is to have a pro-honed blade for reference & to learn to shave off of. Fine a mentor is my first recommendation for anyone jumping into this "sport". They don't have to be a badged mentor, just someone who has been at this a while. Put your location in your member profile information...if you are within driving distance, some see me!

Thank you all for the advice it is appreciated

So the canvas side is used for a Pre strop to prepare the blade for the actual strop. I think I'll have to try and find some more info on that just to understand what is going on there from a scientific point of view.

As far as honing itself goes I would imagine that one of the biggest pitfalls will be making sure you don't put to aqute angle on the bevel and make it prone to rolling the edge ? In terms of the bevel angle itself, from what I can gather that is really sorted for you in that you use The blades spine as a guide, but out of interest what is that angle ?

The razor I have ordered is supposed to have been honed already to be shave ready, if it has then I guess that will be my benchmark for future honing. How would I tell though if it has been done properly as I don't have anything to compare it with. Is it bjust a case of giving it a go and see how it feels ?

Again thanks all for the advice.

Who did you order it from? We know most vendors who offer truly shave ready razors.
Yes, you lay the razor flat on it's side and the spine is the guide for honing. I honestly forget the angle, but the proper angle is also dependent on the steel used and its heat treatment and the such.

Welcome, Mike. You're definitely in the right place

Originally Posted by eddy79

Lynn himself in vids uses the naniwas up to 12k then the crox pasted strop. Try watching the vids by Gssixgun and Lynn Abrams on YouTube. Stropping is recommended at 25 linen and 50 leather. The linen cleans and warms the blade and is also believed to be very mildly abrasive. Hope this helps.

I also recommend watching the honing vids., particularly, Lynn Abrams video on honing with Naniwa stones. In that video, he also touches on the use of crox.

My first stone was a Naniwa 12K SS and, as noted by many, find using the stone as a refresher/finisher *very* forgiving for this newbie. While I wouldn't mind having a higher grit stone, say a Gokumyo #20000, the 12K is definitely serving its purpose and I am very happy with it.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Who did you order it from? We know most vendors who offer truly shave ready razors.
.

I ordered it from here Introduction to razors

The razor and all the other stuff (12k hone, strop and stop bleeding stick) arrived today and I must say what a beautiful tool it is.

One thing that did imidiatley strike me was how thin and delicate the edge actually is. I was expecting it to be more "knife like" but it is so far removed from a knife edge that the only real similarities are that they are both made of metal !

To me it appears "shave ready" and it certainly made a bald patch on my arm but without any prior experience I can't say for sure if it is.

I'm going to have my first shave tomorrow and see how it goes. To tell you the truth I'm really looking forward to it

I am pretty sure that they should deliver a shave ready razor. Again watch the vids as honing a razor is different from a knife. The average angle from memory ia about 16 or 17 degrees. Do some reading in the honing forum and most of the process should be pretty clear and as a bonus you can catch HAD while you're there. Good luck with your shaves