Thread: Honing Razors With A Jig and Stationary Blade

I'd be willing to use your "jig" for experimenting on one of my axes ( not my Gransfors Bruks though), or other edged tools, but not for my straight razors.

Thank you for showing us a photo of your invention.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

I'd be willing to use your "jig" for experimenting on one of my axes ( not my Gransfors Bruks though), or other edged tools, but not for my straight razors.

Thank you for showing us a photo of your invention.

You're welcome. Maybe I'll upload a video or at least a pic of sharpening being done. I think those photos probably are too confusing. I don't care whether it works out for razors or not. I like everything about straight razors and all sorts of knives and tools. It's all good!

A video would be nice,,,,,Your photos are fine,, I'm mechanically illiterate & I understand your setup just fine,,,

I think the flaw, if any, in your process is the "Stationary Blade". When honing a razor, the one thing that is "not" always stationary is the blade. It is constantly maneuvered by an experienced honer over a stationary hone to keep contact with the sharpening surface.

With the thick rigid blade in your image, the sharpening rod by the sheer rigidness of the blade always adjusts to the blade edge. With the thin and "not rigid" edge of the straight razor, this does not happen.

Honing a razor requires the hand of an experienced razor honer to bring the blade over a honing surface while keeping the edge/bevel in contact with the hone.

Your system seems to keep a static blade in contact with the honing surface by the the rigidness of the blade. Honing a razor keeps the edge of the razor in contact with the honing surface by the skill of the of the honer.

Regard,

Howard

Being an engineer myself I can see where you are coming from. I have sharpened knives for the greater part of my life and always I returned to the traditional way of sharpening on whetstones. I find that professional mechanical sharpening tools make the knife or whatever other implement wear out far too quickly. This it fine if you are a woodworking professional and do not care to spend too much time sharpening. Having the blade in your hand, one has far better control over the process.

This is even more so with razors, the amount of metal to be taken off to sharpen the blade is so very little that not ever do you want to lose control of the process. Mastering it takes a while, which surely will go a lot quicker with good advise and instructions.

Theoretically the sharpening process of razors is not unlike knives, but it is far more critical and way less controllable, The cutting edge of the razor so much thinner than any knife. It is a skill as much as it is an art and it requires a very light touch which only comes with lots of time and practice.

It may help to watch Lynn Abrams video's on Youtube, they really give an excellent impression of what to look for and how to do it. I think it's a great place to start.

Good luck,
John.

First off I want to thank everyone for this being the first thread on this subject that I have seen not turn into a bash fest.

Bladeon, my advice would be to have someone hone your razor professionally. Then if you can, get another razor and hone it on your jig. Then see what the difference is. That's really all you can do. You can build a hundred contraptions but you got to test it to know if it works or not. I don't hold much hope for it but hey people didn't hold much hope for the Wright brothers either and we know how that turned out.....

I'm very new to straight shaving and honing razors myself. Your invention is good for knives. In fact it looks a lot like the design of the "Wicked Edge" knife sharpener. This system is considered one of the best designs for sharpening systems. Another system is the Edge Pro which I have. I tried the Edge Pro on a razor and while these systems control the angle for you (compared to free hand sharpening) they are completely unnecessary for razors. As someone else mentioned the angle is controlled by using the spine. I used an angle cube (digital level) to check the edge angle on my two razors. One is 16 degrees and the other (newer) is 20 degrees inclusive. These are approx with about +/- .5 degrees. The spine on the newer razor is thicker which will result in a higher edge angle. The one with a 16 degree edge angle is a gift from a friend when I started straight shaving. The edge was pretty damaged and it had no handle. I worked on the edge and made a handle and now it's a pretty nice razor as far as performance goes IMO. The handle isn't the prettiest thing in the world but it works well. It has seen much use and sharpening if the appearance of the spine is any judge. It obviously has been thinned by the stone over many many honings.

Another thing about your system is a razor requires a super light touch due to the edge being so thin and fragile. While this light touch is possible with a system like yours it takes a bit of practice. There are tons of videos on using the Wicked Edge system. Those things sell starting at about $300 or so. The price goes up with additional accessories, stone types or grits, etc.

Jack

Originally Posted by cosperryan

First off I want to thank everyone for this being the first thread on this subject that I have seen not turn into a bash fest.

Bladeon, my advice would be to have someone hone your razor professionally. Then if you can, get another razor and hone it on your jig. Then see what the difference is. That's really all you can do. You can build a hundred contraptions but you got to test it to know if it works or not. I don't hold much hope for it but hey people didn't hold much hope for the Wright brothers either and we know how that turned out.....

Using your system to hone razors will have the same problem I had when I tried to use my Edge Pro. With razors and conventional honing methods the angle is controlled using the spine. By using a jig system you will need to increase the angle so the stones or abrasives don't touch the spine. This is the only way the system will be of any benefit. It would be as if your razor didn't have a spine that is much thicker than the rest of the blade. Then you could set your system to about 8 degrees per side to get the average angle on straight razors.

I've put tons of time (and money) into learning the finer points of sharpening knives in the past 5 years or so. While I know your design is a great one I don't think it's the best tool for straight razors. I could be very wrong though.

There is another BIG problem Ijust thought of. Your clamp will need to be modified somehow to hold the razor at exactly (or very damn close) to 90 degrees. This will be a bit difficult with the shape of a straight razor. This is a common problem with every knife sharpening system that uses a clamp to hold the blade. This is a problem that is fairly easily dealt with but it will be an issue with straight razors.

Jack

Originally Posted by cosperryan

First off I want to thank everyone for this being the first thread on this subject that I have seen not turn into a bash fest.

Bladeon, my advice would be to have someone hone your razor professionally. Then if you can, get another razor and hone it on your jig. Then see what the difference is. That's really all you can do. You can build a hundred contraptions but you got to test it to know if it works or not. I don't hold much hope for it but hey people didn't hold much hope for the Wright brothers either and we know how that turned out.....

It seems I spoke too soon.

I shall now chant the only chant worth chanting. YMMV! YMMV! YMMV! YMMV! YMMV! YMMV! YMMV! YMMV! YMMV!

But seriously, who cares what some one hones with. if it works for them it works for them. The only reason why I will never use one is because I don't have one already and I feel no need for one. I feel like I get superb edges off of free hand knife sharpening and I am sitting here typing with a bbs shave from a razor honed on a coticule. If I had a friend nearby that had one sure I would try it and see what happens. Its not like its going to melt the razor and make it a useless lump of steel. Worst thing that could happen would be I have to reset the bevel using my traditional stones. Big deal, I like doing that anyways and usually have to restrain myself from honing my razors.

there is a built in jig on every razor I have seen ,, the spine , but it looks cool tc