Thread: Honing hard steel razors and russian razors

I gett it . They realy need a time to rest and stroping . I never can achieve a good edge on a one day honing with the hardest ones . but 2 3 days rested on a 10 k levell and after finishing , makes wonders , with the tuffest blades .

If you suspect decarb i would expect the steel to form a tough to get rid of burr... almost the same as if the steel was overheated and you got too much retained austinite... on stainless. It just never seems to go away and it can even feel as if you are flexing the edge from side to side... typically it would struggle to get the edge stable too...

The stable edge is number 1 priority , a thn edge must be rehoned right away .

Couple of layers of tape, and if that doesn't solve the problem, I throw the razor in the trash. There's not much virtue in an ultra hard razor if it holds its edge less well than an easier to sharpen softer razor.

Hard to sharpen just means different things to different people... honestly the amount of steel in such a thin profile should be a breeze to remove regardless the steel. Can the steel support a 15 deg edge is a whole other question... large carbide steels may not. Steels with high % retained austinite will struggle. But it is not hard to remove enough steel. Just make it have a proper edge. My question is actually what are we dealing with. O1 that is very hard is easier to sharpen to a fine edge than O1 that is too soft.

Originally Posted by AndreGrobler

Hard to sharpen just means different things to different people... honestly the amount of steel in such a thin profile should be a breeze to remove regardless the steel. Can the steel support a 15 deg edge is a whole other question... large carbide steels may not. Steels with high % retained austinite will struggle. But it is not hard to remove enough steel. Just make it have a proper edge. My question is actually what are we dealing with. O1 that is very hard is easier to sharpen to a fine edge than O1 that is too soft.

Maybe not a breeze but certainly not impossible using appropriate stones & techniques.

I'm just having a chuckle over some emails here from someone who's restoring an Iwasaki western razor by hand sanding.
20 hours in & not at honing stage yet.

My problems sharpening knives arise mostly from steel being too soft for a sharp edge to form.. and bevels being too fat... i.e. you have to remove lots to make the bevel... out comes the belt grinder to make a proper bevel... i.e. thin

And when i started out... not actually being on the bevel

I had the experience of Soviet sharpening razors. Most of them were pretty solid. I was able to achieve good results at Esher, used it as a finishing stone with oil. Admittedly this is a bit long on time.

I love my rusian razors . They are some of the most quality steel blades ever . lots of caracter in every one . Hard shavers .