Thread: New to straight razors and need help with honing..

Hey guys,
I've recently bought a straight razor and since it wasn't sharp enough to shave with I thought it will be a good idea to buy a sharpening stone and have a go at sharpening it.
I bought this stone and after watching many videos and reading many articles I thought I was ready to start honing... How little did I know..
My razor now looks like this:

I've been trying to hone mainly like

this video shows

, and I also flattened the stone like

this guy

shows.

I don't really know how to solve this issue as I know have a pretty dull blade that will only cut hair only with very specific parts of the edge and only at a very specific angle.

What am I doing wrong and how do I fix this?
Thanks alot

Welcome aboard,,,
That first picture seems to indicate a wave in the blade the size of Malibu Beach,,,,try using the links that I am providing to discover if any of the common problems exist in your razor. If you can identify any, then a more specific approach to helping you can be given.

Purchasing straight razors - Straight Razor Place Library

Beginner's Guide to Honing - Straight Razor Place Library

apart from what appears a frown (or two lol) I don't really see anything

Yes, but those frowns have to be eliminated before you properly can set the bevels. Where they there BEFORE you started honing?

i think not
how do i fix it?

Your best bet is to send it to a pro for honing and restoration as needed rather than risk making it worse. The Classifieds has a number of people who do this kind of work.

problem is im from isreal so its not that easy for me to ship it across the globe

If I'm not mistaken, Manah is from Israel and he does a lot of restoration work. He'd be able to help. Send him a PM.

IF you want to fix it yourself, you can straighten the edge by honing with the spine lifted so that the blade is about 45 degree off of the hone. Do circles and/or back and forth strokes alternating sides as you have seen in any honing video. Continue at this until the edge is straight.

Only after the edge is straight should the spine go back down to the hone to commence normal honing.

Now the problem is that if you created those frowns, then your honing sucks! I mean no offense. It is only a temporary condition. Try watching and studying more videos and or even the same videos over again. Ideally, since Israel is not all the large, your very best bet would be to arrange to arrange to meet with Manah for one on one help.

Keep trying!!!!!

The link to the hone you bought seems broken.
Tell me more about the hone.

I see reflections of a rather coarse hone on the shaving edge.
I would expect to see a mirror and no scratches.
I also do not see reflections from the spine. Since the spine and
edge should be flat on the hone at the same time I would expect
to see a glint of bright steel from the spine.

The spine is the guide for setting and keeping the edge angle correct.
The spine should always touch the hone (and strop) first.

There are two types of honing. Most of us simply need maintenance
an 8K hone (of finer) and some instruction to keep a correctly
honed razor sharp. A more difficult project is to take an old smiley
razor like yours and get it back in shape for shaving. Sending a razor
out via post and paying to get it honed at least once is a lot less
expensive than a stack of hones grading from 500 grit to 10,000 grit.

Invest in a good strop -- you need to strop each shave... then after
a month to six months send it out again or invest in a fine 8000 grit
or finer hone for a touch up.

So first -- have someone that has done many razors get it back on track.
Invest in a good but not crazy expensive strop. And shop for a fine
maint hone...

The magic marker trick should be mentioned. It lets you see with ease
where your hone touches the steel and lets you see where it does not.
Run the marker over the edge and spine... let dry. One one stroke
on each side and inspect...