Thread: Complete rehone of an old razor

Hi guys,

I'm new here and also new to straight razor shaving and knife maintenance in general. I have an old Carrara which I picked up online which shaved OK out of the post. Did a bit of work which messed the blade completely, put it aside for a few months and have just brought it back out to play with. I managed to hone/strop it to a level which produced an acceptable, but far from perfect shave. After having a closer look at the blade I noticed that the blade was ever so slightly curved (in the same way a katana is curved). Now there was nothing wrong with it but in my infinite wisdom I decided to go for broke and make the edge straight again. So long story short I turned my shave sharp blade into a straight butter knife. The hones I have available are a 240/800 Saphire and a 2000 Saphire. I can get my hands on some 5 and 3 micron diamond paste and I have a double sided paddle strop. The main question I have is am I completely mad? Do I have any chance of returning the blade to shave ready with what I've got or have I just made a BIIIIG mistake? I have no problem with patience and technique.

Yes you do. First post some pictures. Hopefully there is someone on the site that is in Australia that can professionally hone it for you. Just curious, as the spine straight or was it hollow (a smile shape)? If it was hollow the blade may have been made with a smile to match the spine.

Unless a razor needs a complete bevel reset due to a frown or a chip I usually start with a 1000 grit hone and move to a 4000/8000 combo and finish on something approx 12000. There are a few users in Western Australia, maybe they can help you get started.

Here's a list of users in W. Australia
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...sername&order=

Hi, thanks for the reply! The spine is straight and I have a gut feeling the curve was due to dishing of the hone that was used previously, though I really have no idea. While I appreciate that getting someone to hone it for me would do the trick, I have taken this blade on as a project and I have every intention of doing this myself.

To me it looks in very nice shape and probably needs to start on a 1k stone unless there are issues I can't see in the picture

A curve on a blade is perfectly normal unless it's a frown

Yea it can be fixed.

Are these the stones you have?

These are the stones I have. They definitely do work as I can see metal removal but as I have never used anything else I couldn't say if they are any good

I would also tape the spine to save it from hone wear which can be a big problem when you first start honing (I always tape the spine on every razor)

That's not bad, what I had envisioned was far worse. You may want to send that off to a hone meister and get a beater to practice with. Honing is an acquired feel. Definitely read through the wiki and ask questions when they come up. First thing is get a 1k hone, no reason to practice with anything else until it shaves arm hair at the skin level. You can remove a surprising amount of steel with one. Honing can be a little costly to get started but the hones will last a home honer a lifetime, either a naniwa 3/8 or a Norton 4/8 and once you get those figured out get a finer finish hone. You can get a great shave off a 8k.

Although you probably can figure out how to get it back and shaving I am not sure why you would. Most times people first learn to shave well with a straight and then move onto honing. For the rice of some higher grit hones you can get that one sharpened a lot. Often the progression of hones used are 1K, 4K, 8K and then a finisher of sorts. You can get quit a once shaving edge from an 8K. There are a lot of threads about honing, from learning to specific problems. The foundation of every great edge is the bevel set, which is when the two sides come together to for a perfect and even apex. I think if I look back I should have sent more blades out and gotten far better at shaving before I started honing. Which ever way you choose to travel your path, you will find helpful and knowledgeable people here. So have a look here http://straightrazorpalace.com/class...wcat.php?cat=4 and find out how much you are looking at for honing and then make your choices as to where to start.