Thread: Straight Razors Dull Despite Little Use

Notice he's only working with the 1/3 of the hone width.

Yep. And that is the "rock" I was talking about but that demonstration speaks more than 10,000 words in writing.

Great video for smiling blades , not so much for warped blades.

Whilst the rocking action will work on the convex side of the warp you can completely miss the middle of the blade on the concave side by rocking upwards to the toe.
You need to slide the razor down off the stone to get the middle. Think a bow's action when playing a violin. Not too aggressive an angle but enough to keep spine & edge contact for the full stroke.
That's why the stone needs to be chamfered.

Funny, Oz. That's how I hone almost all razors, warped or not. Just comfortable for me to do, being I hone stone in hand.

Originally Posted by outback

Funny, Oz. That's how I hone almost all razors, warped or not. Just comfortable for me to do, being I hone stone in hand.

You learn a light touch that way too.

Yep, you save yourself a lot of time trying to correct geometry on blades when you learn how to use the first quarter to third of the stone instead of trying to make it lie flat. I also use the corners for the tip or heel or even the middle of it is warped.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Great video for smiling blades , not so much for warped blades.

Whilst the rocking action will work on the convex side of the warp you can completely miss the middle of the blade on the concave side by rocking upwards to the toe.
You need to slide the razor down off the stone to get the middle. Think a bow's action when playing a violin. Not too aggressive an angle but enough to keep spine & edge contact for the full stroke.
That's why the stone needs to be chamfered.

Exactly correct. But, if you slide the heel off the stone to hit the middle of the blade, you need to make up that lack of wear on the heel if you want the edge to wear evenly.

You can also just use the corner of a stone to ride into the frown/concavity.

If applied torque is constant, the razor will follow its contour. In experienced hands, IMO

Originally Posted by Steve56

Exactly correct. But, if you slide the heel off the stone to hit the middle of the blade, you need to make up that lack of wear on the heel if you want the edge to wear evenly.

You can also just use the corner of a stone to ride into the frown/concavity.

Not an issue if you do a correct X-stroke. The heel gets its time on the stone and on top of that the heel always gets more pressure being the first contact with stone.
Plus the fact the hand holding the razor is closest to the heel.

If you use two hands it's a good way to hone into a smile as you can add a little pressure heel & toe specifically but without the right touch two hands can be too much.

Originally Posted by outback

A glutton for punishment.. Eh!

Yep, if he is going to try to learn with junk razors. Good luck! Vintage American razors are what you should be learning on. Not junk China made. Remember, you get what you pay for.