Thread: Straight Razors Dull Despite Little Use

Don't confuse keeping it simple with not wanting to understand it. My daughter told me about her physics teacher talking about hockey and he said "they're doing a whole lot of equations out there." As you may or may not know, I'm a huge hockey fan (Go Bolts!) And with the possible exception of Alex Killorn who not only attended but graduated from Harvard, I don't think very many of those guys really use a scientific calculator or a slide rule while they're playing and couldn't tell you a formula or a scientific principle about why what they're doing works. They just know how to do it.

To be honest, I think that guy from the science of sharp is over analyzing. Those microscope pictures are cool to look at, but in terms of honing a razor they're not really very useful. The amount of time and effort it would take to see everything that you needed to see through that tiny little subsection you can get in that microscope picture would take you forever. The edge would be oxidized and no good by the time you finished. Sure, it might be helpful for getting a really narrow understanding of a very broad principle but that's about it. I also disagree with a number of his methods.

I am a locksmith so my entire day…hell, my entire career is spent analyzing things, not only mechanical principles and understanding how they work but people's motives and whether or not they're on the level or not; it can make you quite cynical really; trust me, I know about analyzing things and what I also know from doing this for the last 45 years is that it's really easy to over think things. The simplest answer is usually the correct one.

My Dad had a sharpening business back in the '70s and '80s. He was mostly concentrated on saw blades, scissors , chisels and knives but he did hone razors also. By that time they were fairly phased out in barber shops, but there were still people that used them. Anyway, he never used any sort of magnification. He never had any fancy tools; even though I have a great big razor hone of his which I use I don't remember if I ever saw him use it, not that he didn't. I just don't remember seeing it. What I saw him use was a double-sided razor hone (Romo fast cut) a piece of cotton for checking for chips, a piece of cloth he did a slice test with and a leather belt. To final test the razor he would run it across his stubbly chin dry. I still use that same method today. It was not scientific, at least not to the extent of using an electron microscope but it was scientific enough to dry shave his face. What do you think people have done for the last few thousand years? They figured out a way that works.

To quote Josh Lucas from that movie Sweet Home Alabama, "Honey, just cuz I talk slow doesn't mean I'm stupid." I've seen that guy's pictures, I've also seen other pictures taken with a microscope back in the 1920s. That's all I need to see of that. Trust me I know what I need to know without doing all of that and Mike does more so than I do. You will one day too. And as Mike said you will look back and say, " Man I was really overthinking that."