Thread: Is an inexpensive route available

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=19755
http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=19559
Reading the posts above got me to thinking.
Twice in one day is tough on a guy I know, but thats what reading SRP does to ya.

I believe there is a difference between cheap and inexpensive, right now extra cash is a commodity so I do my best to try to find an inexpensive route if at all possible. If that route is not available it just takes awhile longer to get what I want.
If you want to go cheap, a zeepk razor and using hand soap would probably be the cheap route. Not a great choice, or even good, but a cheap choice, remember the adage "you get what you pay for".
Inexpensive to me would be(my guesstimates not firm costs):
finding a quality razor, ebay/flea market/b/s/t, I just read one post where someone offered a newbie a honed razor for $15 (add another $25 if the razor needed to be honed say an ebay find)
A puck of Williams, a $1
Toss it in an old coffe cup, free
Boar brush, $5.
For a strop Ive heard of people using an old belt to start with, free, or go to Tandy and get a scrap of latigo and cut it to size maybe $10
Over time these can be replaced for better items as one sees fit, but this would be an inexpensive start. About $31-$56 to start shaving. If I'm wrong anywhere please let me know

My biggest question is for maintaining the edge or starting from the beginning with another ebay find
If I buy an inexpensive razor (If I buy, ya right I'm up to 12 at last count ) how can I inexpensively sharpen it?
I've read about setting the bevel with 1K grit sandpaper and that has worked great but where do I go from there?
Is leather paddle strops or balsa a viable route to go and if so what pastes would be used and what would the progression look like?
Since I have a bunch of excess leather, that seems to be an inexpensive way for me. I also have red jewelers rouge and a white stick from Tandy they call jewelers rouge for sharpening swivel knives. I enjoy making things myself so the extra effort there is not an issue?
I did read a thread that one of the folks here was working on polishing a blade from ebay junker to mirror using only pastes and wheels, would that work for honing on strops and paddles as well?

Or are stones the only way to hone? I'm not adverse to using them, if I can get them inexpensively. I just picked up a DMT6 course bench hone for $7 so I know they can be found although not easily.
I also have what I believe to be an old barbers hone, I don't know what it was used to sharpen last but it has about a 1/16 cup in the middle so a lapping I will go.
I have tried it on a regular blade and it seems to polish the edge instead of cutting it so it appears to be a pretty fine stone.
Sorry for the long rambling, post but to summarize How do I sharpen and care for the edge of a straight correctly but inexpensively?

TIA
Bob

www.theperfectedge.com
The belgian coticules are good stones, and a smaller coticule would be relatively cheap (like 30 or 40 $).

There are other stones, but I haven't used them so I cannot comment.

How do they cut. Would they replace say, a norton 4k or would they be like a barber hone more polishing than cutting?

Thx
Bob

Originally Posted by CactusBob

How do they cut. Would they replace say, a norton 4k or would they be like a barber hone more polishing than cutting?

Thx
Bob

They cut relatively fast for their high grit, and can sharpen most razors (especially full hollows) if you have enough patience (it could easily take hundreds of passes for a really dull razor). If you have a wedge without a working edge then you are going to need something courser though.

Originally Posted by CactusBob

Inexpensive to me would be(my guesstimates not firm costs):
finding a quality razor, ebay/flea market/b/s/t, I just read one post where someone offered a newbie a honed razor for $15 (add another $25 if the razor needed to be honed say an ebay find)
A puck of Williams, a $1
Toss it in an old coffe cup, free
Boar brush, $5.
For a strop Ive heard of people using an old belt to start with, free, or go to Tandy and get a scrap of latigo and cut it to size maybe $10
Over time these can be replaced for better items as one sees fit, but this would be an inexpensive start. About $31-$56 to start shaving. If I'm wrong anywhere please let me know

Nope your not wrong

Originally Posted by CactusBob

My biggest question is for maintaining the edge or starting from the beginning with another ebay find
I've read about setting the bevel with 1K grit sandpaper and that has worked great but where do I go from there?

Well I'm the biggest cheapskate on the board so lets see what I can teach my new padewan(sp?).

I use the 1000 grit sandpaper as you have mentioned to set the bevel. I think it works great, given the time this takes some guys with much more expensive tools.

From there I move to stones. Now the Norton 4/8000 is a great value at $65.00 it really can't be beat for its combination of speed and size. But for the real cheapskate looking to get started in the world of honing for less than that I have found (or rather learned about from my own master in the art of cheapness) These: Japanese Slip stones. Intended for putting mirror finish on curved carving tools, they can work well for razors too. You used to be able to get them even cheaper than that link so look around, you might find them on sale. At $35.00 from that site they are still about the cheapest known 4000 plus 8000 grit set out there. You can stack them to give yourself a flat surface and go to town. The biggest drawback I have found compared to the Norton is the fact that it takes about four times as many strokes as the Norton does to get the equivalent progress. I wouldn't bother with the available 1000 grit slip stone as the sandpaper does such a good job for even less.

For a finishing step, if your leather is of near strop quality, the best bet is to make a bench strop. This is done by gluing the Leather to a known flat surface, like a piece of MDF or polished stone, or a counter top scrap. I'd cut both the flat surface and the leather to matching dimensions to facilitate ease of use first. Then purchase some chromium oxide paste and get to honing.

Good luck!!

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Well I'm the biggest cheapskate on the board so lets see what I can teach my new padewan(sp?).

Hopefully I will be able to learn under your tutelage Master Cheapskate

So If I was to take an ebay razor start to finish it would be
1K sandpaper to set bevel
4k slip
8k slip
Chromium Oxide strop
plain strop

What about other pastes, I have red jewelers rouge and what Tandy calls Jewelers rouge although its white, would they help in there any where?

padewan Cheapskate

Nope those pastes won't really help. because we don't have any idea of the grit we can't possibly integrate them without a huge amount of work and testing. I know the Tandy chalky white stuff does take metal off a swivel knife but it could be far to coarse for use with our razors, or so fine we'd be working all day without any progress.

I don't count the plain strop as part of honing as it is part of the pre-shave routine.

By the way... you do leather carving right? even so it is worth while to treat yourself to one of the strops from Tony, he really has the art and science of making a very nice daily strop down perfectly I think you'd be hard pressed to find as nice a piece of leather and do as nice a job of installing the hardware while still beating his price. Sometimes we can have the best and still have the best value.

For the 4 and 8k slips I do the same pyramid laid out in the archive off the main page by Randy. The only change I have found necessary with these stones is to quadruple the number of strokes. I initially came to that conclusion because these stones seem to cut much slower (half as fast) and are half the size of the Norton so four times as many strokes it worked out so I have stuck with it. I've also done the straight progression from one stone to the next, its harder to do because it takes more "feel" for the sharpness of the blade, but theres a good tutorial for that on the boards here somewhere too.

Another option I've been a little to chicken to try is honing with honing films, or lapping film. Seraphim apparently does it, he mentions it in the thread extremely stupid sharp or something like that. The supplies are under the Scary sharp materials section on the same site that carries the slip stones. You can also find them at Japan woodworker.

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Nope your not wrong

I disagree, that is exactly how I got started.

Cheap soap and brush from Walgreens, coffee mug, leather from the local Leather Factory, and two razors from an antique store that I honed up with stones that I already had from my other various endeavors and finished on a barbers hone that came from a different antique store.

All said and done was under $50.

(but I quickly added the norton 4k/8k, though it wasnt absolutely necessary)

So yes, it can be done on the cheap, maybe not by everyone, since I had some stones to begin with, but for the most part it is possible.

I've taken an antique store razor from dull as a saddle to shaving sharp using nothing more than a polished marble tile from Home Depot (~$4.00), 3 sheets of 3M micro abrasive film, 15µ Silicon Carbide, 5µ Silicon Carbide and 0.5µ Chromium Oxide which cost about $7.00 and a 40 year old barbers strop inherited from my Dad. Yes I could shave with it, worked just fine actually... not quite as smooth as I like'm but serviceable. The very next day I went back to Lee Valley (where I bought the 3M film) and picked up a Norton 4K/8K hone and shortly afterwards got a Swaty in a trade for finishing. Inexpensive is possible, but rarely all that satisfying. Once I decided I wanted to drop the Feather AC and it's replacable blades and go with traditional straights, I promptly ordered a pair of coticules from Howard and a couple of DMT hones for lapping and rough work on beater razors and I have not looked back since.

I can use jerry rigged stuff, but only if I absolutely have too....

Regards

Kaptain "Make mine the deluxe version" Zero