Thread: Sharpening with a wheel

First of all, I know this might make many of you cringe. Please don't hate me! :-) I ask because I am truly curious and could not find anything by searching the forums.

Behold this product:

razorknife.com

I have this sharpening wheel system and it is a wonderful knife sharpener. Three short passes on each wheel and my pocket knife will shave an arm. I know several people who use it and they all love it. All my knives in the future (kitchen, pocket, hunting, etc.) will be sharpened with these wheels.

Can you use something like this to sharpen a straight edge? Is the blade on a straight edge too delicate? Would it tend to just disappear under the speed of the wheel?

Again, please don't banish me from the forums for asking. I like this place. :-)

Jonathan

I don't think anyone will banish you, but if this is your idea of sharp, you've got a long road ahead of you!

Straight razors are in an entirely different realm than knives, shaving arm hair is childs play for a straight razor. A well sharpened straight will lop off arm hair while simply passing over the arm 1/8" above the skin.... try that with your knives! Your paper wheels will simply overheat and ruin a straight razor.

I have a Tormek that I use for honing knives and anyone who has tried one of my knives has commented on how bloody sharp they are, but they would never be able to shave my face with any degree of comfort, if at all.

So, please do not try to use those wheels to hone a straight, it just won't work and it WILL ruin the razor.

Regards

Christian

Yup, what he said!

The thinness of a razor's steel makes it very intolerant of heat. You can lose the temper very quickly on a fast wheel.
The grit size is also a major factor. The absolute coarsest grit I use is 1000 grit and that is used only when I have to remove chips from the edge. 4000 grit is used to develop the bevel initially and from then on it is 6000 grit. For an acceptable shaving edge 8000 grit is the minimum for me. Other go much higher.

Hope this helps,

In addition to what randy said.

Their second and final step is "polishing" with a 1200 grit "buffing rouge" applied to a cardboard wheel. Their polishing step is about as fine a step as should be used on a razor to correct major problems. I use 1000 grit for removing nicks and setting the bevel angle, and I don't take that many passes either. In fact given a slow buffing speed of 1700rpm not full grinding speed you would have to touch the blade to the wheel for roughly 2 seconds total to do as much honing as I do to remove a small nick. After that I move to my rough stone that is 4000 grit and start to put an edge on.

Basically the sharpest knife most guys have ever seen is just about sharp enough to be considered dull for a razor.

Thanks all for the info. I wasn't about to set off and try to hone the razor or anything. I have to learn to shave first so I can actually dull the edge. :-)

When I first unpackaged the razor, it appeared to me that the blade was much sharper than any knife I'd ever seen. I realized my sharpening wheels would probably not translate. I just wanted to hear from the experts.

On my second shave, I moved the blade horizontally, even though in my head I was saying "don't move it horizontally" the whole time I was shaving. I felt it cut my skin, but the cut was so light, it didn't bleed until 4 or 5 minutes later. I knew for sure at that point this was a completely different kind of sharp.

Jonathan

Originally Posted by jonnyg

I felt it cut my skin, but the cut was so light, it didn't bleed until 4 or 5 minutes later. I knew for sure at that point this was a completely different kind of sharp.

Jonathan

Yep.

Sharpening knives is like driving on the interstate; straights are like NASCAR. Just because you can do the first one really well doesn't mean that you're ready for the big time.

But many of the same principles apply, so you probably have a bit of a head start over someone who's never picked up a hone before.

Josh