Thread: el cheapo method

Quote:

Originally Posted by superfly
there is no way you will maintain the straight razor without good honing stone. You'll have to get one eventually, so better get it now. It's a once in lifetime buy (if your not into collecting). Norton 4000/8000 3" synthetic wetstone is favorite combo here. It's the only one you'll need. Some people refine their razors with fine abrasive pasted strop, or finer hones, but you can shave straight from the 8000 side of the Norton. I do.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

I don't know what your basis is for this conclusion, but there are plenty of people who maintain their razors with only barber hones or pasted strops. The Norton 4/8K is only a necessity if you're restoring Ebay razors. Booga already has plenty of stones to do an occasional fix on a razor. The baber hones and/or strops will maintain it for a very long time.

Ok Joe, I have to reply here:

I don't know which conclusion you are having problems understanding... booga, as I understand, wants to shave with straight razor. He can't do that with these stones:

quote booga:
For knives, I use a fine silicon carbide stone from the hardware store when I need to REALLY remove metal (these aren't labeled but feel like about 600 grit), and I use a white Arkansas stone to finish & for day-to-day honing (again unlabeled, but feels like about 1500 grit (actually 1200+grit ed.note).

And if you are willing to try his method of bringing the 1500 grit edge to shaving state (with denim, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla e.t.c.) you are not loving your razors enough.

I suggested to mr.booga to get finer stone, and stated that Norton 4/8K is the favorite here (tell me if this is not true.) Barber's hones, since they are called "barber's" afterall, I am sure they will put good edge on straight razor, but since I don't use them, I cannot tell you nothing about them. Maybe someone here can help you with that.

Nenad

Originally Posted by booga

Really? Because my razor was like a butter knife out of the box & I created the edge from scratch using this method. I assumed when the edge was worn out I could just do the same thing again. Granted, I had to do a lot of work with the polishing compound due to the big difference between the white Arkansas stone & the compound, but it did work.

booga, assumption is the mother of all screw-ups. Wethern's Law ...

Superfly, booga is a pretty saavy guy and came right back at you with the right answer. He doesn't need a Norton.

He has a hard Arkansas which is pretty fine. It's used on surgical instruments. That's what got him to the makeshift pasted strop. The fact that he finished the razor fine disproves your suggestion.

We need to be careful what we suggest to newbies. Some other guy might just run out and buy an expensive Norton to maintain one razor.

All booga needs is barber hones or pasted strops. There are plenty of guys who maintain razors with just barber hones. A simple two sided barber hone would give him a very nice progression of grits. Tell Hal Wilson he needs a Norton. He can hone circles around both of us with his barber hones.

So, there's my concern. Be more careful about what you tell newbies.

Actually, Joe, the white Arkansas stone is a soft stone, which is why it took so much friggin work going from the stone to the polishing compound--the huge difference in coarseness. But it did work. So far it looks like I have to use the newspaper on plate glass every 3 or 4 days. This is expected: I have a heavy, fast-growing beard & have to shave twice a day (i.e. before going out at night or I look like a wino). I destroy disposables at about the same rate. I expect to have to break out the polishing compound monthly. I think next time I'll smear the compound over newspaper on the plate glass (instead of using denim) to make sure the angles remain true. We'll see how it goes.

Edited to add: assumption is the mother of screw-ups, but screw-ups are the mother of invention Just ask Edison. Right now I'm working with a $10 razor so I don't mind performing experiments on it. If I ruin it, OK, next time I'll know what not to do. So far everything is working great but I wouldn't necessarily do this stuff to some expensive vintage razor with pearl inlays & mahogany handles or whatever. A razor like that, if I ever get one, will go to Lynn

Booga, you don't have to make an expensive investment to maintain your razor more easily, but you do need something finer than a soft Arkansas stone. You might be able to manage with a two-sided baber hone. You can pick one up in decent condition on Ebay. That would give you a medium and fine hone, roughly 5K and 10K. If the Arkansas is equivalent to 2K, you have a pretty decent transition. Ans when you go to the paste, you won't need all those strokes.

Also, the idea is that if you learn with this junker, you'll be able to maintain your razor yourself, and you'll only need Lynn for the problems.

Booga, good barber hones (the ones everyone is talking about) can be had for much cheaper than the Norton, check eBay, or tilly's website http://www.redtrader99.com/hones.html
has some decent ones, I've bought most of mine from her and have yet to be disappointed. Different people have different amounts of luck with these, but I've had good luck with them.
And I've not broke the bank with them, either.
John P.

Thanks for the link! You are both absolutely right, having a hone would save a LOT of strokes with the polishing compound. Polishing the hell out of one razor is doable, but if you have more than one, it will get real frustrating, real fast. I'll check that site out. Also, if you do an eBay search for "black arkansas" there are a lot of never-used hard black Arkansas stones in the $25 range.

A buddy of mine with a machine shop just gave me a small tube of 25 micron diamond lapping compound. That also might fit nicely in between the soft Arkansas & the polishing step. I haven't tried it because my razor is already too sharp for that. Maybe I'll try it out on a knife just for grins.

Edited to add: I'm looking at that site now. The caption says, "Lithide Barber Hone. This hone can lapped and it takes on a mirror finish , like glass...This hone has proved to bea fine finishing hone." This raises a few questions:
1. What are you supposed to lap it with?
2. Do you use it with water, oil, or dry?
3. Is it finer or coarser than newspaper over glass? (i.e. do I use it before, after, or instead of the newspaper?) Right now I'm using the newspaper about every 3 days, then stropping. The edge is sharp, but not Lynn-sharp.

Originally Posted by booga

Thanks for the link! You are both absolutely right, having a hone would save a LOT of strokes with the polishing compound. Polishing the hell out of one razor is doable, but if you have more than one, it will get real frustrating, real fast. I'll check that site out. Also, if you do an eBay search for "black arkansas" there are a lot of never-used hard black Arkansas stones in the $25 range.

What's the grit equivalent of this stone? THey use oil and razor hones usually use water and/or lather. I don't know if you would want to put an oily blade on one of them.

A buddy of mine with a machine shop just gave me a small tube of 25 micron diamond lapping compound. That also might fit nicely in between the soft Arkansas & the polishing step. I haven't tried it because my razor is already too sharp for that. Maybe I'll try it out on a knife just for grins.

I's really too coarse, about 700.

Edited to add: I'm looking at that site now. The caption says, "Lithide Barber Hone. This hone can lapped and it takes on a mirror finish , like glass...This hone has proved to bea fine finishing hone." This raises a few questions:
1. What are you supposed to lap it with?
2. Do you use it with water, oil, or dry?
3. Is it finer or coarser than newspaper over glass? (i.e. do I use it before, after, or instead of the newspaper?) Right now I'm using the newspaper about every 3 days, then stropping. The edge is sharp, but not Lynn-sharp.

That hone is probably 12-14K and slow, for finishing. It's also pretty small. You can lap with sandpaper or another hone. No oil on baber hones. Most can be used wet and dry.

It sounds like the most useful hone for you would be a Swaty type hone. Those are very fine but fairly fast. They're used when a razor starts to pull to refresh it. You do a few swipes and strop and you're back in business. Since you're used to honing you also wouldn't have a problem using it to finish. You just need tobe careful.

OK, I'll save the diamond paste for knives & keep an eye out for a swaty. Thanks for all the advice

Edit: am bidding on a Pike American Swaty Hone. I'm really curious whether the hone will do a better job than what I'm doing now, cuz I just touched it up & it is freakin SHARP. These seem to pop up on eBay regularly so I'll land one eventually.

Side note: newspaper on glass is a MUCH better surface for polishing compound than denim on a countertop. Plate glass is nice & flat--so flat, you can feel a slight suction as you strop the blade over the moistened newspaper. I now believe my original denim method was misguided & would probably lead to the angles getting out-of-true given enough time.