Thread: el cheapo method

Hey all,

I'm a straight razor newbie but am good at sharpening knives by hand (all my work knives can nick the hairs off your arm). I improvised a method which may not be new but I couldn't find it by searching, so I thought I'd put it out there for feedback.

On a whim, I picked up a BudK stainless steel razor. The factory edge was like a butter knife, so I honed it on my silicon carbide stone until the factory grind was no more, then smoothed it on a white Arkansas stone.

At this point it was sharp enough to shave my arm, but not to shave my face. You could see the roughness even without magnification. What I had was a skinning-knife edge, but still not a razor edge.

Next, I took a piece of denim, laid it on a flat surface & smeared auto polishing compound on with a butter knife. Note: I would not do this with carbon steel! But stainless is pretty non-reactive, I've used this polish on knives before. The brand is "No. 7" and it comes in a green & white can.

Now I polished the edge with a motion identical to stropping. Stainless is hard stuff & it took a couple hundred strokes, but when I was done, the cutting edge was like a mirror. I carefully cleaned all the polishing compound off & stropped it on my Harley-Davidson belt, which is made of smooth, hard leather.

I tested it on my face using olive oil and shave gel: now THAT'S a razor!

Mostly I did this because the local hardware store doesn't stock strops or 8000-grit stones & I was eager to get started. I'll get some proper equipment but this method might be useful for someone who doesn't have the $ for an expensive Japanese waterstone. Plus, I also use the polishing compound to polish the butcher steel I use for my kitchen cutlery.

PS: here's another el cheapo tip: the metal rod from an old computer printer makes a GREAT butcher steel! They're extremely hard & highly polished.

Hi booga,

congratulations on your first shave, i suggest you do get that 8000 grit stone, it's a necessity for razor's edge.

I have a question for you: when using kitchen steel, in wich direction do you move the blade, stropping or honing motion? I have read somewhere that the purpose of the kitchen steel is to realigne the edge...

thanx,
Nenad

You slice into the steel using VERY light pressure like you're trying to whittle it. Again, DO NOT press the knife into the steel, just let it glide. One of the persistent myths about butcher steel that refuses to die is that people think the steel needs to be textured. This is wrong: you're only trying to realign the teeth, NOT remove metal. Textured steel will ruin the edge. A good steel should be hard & polished smooth, & you should polish it every so often with polishing compound.

When your kitchen knife starts to feel dull (e.g. starts ripping the tomatoes instead of slicing them), a few strokes on the steel sets things right. Eventually the steel will no longer work & you have to hone w/the Arkansas stone & re-steel. Eventually the Arkansas stone will no longer work either & you have to hone w/the silicon carbide stone, then the Arkansas stone, then steel.

The object of using the steel is that you can delay re-honing, which delays that inevitable day when you've ground the knife down to a stump. This may not be a consideration at home because you probably don't cook that much. But for chefs & butchers, it's more important. I used to work in a deli when I was a kid & I have actually seen knives ground to stumps, & these knives are expensive, so they like to make them last.

Wow Boog; great story; I admire your resourcefulness.

Some people do use a steel edge-trailing, but most lead with it. The smooth steel that Handamerican makes is the only steel that will touch any of my fine Japanese cutlery. I use the lightest touch imaginable for a few strokes.



http://www.handamerican.com/steel3.html

Thanks booga, that is a great info about knifes... Now, just to find old printer to dismantle... I just started to look on computer hardware with different eyes

Since this quickly became knife post, what grit do you use on your knifes?

Nenad

Nice suggestion. I happen to work in a RMA shop for my company that repairs old dot matrix printers as one of the primary responsibilities. I may have a supply of these for the group shortly

Has any of you used ceramic mug's bottom to put an edge on a knife? I have just tried this and it seams to work just fine. Just pick up regular ceramic mug, turn it upside down and you should see "unfinished" plain ceramic ring around the edge. I used this after coarse stone, and it put a nice shine on the edge... another el-cheapo trick from the kitchen
I wonder if this woud work on a razor...

Nenad

That's an old boy scout trick I learned from my older brother. The ceramic mugs might be a wee bit rough for a razor, though.

Hello and welcome to the SRP!

You have discovered what we refer to as abrasive pastes. They have been used for many years and come in a variety of types and sizes.

Other compounds that can be used are honing compounds like Flex Cut Gold,
fine green bars from Formax Mfg, most any automotive rubbing compound,
Buffing compounds, rottenstone, graphite, rouge etc.

What we try to do here is focus on a progression of finer grits.
800-1000( to remove nicks and create new bevels)(ansi standard),
4000(JIS standard) and 8000(JIS standard) . Then we go to a 10,000 or 12,000 stone followed by a paddle strop pasted with even finer abrasive grains such as 1.0 micron or 0.5 micron.

To do this we need to know the grit size used in the compound. Thats where using the other stuff falls down. We simply don't have the necessary info.
I asked Formax Mfg. what grit size they had in their compound. They would not tell me all of it but did say that some of it went up to 6 microns in size.

Lee Valley also has a green honing compound but theirs is finer with an avg size of 0.5 micron chrome oxide.

I applaud your inventiveness! Once you get a chance to compare the razor edges developed with other stones let us know where you think the rubbing compound fits in the honing cycle, OK?

Hey Superfly, thanks for the props! 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).

Another persistent myth about sharpening is the myth of lubrication. For knife sharpening, silicon carbide stones and soft Arkansas stones don't need oil (I don't know about waterstones). John Juranitch claims it is counterproductive because pushing the knife through an oil/metal particle slurry is like trying to sharpen something by pushing it through a pile of sand. Juranitch says you will get better results from a dry stone, just slap it against your palm periodically to shake the particles loose (Arkansas stones can be washed w/dish soap & water to remove the black stuff).

If you have already oiled the stone, you will have to keep oiling it b/c the stone is now saturated with oil & the metal particles will stick to it. But if you buy a new stone, don't oil it. Eventually you will scrape a belly into the white Arkansas stone by using it dry, but this will take a long time, and you can restore the flatness w/a piece of 1000 wet/dry sandpaper & a flat piece of glass.

Actually, you can use sandpaper & glass instead of the stones. They're harder to use b/c the paper wants to bunch up instead of laying flat, you have to tension it w/your other hand, which is a pain. But it will work fine. If you use sandpaper, I would do the initial shaping with 400 or 600, and finish it with 1000 or 1200.

To randydance: you are correct sir, it doesn't say what size grit is in the automotive polishing compound. All I know is that the polishing compound is finer than the rubbing compound. I think the grit is pretty fine, judging from the fact that it took about 100 strokes per side to get a shaving-sharp edge, but "pretty fine" is not a scientific measurement. Meanwhile I'll keep an eye on ebay for a waterstone.

As a side note, today was my third shave & my first time not bleeding like a stuck pig. It's a total feel thing--ANY side-to-side motion, no mater how imperceptible, leaves a slash b/c the thing is so damn sharp. Make matters worse, I am cursed with a beard like barbed wire. Tomorrow I'm going to try the hot towel trick to see if that softens the hairs a bit.

Note: edited to fix a misleading omission