Thread: If you had to do it all over again...

I'm new to this particular obsession and thus far I've 1) smashed both of my electric razors against a brick wall (the reason I became interested in alternative shaving techniques in the first place); 2) purchased a good brush and shaving soap to ease into wetshaving while researching straight razors; 3) purchased a couple of $15 razors on ebay, a black diamond and a silberstahl; and 4) have read the entire Honing and Stroping and Stones forum.

Now I think I'm ready to ask a couple of questions to the collected wisdom of this group. First, it seems obvious that the honing equipment of choice is the Norton 4K/8K combination and I'm fully expecting to order one depending on your feedback. My only reservation is that I already have several stones in my woodshop including a combination india, a soft white arkansas and a black surgical arkansas. I know that the india is much too coarse for a straight razor, but will the two arkansas stones do the job?

Second, I have a granite lapping plate (approx 9" x 12" x 3.5"--weight ~70 lbs) that is dead flat (<0.00002") and rarely used. I was thinking that instead of purchasing a paddle strop, I would buy some leather from Hand America attach it to the lapping plate with pressure sensitive adhesive and treat the leather(s) with cromium oxide (0.5 micron) and boron carbide (1.8 micron) to finish honing razors prior to stroping. Thoughts on this approach?

Oh yes, one last thing. Because I really have no idea what a shave ready razor feels like, I'm thinking of purchasing one from Lynn as a point of reference so that I know what my razors should aspire to.

Thanks in advance for thoughts, advise, comments.
Ed

Well, you really need to know the grit of the stones your going to use. Of course you could experiment and see how it goes but really most of use here use the norton because it just works so good its taylor made for straights. I'd say do yourself a favor and get it.

As far as the strop goes it would probably work with the chrome oxide but I'd stay away from the boron carbide thats pretty strong stuff for a strop. Boron carbide will scratch saphire with just a glancing pass. The 1.8 seems too coarse to me maybe .25 just as with diamond paste.

Certainly having Lynn or any of the other honemeisters do the honing for you will give you a super sharp blade but realistically if its passes all the tests then when you shave you'll know if its sharp. It should give you a smooth clean shave without any pulling or discomfort.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a shave ready one first, gotten a paddle strop and nice brush and just waited on the norton.

JMHO, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd

1. have purchased the 4/8K Norton and a good strop asap instead of trying to make do with less expensive alternatives.
2. I'd have concentrated on honing one half-decent ebay razor to hanging-hair sharpness before I started buying a bunch of ebay restoration projects which diluted my attention from developing better honing skills.

I suggest you not approach this as an "instant gratification" activity... you have the rest of your life to perfect your skills, so why create a lot of tension trying to hurry it along. These things take time, at least for most of us. There's a lot of trial and error involved... what works for one razor doesn't necessarily work for another, and how you shave your face will be unique to you as well.

I highly recommend you buy a shave-ready razor from one of the honemeisters, but I suggest you consider trying to do it yourself first. If you get that shave-ready too soon you risk it becoming dull and your memory of how keen its sharpness was will have faded before your honing skills mature enough to compare. I would guess most (at least lots) of us started by sharpening the best we could and then shaving as much of our face as we could, finishing up with a DE or M3. When we stopped progressing and felt there must be something more, we bought the shave-ready. And then we practiced honing some more...

Originally Posted by azjoe

JMHO, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd

1. have purchased the 4/8K Norton and a good strop asap instead of trying to make do with less expensive alternatives.
2. I'd have concentrated on honing one half-decent ebay razor to hanging-hair sharpness before I started buying a bunch of ebay restoration projects which diluted my attention from developing better honing skills.

I suggest you not approach this as an "instant gratification" activity... you have the rest of your life to perfect your skills, so why create a lot of tension trying to hurry it along. These things take time, at least for most of us. There's a lot of trial and error involved... what works for one razor doesn't necessarily work for another, and how you shave your face will be unique to you as well.

I highly recommend you buy a shave-ready razor from one of the honemeisters, but I suggest you consider trying to do it yourself first. If you get that shave-ready too soon you risk it becoming dull and your memory of how keen its sharpness was will have faded before your honing skills mature enough to compare. I would guess most (at least lots) of us started by sharpening the best we could and then shaving as much of our face as we could, finishing up with a DE or M3. When we stopped progressing and felt there must be something more, we bought the shave-ready. And then we practiced honing some more...

What a great post. Nuff said.

Originally Posted by azjoe

JMHO, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd

1. have purchased the 4/8K Norton and a good strop asap instead of trying to make do with less expensive alternatives.
2. I'd have concentrated on honing one half-decent ebay razor to hanging-hair sharpness before I started buying a bunch of ebay restoration projects which diluted my attention from developing better honing skills.

I suggest you not approach this as an "instant gratification" activity... you have the rest of your life to perfect your skills, so why create a lot of tension trying to hurry it along. These things take time, at least for most of us. There's a lot of trial and error involved... what works for one razor doesn't necessarily work for another, and how you shave your face will be unique to you as well.

I highly recommend you buy a shave-ready razor from one of the honemeisters, but I suggest you consider trying to do it yourself first. If you get that shave-ready too soon you risk it becoming dull and your memory of how keen its sharpness was will have faded before your honing skills mature enough to compare. I would guess most (at least lots) of us started by sharpening the best we could and then shaving as much of our face as we could, finishing up with a DE or M3. When we stopped progressing and felt there must be something more, we bought the shave-ready. And then we practiced honing some more...

azjoe,
Strikes me as sound advice. I had been practicing on one razor using my arkansas stones and have brought the edge to the point where it will shave the hair on my arm. For now, I'm putting things aside until my Norton stone arrives. Looking forward to comparing the cutting speed and quality of edge between the Arkansas and the Norton.

Your admonition against impatience really strikes a chord with me; as a forester I have the good fortune of being able to wait 20-100+ years for my efforts to mature! I am, however, hoping that it does not take quite that long for me to learn proper honing technique :-)
Ed

Welcome to the SRP group! As you now know there is a really great bunch of people here. Just continue to ask the questions when needed.

I believe that you will find the Norton MUCH! faster cutting than the Arkansas stones. Several of the guys here know how to use the Arkansas stones for razors but they are decendents of Job from the bible ( incredibley patient).

In reality you need to keep the Arkansas stones to help remove any chips in the edges. The Norton 4000 will do that but it is slow.

The abrasive pastes applied to a paddle strop will really refine the edge, especiall the 0.5 followed by the 0.25. A lot of us use the abrasive pastes for the very simple reason that they work. Several of my "paddle strops" are homemade like what you suggest. They are just a piece of flat,smooth leather placed upon a flat surface. I use plexiglass, glass, corian, marble, granite, whatever is flat.

Enjoy the journey,

Azjoe- Great advice. That is kind of what I did. Worked on an ebay junker till I got so far. Then had help from many people on site then Lynn helped by sharpening one for me. Now I have something to compare with. It helps to know what really sharp is. Now I can get mine close to Lynn's work.