Thread: Honing/sharpening service recommendations in NYC?

Brad,

Good advice above. The only comment I would make is that you should have some time shaving with a straight before you try your hand at honing. The NYC meet in May and Magpie are good options. Next would be to send the razor to Lynn for honing or one of the other people that offer that service in the classified section of this site. That way the shop is as close as you mail box. If you do go that route the small boxes available at the post office with lots of padding (bubble wrap) is a better way to send it.

Thanks for the Vote of confidence Joe! I just wish I could say I was as good as you or Dylan when it came to honing. I can make em shave ready, but you do it faster, and easier, and probably better. But practice makes perfect!

Someone should beat those AOS guys...knife sharpener for a razor? Pssh!

They should be forced to shave with edges "sharpened" by those people until the end of time.

For what it's worth, I recently took my razor to Westpfal & Co and was disappointed in the result.

Granted, I'm pretty new to this and my razor isn't great (I bought it in pretty good condition at a flea market a few months ago), but after the sharpening it seemed in far worse condition than before. I even brought it back to Westpfal and they sent it for a second sharpening free of charge (they have a guarantee of some sort), but it wasn't any better than after the first sharpening. I did strop it before each shave after (something I'm also new at), but I don't think that's the problem.

It's a pity, because it's a nice little shop and I would have liked to support their business.

Don't know of any honemeisters in NYC but a lot of folks on this site live in NYC and have the proper equipment. You might put out a request for help and see what comes back.

Originally Posted by bradheintz

First, thanks for setting up such a cool and helpful community. I've been lurking for a while and I've found loads of useful information here. I have a new situation that I'm hoping someone has an answer to.

A few weeks ago, I bought my first straight razor - a T-I from AOS. I had been shaving with it for a couple of weeks, and on the day I finally felt like I had the hang of it - I had a smooth 2-pass shave with no nicks - I dinged the blade on my faucet while going in for a rinse. Nothing huge, but enough that I could see it up close, hear the difference on the strop, and was just not going to drag it across my face.

I called the AOS on Madison Ave., and they recommended that I take it to Henry Westpfal & Co. (mentioned elsewhere on this site) to have the defect ground out. I did so, got the blade back and it looked good - the ding was gone, edge looked straight & mirror-shiny.

When I got it home, it was a different story. The blade was far, far duller than when I put it in their hands. It's just not taking the hair off my face. Stropping does not seem to help.

Can anyone recommend a blade shop or honemeister in NYC, preferably one that does the work on the premises? Westpfal claims that they guarantee their work, but I'm wary of taking the blade back just to have more metal ground off and get the same poor result.

Also, is there any chance I'm doing something wrong? I'm following the same steps that worked before I brought it in (preparing my face, 20 passes each way on the strop). I'm not sure what I could be missing here, if the blade is really sharp and shave-ready.

Thanks in advance for your help.