hey everyone whats happening? Im new to Str8s but not new to honing...well at least with knives. My question is what are your finishing techniques. I have a 12,000 grit stone and Im just wondering what yall would do with it to a Str8? Thanks
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hey everyone whats happening? Im new to Str8s but not new to honing...well at least with knives. My question is what are your finishing techniques. I have a 12,000 grit stone and Im just wondering what yall would do with it to a Str8? Thanks
A 12k should be a great finisher for a straight. I mostly use my Asagi, but I also have a vintage Thurry that I pull out now and then.
The 12k should work fine for your razor(s), just keep in mind honing razors is not the same as sharpening knives. When you work on a razor you apply almost no pressure, and on polishing stone just the weight of the razor is enough.
wellcome to the world of straights. i have to agree with mainaman your honeing skills with knifes will not tranfer to straight razors. two very different kettles of fish.it took me 1/2 a year to unlearn my 40 years of knife making /sharpening skills before i got a shavable edge on a stright razor. read all you can find in wiki and buy a prehoned razor so you can see what your shooting for
Welcome to SRP. A + 1 to what has already been said. For razors the bevel setting is the foundation and the sharpening comes next followed by the finishing. In the SRP Wiki (see the link in my sig line below) you'll find a honing section. I recommend you read "Lynn Abrams on Honing" in the wiki honing section for an overview of what it is about. From there go to the separate tutorials and videos available in the Wiki and you'll have a good head start. :gl:
I also came over from high end knife sharpening and can say that razors are very different, and most of your skills are not usefull... However...
Your understanding of edges and bevels will serve you well as you start learning how to sharpen a straight. Your learning curve should be faster as you know what to look for. But that is about all you can bring over from regular knife sharpening.
Read Lynn's bit on honing and see whare that leads you :)
To be fair there are some people who hone razors the same way one sharpens a knife (including some notable razor makers) and the edges ends up just fine after stropping.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cotdt
Sorry, how do you mean? You should never hone a razor with the spine raised, as you would a knife, if thats what you mean.
In fact, you should not hone a razor the same way you sharpen a knife full stop, the two methods are totally different.
I'm not a knife guy, but DwarvenChef makes good points about the transferability and differences of the skills in his post. The understanding of how an edge progresses is transferable, but thats about it.
Who are these people who sharpen razors the same way as knives?
I am sorry but setting a bevel on a 270mm knife definitely requires motion different than what you gonna do on a razor , it also requires a completely different grip and very different type of pressure.Quote:
Originally Posted by cotdt
Welcome to SRP. The member introductions are in another thread, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbodude
Well, you know, we have a set of Frequently Asked Questions, from which the following gem hails:Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbodude
What hones can be used to sharpen straight razors?I wonder which of the documents referenced above need improvemtn in order to enable beginners like yourself to answer this question. Because we are constantly trying to improve our information to make it easier to use for beginners.
That will depend on the task at hand. Hones roughly fall into three categories: Bevel establishment, sharpening, and polishing. See What hone(s) do I need?. Also, see the honing category, especially the guide to progressive honing.
Best regards,
Robin
even among razors one might use different techniques- amount of pressure and stroke type. or is even different methods on the same razor for that matter;)
It does not especially matter if you are sharpening high end tools-(a razor is a tool too) what matters is whether you are making high end edges.
So if one is accustomed to producing high quality precise edges on one tool and cannot transfer all of the subtle information gleaned from sitting in front of the stones to another tool.......?:banghead:
Ha ha ha i didn't mean to start a war. I have watched some of Lynn's videos and noticed right away that honing razors is far different from knives. I just threw in that I know how to hone so you guys wouldn't have to change your vernacular for me. I guess what I was asking was what do you guys do to finish. What are some of your techniques. Thanks for the super quick responses though.
:rofl2: Don't mention the war !
You asked about hones. Finishing for me is usually 20 -30 LIGHT strokes on a Nakayama Asagi, just water or imperceptible slurry.
Finishing is really in stropping, tho yes, you can shave off a fine hone.
That's not what I meant. Of course you don't raise the spine when honing a razor, I think that is obvious to all. What I'm saying is that just like sharpening a knife, you put the blade to the stone, and sharpen until you raise a burr, then proceed onto the next stone. To me sharpening a knife and a razor is more similar than different.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stubear
In knife sharpening, it's also best to use light pressure once you get to the finer stones. It's also best to keep the stone flattened before sharpening. I think good knife sharpening, if you want it to be very sharp, is very much like razor sharpening. I can shave with my knives too if I give it a thin edge (8-9 degrees per side).
The usual sharpening motions are kind of different, but I can get the same results using different kinds of motions, whether edge leading, edge trailing, back-and-forth, or side-to-side diagonally.
But you don't want to raise a burr on a razor, at least I don't know anyone that does. Yes I look rediculous when I hone as I have headset magnifiers on when I do it :p
True, for regular honing you don't want the burr (though you get it anyway, it's just too small to see from a superfine stone). For new razors that you're bevel setting, and you're using a coarser stone you do want to see burr, so that you know the planes meet. You can apply the same idea for knives though.Quote:
Originally Posted by DwarvenChef
Most people don't go to their 16k grit stone for their knives but some do, and for those people the same principles apply. When I finish sharpening my yanagiba I shave my face with it so that I know I did my job in the sharpening. It shaves surprisingly well. For people that do this, the distinction between razor and knife sharpening is blurred.
I haven't tried that with my yanagi, my Nakiri... Ya had to try it, afterwards it stuck in my board on every slice so I microbeveled it :p
I see what your talking about, I guess we all do things differently. I'm pretty close to self taught as I didn't watch videos before I jumped in and did it :p So what I got used to doing is slightly different from what is seen here regularly. I keep telling myself to video myself and watch it to see what I'm doing, cause I don't see it.