Thread: Sharpening

My straight razor is in need of a little sharpening, as I feel it snagging at the hairs more often. I purchased this blade shave ready from a senior member this year and have definately had more than thirty shaves out of it.

What hone should I invest in? I'm not rich, but I know the responsibilty of investing in quality and would spend money on a good hone if it were highly recommended. I imagine I would not need a garage full of tools for this.

I live in Toronto, so sharpening services are few and far between (and if they exist, they advertise poorly).

Buy a poor man's strop so whippeddog.com if you are pressed for money. It contains a piece of balsa with CrOx. or you can make your own pasted strop, take smooth leather and treat it with CrOx. And stop your razor about 10 times on it.

Finally you could get a barber hone(I saw a swaty in the classifieds yesterday) and give the razor 5 laps on it.

And most of all, read the wiki about sharpening.

Cheers and

Update: great, the topic was moved from beginners, now my post sounds like a discouragement.

I think the two best options are:
1) Norton 4k/8k (and some 300 grit wet/dry sandpaper to lap it, esp. the 4k side)
2) vintage barber's hone like a Swaty - buy it from somebody who has used it for this exact purpose so that you can be assured that it will work.

Just a question, as thirty shaves doesn't seem a lot, but did you buy a strop and use it each time prior to shaving etc? Just asking as I'm a little confused with your OP.


Mick

As a first razor, I think 30 shaves before a touchup is quite good. As your technique improves, you'll get more and more.

The barber hone (or other finisher) may be all you need to get the razor back into form. But if you do need to go lower, the 4/8k is a great choice. Gugi's advice is spot on.

Thank you for the help. You make this seem easy. As for the Norton, do you recommend any vendor in particular? I only know of Fendrihan here in Canada and they do not carry it. As for the classifieds page, I saw the Swaty (but don't know if the shipping and Pound to Canadian currency conversion would work well for me). Unless Swaty is like the gold standard, can't-go-wrong barber hone. Is it?

The Fendrihan website website has hones in the $100 Can range, but is it better to buy used? I promise I wont belabour this any further, I just don't want to do anything stupid.

Fendrihan is a good choice if you live in Canada...Swaty is a trusted, well known Barber hone...
Used hones are fine...Just make sure you know what your buying....

Whipped dog has some nice barber's hones at a good price.

http://www.whippeddog.com/-----Barbers-Hones/

Originally Posted by markevens

Whipped dog has some nice barber's hones at a good price.

Barbers Hones

Looking at what he has... I really do not think those fragments are a good idea. I don't know how you can make any sort of a stroke on such a small piece.

With the Keen Kutter, I would request a photo of the back. If you are new to honing (or even with experience), it would be very easy to ding your edge on those chips on the edges of the hone.

I found a place to get a Norton 4/8 in downtown Toronto: Lee Valley. I wasn't even looking for it there. The price seems pretty good as well, seventy-five, (which with HST should come to something like $456.78 ). I can get the lapping sandpaper at Crappy Tire, and then I'll be on my way! Next stop: learning how to make shaving soap!