Thread: Rolls Razor how good an edge do they take.

I'm trying to hone up a rolls blade and I have it as what I would consider to be just about shave ready but not as sharp as I get my straights.

It was an ebay buy and having established that the built in hone isn't bringing it back to shave ready I removed the safety bar, used a light slurry on a coticule then diluted to water and finished with 100+ laps on a PHIG. I then went to the built in hone then stropped it with the built in strop.

The shave was OK and the blade isn't far off where I would like it to be, my next move would be to take it onto a 1k stone and follow a progression but I'm wondering if the blade will take a really good edge or should I expect it to be just short of a decent quality straight.

You have to remember the rolls is kind of a hybrid between a DE and a straight so the result would fall kind of in-between. I'm not sure you will ever get a shave to really equal a straight. However I've never heard of someone trying to really hone the thing like that so who knows.

Well the blade is hollow ground so its pretty much a straight on a stick! I suppose my question could equally be, how good is the steel?

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

However I've never heard of someone trying to really hone the thing like that so who knows.

Yes, hone it as you would a straight, for the first honing. Set the bevel on 1K (i use 1 piece electrical tape on the spine) then progress up. I've found that once I get a good edge, the built hone works fine as a simple barbers hone. I use just a Norton 1k -4k to set bevel. Then finish on a cheap 8k and c12k (that I ordered from a polish vendor). I've found once honed properly the built in hone can keep it going for a long time. I truthfully can get a better edge on a Rolls than I can on my straights. But I'm still learning. Hope this helps.

Another tip with the Rolls, once you have a very sharp edge, if your only using the built in strop. You really have to strop the heck out of it the first time. I use increments of 2-5 minutes on the strop and it sometimes may take a 1/2 hour or so of nice slow pace stropping to get it right. Once you get the edge you like it only needs about 2 minutes of stropping before you shave and about 1 minute after the shave. The blades to me only seem to need refreshed on the included hone every 6 months or so, but I only seem to use the Rolls once a week or so. It takes a while to get an old Rolls shave ready but once there, it's pretty easy to maintain. It will reward you with nice shaves.

So far, I have not been able to get a Rolls blade as sharp as a straight (or a Personna or Feather DE for that matter). I use the same stones (Nakayamas, coticules, thuris, etc.) that I use for straights.
I love the concept of "a straight on a stick." The Rolls package appeals to me. I will keep at it, but to this point I have not been able to perfect this system.

I never had to re-hone the Rolls I had, but believe me, it was silly crazy sharp and delivered wonderful shaves.

I have two Rolls Razors and in my experience the steel from which their blades was made is of very good quality.

I rather admire the general build and concept of the Rolls Razor, but also tend to think that the so-called honing stone that is built into the RR case isn't good for much more than 'gentle' maintenance and can't be relied upon to return the blade edge to factory-new condition. However, I have successfully rehoned one of the blades by pushing it back and forth on a series of external honing stones. I quite agree with Stimpy52 that the blade can become 'crazy sharp'.

One thing you will have to be aware of when rehoning the RR blades is that it one must remember to 'soften' (slightly round off) the corners of the blade after rehoning. The original blades were so prepared and it is necessary, as otherwise the thing will have a (slight) tendency to dig in and give small scratches or cuts when maneuvered around the face. I know this from experience.