Thread: My razors won't get sharp...

Originally Posted by TDITim

Ok, thanks
How long does it take on the 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.....I have been doing it for a while and it is getting there but I have a feeling it may be a while more. I have a small dip in the middle. But this is definately the reason I have uneven where on my blades and they are not sharp consistantly.

It takes as long as it takes. Patience may be required, but the dividends are worth the effort you put in. And as has been said, once you get them flat, it's a simple task to keep them flat.


Mick

I finally got my razor uniformly sharp all along the edge. It can cut a dangling hair. However, the shave still isn't as comfortable or as close as my DE! I guess I'll have to get a finer stone and some strop pastes.

Hi everyone. I'm trying to sharpen my razor but so far I'm totally defeated hehe. What should I expect from my Welsh stone? I finished sharpening with a Japanese 6000 grit stone. I have a feeling that the Welsh hone doesn't affect the edge at all. Maybe the stone is too fine and I have to find a more coarse natural stone?

P. S. Sorry for my English, hehe. I'm Russian.

What kind of razors? Condition? What exactly are you doing with the stones you are using?

Erm... An old Soviet razor. Condition? Pretty satisfactory, as far as I can judge. I flattened my stones on a glass with carborundum powder before sharpening. Always used light strokes. But I'm not sure I finished the work properly on the 6000 grit stone. Should my bevels look like a miracle after it? I can see the slanted marks on them clearly without a magnifier.

Originally Posted by RustyTorch

Hi everyone. I'm trying to sharpen my razor but so far I'm totally defeated hehe. What should I expect from my Welsh stone? I finished sharpening with a Japanese 6000 grit stone. I have a feeling that the Welsh hone doesn't affect the edge at all. Maybe the stone is too fine and I have to find a more coarse natural stone?

It's always best to start at the fundamentals. First, you have to establish bevel correctly, the two sides have to meet to form a shaving sharp edge, if not no matter how much you polish the bevels afterwards you will be trying to shave with something that looks like \_/ instead of \/

But I achieved more or less sharp edge due to my water stones. After the 1000 grit stone the razor was able to cut chest hairs. After 6000 grit I can even cut my head hairs with it. But that result wasn't perfect, of course.

So, you are saying you have seen an improvement - that is good, if you're not able to cut hair off 1000 grit level, you won't be able after polishing those bevels either.
So your problem to solve is whether you could make any further improvement with your 6000 grit level hone. If you have maxed what you can achieve there, you have reached the limits of that hone, or your skills of using it. You can try to work on your skills - light uniform strokes, but that is unlikely to get you much further where you are in any short term.
So, may be try to move to a finer hone and see how does that work. Pastes on various media work too and can be a little cheaper alternative, but then you have to use edge trailing strokes and that's trickier and far more prone to overhoning.

As far as whether those striations you are seing are from your 6000 hone or from your 1000 hone it's pretty simple to tell - just change the angle of your honing strokes and see if you will get with the same kind of striations but at a different angle. E.g. if they are now like ///////// you could hone at the opposite angle and see if they turn to \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
If they do, that's from your current hone and the only way to polish further on that hone is to use lighter touch or on some hones you could get a little extra milage by honing dry. If you keep seeing the same angle then those striations are from the lower grits.

Do you have a stone in between the 1000 grit and the 6000 grit stone? If not, you may need to stay on the 6000 grit for an extended period of time in order to remove all the 1k scratch pattern.

Understanding the term "honing progression" may help you to achieve a useable edge. Go to the WIKI and read as much as you need to for a better understanding of the process.

Jerry

Please, tell me. What do bevels look like after the proper work on a 6000 grit stone? Should I be able to see stripes/marks (what do you call them in English?) with the naked eye?