Thread: Experienced sharpener, new to razors

Hello again to one and all. I apologize if this post is redundant, but I am looking for some advice on honing a straight razor. I have read some on the honing forum already, and it has been pretty useful. But I have a few questions still, and if anyone knows a good thread that I ought to check out, I'd be happy to read there.

Basically my main question is this: What is different about shaving straight razors as compared to knives, tools, etc.?

I have a decent amount of experience sharpening different types of knives and some tools, so I feel like I can probably transition to straight razors without much trouble. I have used several sharpening techniques and tools, so I feel like I am pretty familiar with most stuff that would be useful. I notice that people seem to favor using Japanese water stones, which I am familiar with. I have a few stones including grits 250, 1000, 4000, 6000, 8000 and a nagura stone. Most of my sharpening experience is based on kitchen knives if that gives anyone a point of reference. I have worked on a lot of sushi knives which have pretty low angles and need to get "razor" sharp. I guess I'm not sure if this community would consider sushi knives to be actually razor sharp, but they seem to get pretty close.

I'm also familiar with stropping, except I almost always do stropping with compounds. It seems like stropping for straight razors should be done without compounds, which is fine. I got a strop that is free of compounds just for use with my straight razor, and I haven't had any problems getting my straight razor into good shaving shape with it so far.

But my main area of curiosity is honing the straight razor blade. I picked up an old straight razor at a thrift store just to practice on. My straight razor is a Dovo brand, but I don't know much more than that. It is full hollow ground. If anyone can either give me some tips, or point me toward a thread that itemizes the differences for honing a straight razor vs. regular knives, I'd be very thankful.

Thanks as always! I have thoroughly enjoyed the advice I get here. My brother very much liked the razor that people here suggested too.

-Hog

Check out this thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/showpost.php?p=890465 ton of info in here.

I would highly suggest reading this part of the wiki: Category:Honing - Straight Razor Place Wiki

First off, I think you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. Secondly, you might want to consider a 'finishing' stone, something that will improve the bevel PAST the 8k mark. Third, read my thread about stropping treatments and come to your own conclusion about whether or not to use compounds while stropping; I personally believe there is a place for it.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ke-pt-2-a.html

Originally Posted by Spacehog

But my main area of curiosity is honing the straight razor blade. I picked up an old straight razor at a thrift store just to practice on. My straight razor is a Dovo brand, but I don't know much more than that. It is full hollow ground. If anyone can either give me some tips, or point me toward a thread that itemizes the differences for honing a straight razor vs. regular knives, I'd be very thankful.

Dovo's are good razors & the company is still making razors, one of the few still going. Their steel is what I would consider right in the middle, not soft or exceptionally hard/chippy. They are a good razor for anyone no matter their shaving experience.

Thrift store razors are something that could require a bit more skill than you have at the present. We usually recommend that a person learn to shave before delving into honing as it can be a rather daunting task...until you get it and then you will scratch your head wondering what was so difficult. Touching up a razor that you have been using is usually what I recommend and then work backwards from touch-up down to the more coarse "grit" stones. Setting the bevel on a razor means everything to a quality shave and it is also the toughest part of honing, the rest is just smoothing out & refining the edge.

Speaking of stones, what brand of stones do you have? Where are you from? Put in your "location" so that maybe someone may volunteer some honing advice face to face. You could learn more learning more ftf in a couple hours than weeks of research. If you are anywhere near my area, I would be glad to show you the ropes of honing.

Great, thank you all so much! I agree very much about meeting someone in person to get some instruction vs. reading stuff. As for setting the bevel, I do have a few years experience doing that sort of thing to knives and tools. From what I can tell, the process is pretty similar with razors as it is with knives, just on a much smaller scale.

The stones that I have are mostly King brand Japanese water stones, I also have one that is Steelex and my nagura stone is made by Kitayama. I probably will invest in some finer stones, or at least one. If you have a brand that you like, I'm all ears. The guys who taught me how to sharpen worked mostly on kitchen knives, so they didn't have much use for stones past 8k. I also have some Arkansas stones that are mostly Norton brand, but they are generally more coarse than the Japanese water stones. I also have some diamond bench stones, but I would be surprised if they played a part in straight razor honing. I also have some files that I use for serrated knives and tools, but I doubt that they would be of much use either.

Thanks again for the links and the advice. I live in Columbus, OH so I guess I won't be meeting you in person any time soon. But I'll keep an eye out for anyone close by that could show me what to do.

Welcome to the forum.
I think you will really like the challenge of straight razor shaving.
I have come to beleive that smooth is king! For me that is the biggest difference between sharpening razors and everything else. Sharp is very very nice, but sharp and smooth......

I had several Kings & still have two I believe around 1K. The most consistent synthetic stones that I am aware of are made by Norton, Naniwa, and Shapton. I have used all three and you cannot go wrong with any of them. If you have up to 8K, learn what you have first. I don't have anything against the kings that I have and use them a lot on my knives, but they are a bit soft for me. I believe keeping a stone flat for razors and it seemed that I was flattening more than I was honing with my Kings.

Cool, I'll pick up a couple of the brand you mentioned. I also have my eye on a 12k stone that a buddy recommended.

You don't NEED anything over 8k, but the finishers do make a shave smoother. What is your friend recommending?