Thread: Straight razor sharpening and my Edge Pro - Pic intensive

Originally Posted by Mario

2k tape = This tape is the same as a 20,000 grit Japanese water stone or 9 micron. *Taken from EP's website
3k tape = This tape is the same as a 25,000 grit Japanese water stone or 3 micron. *Taken from EP's website
6k tape = This tape is the same as a 30,000 grit Japanese water stone, or 1 micron. *Taken from EP's website

They might want to check that data

Originally Posted by Mario

After looking at Whippeddog's site, there is a lot of goodies for the n00b.

m-

Do yourself a favour and check out other sites as well.

Check out the classifieds here as well & remember you often get what you pay for...

I also use an Edge Pro for sharpening my knives. It's a great system.

Because the stones are relatively narrow, and the armature acts as a lever, I think it would be pretty easy to put a frown in a razor. Certainly that can be overcome by being very careful about the stroke and pressure used, but it's something to constantly keep an eye on.
I think the way you've set it up for razors is pretty good as far as getting the geometry correct.

The big advantage of the EP is that you get the angle consistent on your blades. Since the razor has a built in angle guide, that's not really a problem for razor honing. If I had to hone razors with my EP, I'd probably just use the stones like traditional razor hones - either handholding them, or build a fixture for them to be face up and then hone the razor like I would with any other hone.

If your goal is to do it just to be able to use the EP system for it, I think you're on the right track.

That's some fun looking hardware, and it looks like you're being pretty careful adapting it to straight razor honing. Most of my honing experience is with razors, so I may not appreciate how helpful the gear is for knives.

To be honest, though, to me it looks like a whole lot more work than honing a razor on a conventional stone. Also, for the life of a razor, its spine and bevel should hone down together to maintain correct edge angle.

Thanks for sharing, and happy shaving to you!

Originally Posted by Jimbo

I guess the other thing is that it may be a little limiting on razors that require a "rolling" stroke using traditional honing methods - the smiley sheffields for example. But I can see how this would be a perfectly acceptable method for perfect geometry blades if you knew what you were doing with it.

James.

Forgot to reply to this. Here is a radius that I did using the Edge Pro.



That I think is a big smile

Originally Posted by Mario

Forgot to reply to this. Here is a radius that I did using the Edge Pro.



That I think is a big smile

Now go shave with that-lol

*UPDATE*

After emailing Ben Dale and Jende Industries I had to go back an go through the tape progressions again because I was not using the tapes long enough to remove the scratches from the previous tape. My razors were doing their job nicely, but I had a suspicion that there was more performance to be had from the razor with some technique adjustment.

Here is my previous tape progression

2k - 20 strokes back and forth, 10, 5, 1
3k - 20 strokes back and forth, 10, 5, 1
6k - 20 strokes back and forth, 10, 5, 1

New progression
2k - Scrubbing technique. To cover the full blade, there were 5 back and forth movements. I repeated this scrub technique 20 times on each side. I was keeping a close eye on the bevel and scratches. I have 10x eye loupe and I hope that is enough magnification. After the scrubbing I went back to 20 strokes, 10, 5, 1 (each stroke was one pass through the blade).

3k- Same as above
6k- Same as above.

The shave with this was excellent.

Fast forward to 5/20. I was able to buy some PSA lapping film that was being clearanced at a the local WoodCraft shop this past Friday but have not been able to use it until the evening of 5/20. The film was by Pinnacle. I cut the 2 5/8" x 8" sheet into 1x6 strips and mounted it on an EP glass blank. The film is 0.3 micron according to the Pinnacle packaging. I did the same scrub technique and 20,10,5,1 count. I did a test shave and I was very impressed. The 6k shave was nice, but the 0.3 micron shave was "butter" smooth.

I intend to get a nanocloth strop and a kangroo strop from Jende Industries to fill in the gap from 1micron to .3 micron. I am looking to get the CBN spray at .5 micron for the nanocloth strop and finish off with some light passes on the kangaroo strop. Until then, the shave I get with only the addition of the 0.3 micron film is pretty fantastic.

In addition to the upgraded technique, I plan on using moving to the collar stop method vs. the sharpie method. To me, there is something more precise with the collar than the sharpie. Don't get me wrong, I have been using the sharpie method since day one with wonderful results on my knives. I am looking for that extra level of precision for the straight razor. I think I can get more precision using the collar method an in turn get a bit more performance out of the razor.

BTW, sorry no pics this time around.

m-

*UPDATE*

A lot of good things have happened since my last EP update. The 2 "changes" that stand out are the following:

1. Collar stop
2. Trailing edge strokes

The collar stop on the Edge Pro makes stone changes and Sharpie verification a thing of the past. I purchased my collar stop kit from Harbor Freight. Here is the collar installed:



To better explain how this works, the following youtube video does a good job. In summary, the collar is locked to an angle based on the height of the stone. The reference point is the collar stop. When the stone is changed (the height of the stone also changes - due to wear) the collar stop will maintain the relative angle when used as a reference point.



The second change was from scrubbing to trailing edge strokes in an x-pattern. In the picture above, the razor with the yellow handle was a Cranford that I brought back from the "dead".

Before


After


That razor was sharpened using the scrub technique followed by trailing edge stroke from the stabilizer to the point. That razor was very sharp and shaved nicely.

The new razor that I cleaned up and sharpened is for a local barber. This razor had a bit of surface rust and no edge. Now she is ready to go.




The progression I did using the EP is as follows:

400 stone - 60 passes trailing edge (stabilizer - point) - 60 passes trailing edge (point to stabilizer) - repeat on right side
600 stone - 60 passes trailing edge (stabilizer - point) - 60 passes trailing edge (point to stabilizer) - repeat on right side
1k stone - 80 passes trailing edge (stabilizer - point) - 80 passes trailing edge (point to stabilizer) - repeat on right side

Cork - I passed the razor through a cork to help remove the wire burr. The razor was drawn point to stabilizer and then stabilizer to point.

2k tape - 80 passes trailing edge (stabilizer - point) - 80 passes trailing edge (point to stabilizer) - repeat on right side
3k tape - 80 passes trailing edge (stabilizer - point) - 80 passes trailing edge (point to stabilizer) - repeat on right side
6k tape - 80 passes trailing edge (stabilizer - point) - 80 passes trailing edge (point to stabilizer) - repeat on right side
0.3 micron tape - 70 passes trailing edge (stabilizer - point) - 70 passes trailing edge (point to stabilizer) - repeat on right side
Stropped on glossy paper (guess what glossy paper was used) - 20 passes
Stropped on homemade weight lifting leather strop - 20 pass

The test shave was amazing. The pre-shave prep was:

Warm water rinse
Warm lather applied with AOS badger brush

When I applied that styptic pencil I had no "wow" moment. Next stop, either Shapton stones and/or kangaroo strops.

m-

Mario, this is excellent work. Your work has encouraged me to use my Edge Pro to hone my straight razors, and my results are also outstanding. The bottom line is that the Edge Pro can and does bring straights to shave ready sharpness. It's not going to be the preferred method for most, but for some, it's a very viable option. Thanks for your posts.