New guy here from California

Hello everyone, my names Taylor just started straight razor shaving. My grandpa gave me an old leather strop and 2 old straight razors one of which was used by his grandfather when he had first started shaving. Both razors felt sharp so I left them as is and tried them out and it felt pretty decent around the sides and under the chin, under the lip area and on the chin was a different story it pulled pretty bad so I stopped and resharpened both straight razors. I am comfortable with sharpening knives and modified the method for the straight razor. I use the method not accepted much here (edge leading away from stone, deburring on soft wood, stropping on newspaper). The first shave after stropping on newspaper was manageable I had slight pulling around lip and chin area. Second shave I cleaned the old leather strop back into serviceable condition and shaved after stropping and had a good shave no pulling or irritation. I don't have much to compare to as I have only used safety razors and cheap disposable in the past so I don't know what a truly great shave really is but I'm interested in trying to find out. I am currently practicing some of the sharpening methods shown on this forum (edge leading into stone, small circles x strokes using slurry) practicing on pocket knives but I haven't been able to get a sharp edge yet but I'm going to keep practicing so I can compare both methods on my straight razors to find the best results for me. Anyways thanks for reading, happy new year.

Hello, Mawson. Welcome to Straight Razor Place.

You have a lot of variables to consider the condition of the strop, the condition of the razors, the types of stones you are using, and the honing method. These and other factors can determine the edge you are getting. Since the razors you are using have not been used in a long time a bevel reset might be necessary. The strop also might need to be cleaned up some. What type of stones are you using? With razors you need to go to the 8k grits to get a good edge. You can shave off of a 1k and 4k edge but it is better to go higher to polish the edge. Some folks even use 12k+ stones to finish the razor. Sounds like you got a nice score. Many folks would dream of having a razor that was used by their grandad. I know mine used one, but have never been able to locate it. He passed away before started using straights.

Welcome to SRP fellow Ca guy. I am near Disneyland if you can get by sometime. Will share what I know and have some things you can play with and learn. :<0)

Welcome to SRP. Kudos on having heirloom razors. I'm sure that 10Pups can hone a razor to professional standards for you so you can find out what a good shave you can get from a straight razor. There are also a number of pro honers listed in the classifieds on SRP what can do that for you also.

Please take a few minutes to read thru the Frequently Asked Questions. They can lead you to more specific areas of interest as you develop your techniques. Do have your razor pro or 10Pups honed before you try on your own anymore. It is truly the difference between apples and oranges despite the fact that the same stones can be used.

Also please remember we are here to answer any questions you may have regarding all parts of wet shaving.

Mephisto- I have 1000 grit and 6000 grit king stones. When I resharpened the razors I set the bevel with the 1000 grit and polished on the 6000 then to newspaper followed up by the leather strop. I have been looking at getting a new stone. I read good things about the norton 4&8k stone on here would that be better suited to transition from grits better or do you think I would be better off buying a 10000 or 120000 grit stone and using after the 6000 king stone ? I cleaned the old strop with saddle soap and it cleaned up really well and the leather is nice and supple now. I am keeping it under books to help flatten it out the last 6 inches or so is slightly dished out.

10pups- thank you for the offer I'm from Redding,Ca it's about an 8 hour drive down to Anaheim, if I am ever in the area I would be happy to take you up on that offer I'm sure I could learn a lot.

Razorfeld- thanks for the advice but I will keep practicing on my own for now. I understand that straight razors are completely different from knives but I am confident in my sharpening skills and don't feel like I could let myself send out a piece of steel to be sharpened by someone else. Will keep reading through this forum and learning and hopefully improve on this new sharpening method.

Great with you getting some great heirlooms that you have gotten from your grandfather. What a lucky guy! Cherish them and get them professionaly honed so that you can have a good starting point and have a goal to shoot for. In saying that, I'm sure that you can sharpen a mean knife and can get a razor sharp enough to shave with, but.....in my opinion I think you are trying to reinvent the wheel as far as honing a razor. I am still learning by the way so by no means am I an expert. Not even close!:rofl2: Many on this forum are though. Please check out the library for it's wealth of information and leads to many videos on honing. Welcome to SRP and many smooth shaves to you.


Mike

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Originally Posted by Mawson

Mephisto- I have 1000 grit and 6000 grit king stones. When I resharpened the razors I set the bevel with the 1000 grit and polished on the 6000 then to newspaper followed up by the leather strop. I have been looking at getting a new stone. I read good things about the norton 4&8k stone on here would that be better suited to transition from grits better or do you think I would be better off buying a 10000 or 120000 grit stone and using after the 6000 king stone ? I cleaned the old strop with saddle soap and it cleaned up really well and the leather is nice and supple now. I am keeping it under books to help flatten it out the last 6 inches or so is slightly dished out.

10pups- thank you for the offer I'm from Redding,Ca it's about an 8 hour drive down to Anaheim, if I am ever in the area I would be happy to take you up on that offer I'm sure I could learn a lot.

Razorfeld- thanks for the advice but I will keep practicing on my own for now. I understand that straight razors are completely different from knives but I am confident in my sharpening skills and don't feel like I could let myself send out a piece of steel to be sharpened by someone else. Will keep reading through this forum and learning and hopefully improve on this new sharpening method.

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If I am not mistaken King also has an 8k grit you can try. However, a lot of folks use the 4k/8k Norton combo with good results. As far as finishing stones (12k area), you could try a a Naniwa ceramic stone. There are many other options out there including the natural stones. The only problem is knowing when to stop, some never do. But it looks like you have some folks in your area willing to help out. The best thing you can get.

Hi Taylor & welcome to SRP. You will love it here & there is plenty to learn as there is a wealth of information on here! Here is the first bit of information for you to know:
Straight Razor Place - Beginners Tips: December 2014
Frequently Asked Questions - Straight Razor Place Library
You will want to buy you a nice straight razor to begin with whether used or new. Beware of used ones not that they are bad but know what to look for like a lot of hone wear on the spine & edge or chips in the blade. Stay away from razors with rust on the cutting edge as that will only result in it chipping more metal off as it is honed. Here is also a list of straights to stay away from:
Brands of Straight Razors to Avoid - Straight Razor Place Library
Here is a list of good brands of razors you will want to own plus there are more than just these out there which you will find out from other members here:
Good Straight Razor Brands - Straight Razor Place Library
If buying a new razor, I suggest you buy one from Straight Razor Designs - Gifts for Men | Straight Razors or SRD. The owner & founder of this forum is Lynn & he is also part owner of SRD. When you buy a straight razor from him, he will personally hone that razor before you get it plus you will get a certificate for another free honing for when that razor needs it which should be a few months. There will be vendors who will sell you a straight razor that is supposed to be shave ready but really won't be. You will most importantly need to know how to strop & you can learn in the Library or here:
Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Library
You will need to strop your razor before & after you shave. If you buy one from Lynn, chances are you won’t have to strop it before you use it the first time.
You will also need a shaving brush, a shaving mug & some shaving soap. Later it will also do you good to get a second straight razor so that when you send the first one out to be honed, you will have a backup to shave with.
Here is a link to the Library where you will find stropping in there & everything else you will need to know including how to hone:
Beginner's Guide to Honing - Straight Razor Place Library
Also here is Lynns bevel setting video & some of gssixguns honing video's:
https://www.youtube.com/user/gssixgun/videos
Bevel setting on a Chosera 1K taught by Lynn Abrams
Here is another good link to know:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html
Should you have any questions, there are a lot of knowledgable members on here that will be more than happy to help you out. If you want to find someone in your area, you can look here:
Local Help - Straight Razor Place Library
And if you can't find anyone near you, just ask and someone that lives in your are & hopefully they will let you know how to meet up & you can get some one on one mentoring. There is a lot to do on here, just search everywhere on the forum & in the Library. You will spend hours on here & have fun doing it, so there you go, have at it!
Good luck & have fun!
I was informed that all my links weren't working so i just went back over all them & they are all working so far. I hope it continues to do so.
Steve

Hi
If you tried any links in my first message, some of them weren't working because I think they made some changes. I fixed them all now!

I and welcome. Congrats on the family heirlooms. I would only worry about going up to 8k at the moment. The Norton 4/8 or the Naniwa ss 3/8 are probably the best bet. Although hard it would be good to send 1 razor off for honing. A pro will do it right first time and it will be shave ready. Learning generally means taking your time and repeated honing which will add unnecessary wear to the razor. If you want to learn buy a cheap good condition vintage to learn on not some thing as valuable as a family heirloom. Good luck

Mawson, welcome to the forum.

The biggest difference between sharpening knives and honing a razor is comfort, your tomato or piece of meat does not complain if your knife has a burr or chips, but you will notice it on your face.

There is a reason why we recommend honing a razor the way we do… it works. Sharp is easy, comfort…

If you are honing heirloom razors, at least tape the spines before you damage them.

What method are you using to determine, when the bevel is set?

Welcome to SRP and congratulations on the success and the heirloom kit.

Jumping into the deep end is fine, several of us have done so and it is rewarding once it comes together. A few things that can smooth out the learning curve: Get a reference edge to judge your edges, a DE blade, pro honed razor, or shavette will all do. Learning to shave with a straight is hard but learning to hone before you can shave well takes away or at least limits the utility of the most reliable test, the Shave Test.

Invest in good stone set slowly instead of a cheep sub par set fast. Your king 1k/6k is fine but a little soft. A 10k or 12k stone would be a good complement, also a good Arkansas stone if you already have one. A good barbers hone would be another option.

As you have found if the bevel is set the rest is just how you get to a comfortable shave. High grit stones are popular around here but there are other paths.

Getting local help is good, unfortunately local help is a little thin around here but if you do want some I would be happy to help.

Jonathan

Welcome, and the best of luck chasing this fine art. You're very fortunate to have heirlooms to work with, take care and enjoy them!

Welcome to SRP!

Euclid440- I determined the bevels were set on the 2 razors by first testing the sharpness of how they were before I messed with them did this by feeling edge grab on 3 fingers and how it shaved hair on my arm. After I then ran the razors twice just using the weight of the razor used two 90 degree strokes on my 6000 grit stone repeated 3 finger test and tried shaving hair. Honed on the 1000 grit stone doing 3 finger and shaving test every 10 strokes on both sides then every 5 strokes on each side lightening pressure then I did 20 strokes alternating each side every stroke at an even lighter pressure checking the 3 fingers making sure each part of the edge was equal in how it grabbed and shaving arm hairs. I kept doing this feeling every other stroke until I could tell the edge was staying constant this is when I felt the bevel had been set and then progressed to my 6000 grit stone for polishing.

Why would I damage the razors by not taping the spines ? I could be wrong but I would think the taping would increase the angle of the edge making it more obtuse and less sharp and throw off the original angle the razor was set at ?

Attachment 189457Attachment 189458

Pictures of the straight razors and the leather strop with canvas backing

Sounds like you did fine. Testing on your fingers as you did is similar to a TPT.

Adding tape is a good idea if much work needs to be done at or below 1k. Mostly because we like the look of narrow hone wear. Also some new gents will grind away on a razor making no progress due to various problems. Uneven pressure and unstable contact are very common. Adding one layer of tape adds about 1 degree to the bevel, which is very minor. Some like to keep tape on all the way to finishing but I like to be able to touch up with out re-tapping.

The razor with the metallic looking scales looks rather good. The looks other serviceable, if you do any modifications on it be cautious of cracks propagating in steel that thin. Both look to have a smile, that makes some passes much easier.

Jonathan

So, the old wear the spine to maintain the angle thing is a myth and has long ago been disproven, though some folk still promote it.

Bottom line, I have, nor has anyone else… ever seen a razor that stopped shaving because too much of the edge was removed and the angle was thrown off by tape.

There are a ship load of razors that the spine have been ground down and will no longer hold an edge, plus they look like… crape.

Not to mention you were given razors that are hundreds of year old and you can ruin them…learning to hone…when you do not have to.

They are your razors, do what makes you happy, but it is not recommended for novice honers, who routinely use too much pressure and too aggressive stones learning to hone.

Tape your razors until you master honing…then do as you please, at least you will have razors to hone. You can never add steel to a razor.

The problem with the touch test, we use a Thumb Pad Test, (TPT) is that it can take a long time to learn what, a completely bevel set razor feels like.

Unless you are absolutely positive, the edge is completely set, no micro-chips, moving to higher grits is a waste of time and you are grinding away steel without productive results… a shavable edge.

Hair test are notoriously unreliable, because every one’s hair is different and will cut differently or not at all. The sample size is so small, you cannot effectively test the WHOLE edge. A razor that will not shave may still cut hair.

A better test is a visual test as shown in this thread post 8.

It makes sense to me that increasing the angle and sharpening over a long period of time would make the metal behind that edge fatter and fatter you would have to be pretty inexperienced at sharpening applying way to much pressure in all the wrong places to wear the spine down at a faster rate than the edge but you know a lot more about this stuff than I do so I will take your word on it. I understand what your saying about how I shouldn't be sharpening those razors yet and I agree, I treasure those razors and would never practice on them learning a new technique. I sharpened them 1 time with the way I am comfortable sharpening because they were painful shavers when I got them and have a good shave with both of them now daily, they are as sharp as the blades of my safety razor I used before I plan on stropping those razors as long as I can. I do believe they can be sharper and I am practicing the techniques talked about here on my pocket knives that aren't as important to me that I can make mistakes on and learn also thinking about buying a couple ebay razors to practice on and getting some new stones more geared towards the straight razors. Thanks for the link to that video showing how to check the bevel is set I will try those out.