Thread: Question from a Newbie - How to sharp my razor

Welcome to the forum.
First off you are putting the cart before the horse.
You should get a vintage razor or two and have them cleaned up and professionally honed. Then learn to shave and see if you like it. If you do all you will need is a high grit (12,000-20,000 grit) finishing stone to maintain the edge. Be sure to ask the person that hones for you if he used electric tape on spine, what brand and how many layers.

You said you got a 50" leather strop. Sorry but that is overkill. You only need half that length or a little less. 18-24" will do find.

If you only plan 1-3 razors it is more economical to have them professionally honed when needed. Stones can run quite a bit of money and you don't always have to reset bevel and do a complete progression.

Take baby steps. Learn to walk before you run. It takes patience and time but it is worth it in the end.

Good luck on your journey.

Thank you rolodave! Agree, a mentoring session is worth more than dozens of videos. I will look for someone close by and try to get in touch.
I see that someone already posted the link to the videos of Glen Mercurio, so looking forward to seeing it!
Thank you for your feedback!
nick

Welcome to the forum.!
Sorry, nothing more I can add, to what's already been said.

The only thing I can say is, stick with it, be patient, and get a styptic pencil. Your gonna need it, in the beginning.

Pics and videos will be a big help, for us to help you during this pandemic.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Thats it in a nut shell as Dave said. Pick up a couple vintage razors and learn to hone real steel. New low cost razors cod be the start of your problem. Oh, Id bet the reason you cant find any sub forum on sharpening is because razors get honed not sharpened. Try that word instead. Learning to hone a razor can take many months to learn. Some times you get lucky when your new at it and get an edge that will shave but to truely learn to hone takes a long time. Its not going to happen right away.
Good luck and find a mentor for one on one training.

And BTW, Welcome to SRP.

Thank you Gasman. I guess looking in the right place is the first step to find what you´re looking for! So I´ll look for "honing"
And yes, what is condensed into 5-min video on Youtube is maybe based on many months (or years of practice)...so maybe this is the first big learning I get from the many replies I got: I have to re-calibrate my expectations for having a razor professional honed (if the honing is done by me at least!)

thanks!
nick

Originally Posted by DZEC

As the guys said, get you razor honed professionally so you know what that is supposed to feel like. Then learn how to strop effectively. If your razor is honed properly to shave ready, proper stropping will keep it shaving well for quite a while.

Gssixgun’s honing videos are the best. When you are ready to try honing your razor, start out very slowly and deliberately. Improper honing technique, even on a good stone, can wreck an edge very quickly.

Welcome to SRP. Check out https://shavelibrary.com/w/Beginner'..._razor_shaving

Hi DZEC, thank you for posting the link, you saved me some time!!
I believe that I must have wrecked the edge as the razors are less sharp than when I bought them...
I noticed that on the Wikipage there is a link to the "Brand to avoid". Mine doesn´t have a brand but it seems to belong to the ones forged in Pakistan, imported in Germany and sold as manufactured in Solingen... despite I tend to believe that my lack of skills and expertise in honing is probably the biggest limit I have right now, I understand that the poor quality of the razor may also heavily affect the success of the process.
So I guess that I will have to buy a good razor first...
Have a great Sunday and thank you for helping!
nick

Originally Posted by randydance062449

.
.
I agree with the above posts.

To find some quality vintage straight razors go to the Buy/Sell/Trade forum here and purchase two of them.
Then send them out to one of our members to have them honed so you have a benchmark for comparison.
https://sharprazorpalace.com/razors-blades/

and this is the forum for honing.
.
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https://sharprazorpalace.com/honing/

Hi randydance062449, so there was a proper place in the forum to look into, it was just me not knowing exactly what to look for!
Thank you for your help, I will buy a couple of quality vintage straight razors as you suggest and look at the videos. At least I know that I´m starting with the right tools.
Have a good one!
nick

Originally Posted by STF

Hello Nick,

You said you are a complete newbie with a straight razor.

Have you actually shaved with one yet, if so how long for?

Hello STF,
no unfortunately I haven´t shaved yet with a razor....that was the plan but mine is now as sharp as a brick so.....
But luckily you guys have been kind enough to give me already quite a lot of good suggestions so I will start again with those
and YES, I will keep up!
thank you!
nick

Originally Posted by randydance062449

.
.
Can you post a pic of your razors please?
.
.
Here is a link to Gssixgun's video's (Glen Mercurio)

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gssixgun

HI randydance062449, thank you for the link!
here are some pics of my razors and the stone. I´m sure you guys will be able to spot the damage I did !!

Originally Posted by BobH

Nothing to add to what the fellas have already said but welcome to the forum. Just to reinforce, photos of the razors and vids would be a great help in assessing your situation.

Bob

Bob

Hi BobH,
I´ve posted a couple of pics of my razors. Hope you guys won´t kill me after seeing what I did!
Thank you for taking the time to comment!
nick

Originally Posted by bouschie

Welcome to the forum.
First off you are putting the cart before the horse.
You should get a vintage razor or two and have them cleaned up and professionally honed. Then learn to shave and see if you like it. If you do all you will need is a high grit (12,000-20,000 grit) finishing stone to maintain the edge. Be sure to ask the person that hones for you if he used electric tape on spine, what brand and how many layers.

You said you got a 50" leather strop. Sorry but that is overkill. You only need half that length or a little less. 18-24" will do find.

If you only plan 1-3 razors it is more economical to have them professionally honed when needed. Stones can run quite a bit of money and you don't always have to reset bevel and do a complete progression.

Take baby steps. Learn to walk before you run. It takes patience and time but it is worth it in the end.

Good luck on your journey.

Hello bouschie,
thank you very much for your advices, much appreciated!
I agree with you that it would be more economical to have the razor professionally honed and then just maintain it but I´m the kind of guy who is sufficiently crazy and stubborn to enjoy learning the process
Taking "baby steps" definitely helps to progressively master the process and clearly identify what are the key moments of the whole process. I guess I was deceived by looking at the videos on Youtube as it seemed to be a relatively easy task....and it probably is....when you´re an expert!
I guess the journey is gonna be a little bit longer than what I initially thought.
thank you!
nick