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

Good morning everyone from Munich!
My name is Nick, I´ve just registered on this forum and I am completely a newbie regarding straight razors.
I would need your help for some very basic questions and I hope to find someone so patient to help me on this Also, I hope that I am posting in the right place as I couldn´t find any other sub-group for "sharpening".

So here´s my biggest problem right now: sharpening my razors.
I bought a couple of entry level razors to practice (single edge hollow cut). As I am just starting, I thought to buy something basic to develop my skills first and then move into more serious tools. I also bought a Bacher Premium Grinding Stone Double-sided 3000/8000 and a 50" leather strop.
I then looked on hundreds of videos on Youtube on how to properly prepare the grinding stone and sharp the razors. Suggested techniques are very different and despite each one claims to be "THE best one", many of them are pointing at quite opposite ways of sharpening.
For me made no difference as I tried them all with very poor results: my razors are even less sharp then when I started! I tried to experiment many changes in the process (inclination of the blade on the grinding stone, speed of motion, direction of motion, number of times I passed the blade on the stone, etc.) Eventually, it never worked out.
Currently the razors are completely unusable.
I understand that sharpening is more an art than just following a checklist; however I guess that I am probably doing something fundamentally wrong in the process, otherwise at least one technique should have worked!
I can post videos/pics if it can help.
Any advice or idea on what I could try to have a sharp blade? what could be the most important factor to pay attention to? any consensus on what is the most effective technique to have a razor perfectly sharpened?

Last question (maybe a silly one): is it even possible (and reasonable) the expect a final result where the straight razor is sharper than safety razors??

Please let me know if you need any further details and thank you for helping out!
nick.

p.s. I cannot shave since the beginning of the lockdown..... HELP!!!!

Welcome to the forum

There are quite a few members who can help.

Where do you live? A member may be close by. One-on-one mentoring is the most productive way to learn razor honing and maintenance.

First buy a quality razor and have it honed by one of the pros in order to have s benchmark.

Watch the videos by gssixgun (Glen Mercurio). There are people on u tube professing to be experts that are not. Stay with Glen.

Keep practicing!

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.

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

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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/

Originally Posted by NickTheSlim

For me made no difference as I tried them all with very poor results: my razors are even less sharp then when I started! I tried to experiment many changes in the process (inclination of the blade on the grinding stone, speed of motion, direction of motion, number of times I passed the blade on the stone, etc.) Eventually, it never worked out.
Currently the razors are completely unusable.

AS I mentioned previously, poor honing technique can wreck an edge and your comments suggest that is exactly what happened to your razor. When you said “inclination of the blade on the grinding stone”, you highlighted the likely problem.

When you sharpen a knife, the blade is held at an angle to the stone often using a guide that sets the bevel angle at around 20°. When you hone a razor, you rest the edge and the spine flat on the stone before you even start to move the blade. The razor provides its own sharpening guide. Most of us also apply a layer of electrical tape to the spine beforehand to protect the spine and to increase the bevel angle slightly to create a micro bevel on the edge. You will see this process for yourself when you watch one of gssixgun’s honing videos.

Sharpening a knife and honing a straight razor are very different processes.

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?

I haven't got many years of experience like a lot of the guys here but I learned quickly that honing a razor is much harder than it sounds like it should be and that you need some time shaving with a truly sharp, shave ready razor so you actually know what your aiming at before you try.

You said you could upload a video of your attempts. I uploaded a couple of videos when I first started shaving and I got a lot of really good advice, it was like having experienced guys standing right behind me.

All I can advise is keep at it, it will come eventually. If it was easy it wouldn't be so much fun.

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

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

We do like pics. Lots of pics!

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