Thread: Wadsworth & Sons or Wiss & Sons?

How much hone work would they need? They both will shave arm hair, but don't cut a hair pushed against it or "tree top" as is sometimes referred to in the knife forums. All I have for a strop is an old leather belt and a latigo. Both are only about 1 3/8" wide.

Well, I paid about 17.00 each (including the tax) and they do seem in good condition. Hinges are tight, and blade is well centered. Saw a Sheffield at the antique store next to this one and it was rusted and pitted and especially along where the edge is, and it was $40.00. I passed on that one.

Originally Posted by Gibbs

How much hone work would they need? They both will shave arm hair, but don't cut a hair pushed against it or "tree top" as is sometimes referred to in the knife forums. All I have for a strop is an old leather belt and a latigo. Both are only about 1 3/8" wide.

It depends I have some razors that won't pass a HHT but shave nicely.. but most antique store finds I will start from square 1 and reset the bevel and then go from there just so I am certain everything is fine with it.

For the Strop you may want to see about picking up an actual strop instead of using a thin belt you can find decent priced starter strops on WhippedDog.com or I think there is a review for the Big Daddy strops that are on Ebay that you can sometimes get relatively inexpensively. The other option is head up to the Tandy Store in GR and pick up some leather to make your own.

A belt sander starting at 1000 grit and up just ain't gonna work, huh? Have you all ever used diamond stropping sprays to load the strop? In knives you can get compounds to put onto leather, loading it. Some are Chromium based and then there are the diamond sprays in the 2 micron all the way down to .25 micron that are sprayed on. They are a little more expensive. Is there a conversion for grit to micron?

At the winery we sterile bottle the wine though a 0.45 micron filter. Bacteria is around 2.0 micron, red blood cells are around 8.0 micron. This is to give an idea of how small 0.25 micron really is.

You can use Diamond sprays though Chromium Oxide seems to be what most use on their strops. Those are more for fine polishing the edge through for a smoother shave and not for actually honing/setting bevel.

The 1000 grit belt sander would be about what you would start with to set a bevel.. I then go to a 6000 stone and then a 12000 stone for my razors. I have tried shaving off the 1000 stone alone and it shaved but I would not recommend it. Probably the most common starting hone is the 4000/8000 norton combo stone which you can even set the bevel on as well as finish with to start out if you are looking to hone your own.

There are people that have used sandpaper to hone with and have been successful using it. Just make sure you have a flat surface ( glass or marble seem to be the norms) that you can stick it to if you plan on honing with it.

Hey there Vern,

The Wiss is a good shaver the Wadsworth XLNT is really all that, Excellent just like the name says...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...tml#post325739

They really are a smooth edge when honed right...

I am reading your thoughts on "Sharpening" and I can only truly offer one piece of "Honing" advice... "Forget everything you know about knives" other than a smooth stroke...

That One Stone Hone Vid you watched is a very specific system, designed for a very specific use...
The difference with Straight razors and every other type of sharpening that is done, really comes down to one thing "Your Face" everything else is sharpened to become only sharp, a SR has to be not only sharp but Smooth too...
Stropping can go a long way to help with the Smooth but it has to have the right edge to start with..

Yes we do use Stropping pastes, some way more then others, some even use Microgrit Films instead of stones, a few use Arkansas stones, and Oil stones..
But by a huge Majority most everyone uses either synthetic waterstones from about 1000 -30000 grit or Natural waterstones that are capable of producing similar grit ranges... OR BOTH

No matter which way you go most also always recommend your first razor to be professionally honed so at least you have a "benchmark blade"

Good luck and may your ride aboard the Straight train be a smooth one


One other small warning, mixing power tools and Straight Razors, starting out is usually a recipe for disaster, you will learn that those hollow ground blades literally can be snapped with the side pressure from a finger...
The forum is filled with pics of broken razors from people that either never read or ignored that advice..

Originally Posted by Gibbs

Is there a conversion for grit to micron?

Roughly speaking:

Grit = 17,000 / micron

There are many conversion tables, and they don't all agree. And different manufacturers use different grit standards.

Charles

PS -- if a razor shaves arm hair, it's well on the way to "shave-ready". In my experience, anyway.

+1- IMO stay away from power tools. Wet/dry sandpaper can be used to set a bevel, but I would do it by hand.