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OK, I'll save the diamond paste for knives & keep an eye out for a swaty. Thanks for all the advice :)

Edit: am bidding on a Pike American Swaty Hone. I'm really curious whether the hone will do...

Thanks for the link! You are both absolutely right, having a hone would save a LOT of strokes with the polishing compound. Polishing the hell out of one razor is doable, but if you have more than...

Actually, Joe, the white Arkansas stone is a soft stone, which is why it took so much friggin work going from the stone to the polishing compound--the huge difference in coarseness. But it did work....

Really? Because my razor was like a butter knife out of the box & I created the edge from scratch using this method. I assumed when the edge was worn out I could just do the same thing again....

This tip was too good not to try. BTW, I picked up a (free) piece of scrap plate glass from a local glass shop about 3" x 12" x 1/4" thick & used that as a flat reference surface underneath 1 sheet...

El Cheapo update: I am now convinced that the cocoa powder abrasive is finer than the automotive polishing compound, based on the subjective feel of the razor after polishing, FWIW. This coincides...

Let me amend that, I shouldn't have said "modern stones." What I meant to say is silicon carbide stones and soft Arkansas stones don't need lubrication. Japanese waterstones DO need water because the...

Just call me MacGyver :D

Here's another experiment I just tried: making abrasive paste from vaseline & powdered baking cocoa. I got the inspiration from a survival article about how to start a fire w/a can of soda & a...

Hey Superfly, thanks for the props! For knives, I use a fine silicon carbide stone from the hardware store when I need to REALLY remove metal (these aren't labeled but feel like about 600 grit), and...

You slice into the steel using VERY light pressure like you're trying to whittle it. Again, DO NOT press the knife into the steel, just let it glide. One of the persistent myths about butcher steel...

Hey all,

I'm a straight razor newbie but am good at sharpening knives by hand (all my work knives can nick the hairs off your arm). I improvised a method which may not be new but I couldn't find...