Thread: Passion is back for the straight razor!

Hi All,

Years ago I was working in a labouring position that required cutting out bones out of raw meat. I gained an interest in keeping things sharp, which spilled in to the use of cutthroat razors. I bought a Boker "King Cutter", pretty sure its stainless steel, which I was using for a while. I could not keep the thing sharp, and bought a shavette. Which I have used, I think for the passed 6 years.

I decided to have another go at sharpening my king cutter on a set of king stones, which are 1200 and 6000 grit stones. The I progressed to an Arkansas Surgical Black stone, followed by chromium ladened leather strop. I have got it to cut smoothly with the grain, however, against the grain its grabby and causes irritation. I suspect that I need a higher grit stone to go to after the 6000, as I am not real confident that the Arky is doing anything.

I want to achieve a sharpness on my straight razor that parrallel's to the shavette.

Do I need to reconsider my sharpening tools, maybe looking at purchasing some shapton glass (when I can afford it). Or do I concede that I have technique issues.

It has taken some time on the chromium ladened leather strop to achieve a smooth shave from when I first finished on the stones, which indicates to me that I may require some better stones. However, I am experianced at sharpening knives, but not straight razors.

Any advice will be will taken onboard.

Regards

Matt

I am not convinced that your problem is sharpness necessarily.

I think it could be roughness or rather lack of smoothness. I have a Naniawa 12K to finish on. I think that the least people find comfortable to shave off is 8K. Maybe look at getting some sort of magnification too. That way you can check the bevel and look for any scratches, scratches are bad!

I don't think that you will get sharpness that rivals your shavette, but you might just find that you enjoy the shaves more.

Good luck with this and welcome back.

Straight razors are very different. The main thing is to get a proper bevel before going any further. You are just spinning your wheels if you don't. Your main problem right now may just be that you lack proper hones for the job at hand. Your progression 1200 to 6000 to arkies is way too large a gap to work very well. Normally it would look sort of like this: 1K, 4K, 8K, 12K, 16K. Not discounting coticules and or Jnat's. I would first suggest that you add your location as you may have help close at hand. Send out your razor to be professionally honed so you will have a benchmark to shoot for. You don't mention if you have a strop. If you don't, you need one. You can get a decent inexpensive one at Whipped Dog. Start at the Library on the tool bar at the top of the page. Lots of info there. Maybe you can find a mentor near you that can help. Good luck and smooth shaves to you.

Mike

The gap between 6K and surgical black is too wide IMHO. Surgical blacks are very slow hones, I used to own one but sold it.

Have you watch any honing videos? The Black Arkansas is a fine finisher, but you must progress to it. I have the Shapton Glass series. They are the foundation for all I do. My progression: 1k, 2k, 4K, 8k. I then branch to naturals or continue with SG 16k, 30k. Small even steps in the progression.

That's great you are getting back to straights, comparing straights to a shavette is not apples to apples. You can get amazing edges on straights but IMO straights are more forgiving than shavette. Honing takes patience, practice and finding a mentor near you will aide in the learning curve alot. Honing your own razor is extremely satisfying but trying an edge that is not up to snuff is not fun then going back to the hones only to be disappointed kinda sucks. It's a hard lesson learned and therefore you won't forget it. But take your time and keep at it, ask questions and study. You will get there.

Sorry if I missed it but where in this fine world are you located? Lots of us would be willing to help get you off on the right foot if we lived near to you.

I don't know where he is at but his post was around 2 am CST?


Mike

Thanks everyone for the replies. I live over the other side of the big pond, in NSW Australia.

Originally Posted by Longhaultanker

Have you watch any honing videos? The Black Arkansas is a fine finisher, but you must progress to it. I have the Shapton Glass series. They are the foundation for all I do. My progression: 1k, 2k, 4K, 8k. I then branch to naturals or continue with SG 16k, 30k. Small even steps in the progression.

I have watched a few. What grit equivilant would the Black Arkansas be rated too?

I never achieved a mirror polished edge, and can still see scratch marks with the naked eye.