Thread: Sheffield steel razor restoration

I have never used a straight razor before and wish to give it a go. I can buy a Sheffield steel razor for around £10 but it has small chips in the blade, can you confirm ive got every ground covered with the below items?

Rough stone to breadknife
1k hone to set bevel
3k/8k stone (thats all I can find at a good price in the UK) to hone it
would I need a 12k stone to polish or not?
A leather and linen strop

Start with the 1K to set the bevel....What is your 3/8K stone ?
Some VERY experienced forumites shave off an 8K, but in my newbie opinion,
you want something before you go to the strop.
Keep us informed and if you clarify where you are in the U.K, you might find a razor group or a mentor nearby to help you.

Originally Posted by bongo

Start with the 1K to set the bevel....What is your 3/8K stone ?
Some VERY experienced forumites shave off an 8K, but in my newbie opinion,
you want something before you go to the strop.
Keep us informed and if you clarify where you are in the U.K, you might find a razor group or a mentor nearby to help you.

Thanks for your quick reply

the 3k/8k is from eBay http://m.ebay.com/itm/400876198056, is it suitable?

will a 12k slate slurry stone be ok before stroping?

I'm in Lincolnshire, I doubt there will be anybody local to me.

My advice: buy a new one and have it professionally honed. Buy a strop as well - a cheap one since you'll ding it up - everyone does. Learn the art of SR shaving; that'll take about 3 months minimum, then get a couple of old razors (without chips if possible) and a small set of Naniwas (or Shaptons if you can afford them) - be guided by folks here as to grit numbers. Then have go at honing. By that time you'll know what a properly honed razor should feel like.

Originally Posted by Maladroit

My advice: buy a new one and have it professionally honed. Buy a strop as well - a cheap one since you'll ding it up - everyone does. Learn the art of SR shaving; that'll take about 3 months minimum, then get a couple of old razors (without chips if possible) and a small set of Naniwas (or Shaptons if you can afford them) - be guided by folks here as to grit numbers. Then have go at honing. By that time you'll know what a properly honed razor should feel like.

I cant afford to buy a new razor as a good one would cost around 120usd and a set of naniwa stones would cost around 225USD so thats also out of my budget.

Thats why I'm hoping to get a cheap reasonable set of hones and a cheap razor to fix. Although I can appreciate what you're saying in that I wont know when the razor is right because I have nothing to compare to.

Are you able to post pics of the potential razor? Also, many of the people i have seen post that you should be able to get a comfortable shave off an 8k before getting a finisher to make sure you are using proper technique. if your not the finisher doesn't really help much. I learned with a set of norton combo stones 220/1k and 4k/8k and shaved off the 8k for almost a year before i got a finishing stone. There is a lot of good advice around here and some good videos for honing have been made by gssixguns and lynn abrams. there is even a thread around here somewhere where many members used only up to 8k for a month to try to find how to get the best results.

Also you will need a lapping plate of some kind to make sure the hones are flat. I prefer a DMT for this.

If you're new and don't have a big budget, stick with the 3K 8K.
8K is more than enough for a good shave.
And for setting the bevel and removing the chips, stick with 1K.
If you go lower, you do more harm than good.

Hi and welcome to SRP. I can see this going one of two ways; you get what you suggested and it all goes perfect or it all goes wrong, you get frustrated and give up.
id personally take the softly softly approach.
Save your money on hones that are probably not up to the job. Look for a cheap razor with no issues and get it professionaly honed or look in the classified section of SRP. There's always a selection of shave ready razors to be had at a good price. This takes out a lot of guess work.
Buy a cheap strop and practice technique with a butter knife first. This should keep you going for a good while.
When the time comes to refresh your razor you can use some cro ox or invest in a finishing hone.

Good luck

Mark

Welcome to the forum. The start up costs of shaving with a straight razor can only go so low and still make it an enjoyable experience. If you have never shaved with a SR and never honed one before I think you would have a better chance of an enjoyable experience starting with a used shave ready razor and sending it out for honing when needed. Personally, starting with a razor that has chips in the blade and trying to hone to shave ready with no experience in honing is a recipe for a very unpleasant and frustrating start. Good luck.

Bob

A lot of good advice has already been given. To add the this advice I would suggest you watch all the shaving with straight razor videos you can. That will really help. If things go right the edge on a pro honed razor will last quite some time and cost a lot less than a set of good hones. There are also good videos on honing. It's best to take it slow at first. Don't jump in with both feet. test the water first. Most of us it think started with 1 decent razor and honed properly. we advanced from there. welcome to the place and enjoy.