Thread: Offering a Sharpening Service In Our Store?

Everything you need to know in reference to your opening post can be found in the library section & researching the forum.
You have been a member for over 2 years with "3" posts prior to today. Welcome aboard,,,,,,,

Before you start honing another person's razor, please spend some time with a member who has a track record for producing acceptable edges. You will be doing your customer a great service & this will benefit your business.

Not quite sure what to say here

I am not sure it is possible to say it any other way

"You don't know what you don't know"

We simply are going to try and point you toward the sources of the correct info on the forum and help you educate yourself on the ins and out of what you are asking..

I can assure that all the info you are asking about is well documented on SRP

Did you ever shave with the razor you made 2 years ago ???

Originally Posted by Alera

I have the setup of oilstones aforementioned. What are the benefits to synthetic stones over my oilstones? longevity?

Synthetic waterstones, such as Naniwa Super Stones, Shapton Glass or Norton 4/8, are faster than the Arkansas, and consistent. If you use the same Arks all of the time you'll know them, and consistent won't be an issue. OTOH, they are slow and more for finishing than bevel setting or sharpening. IME an edge finished with an Ark (transclucent or black) is nice, but it isn't as 'crisp' as that off of a synthetic such as a Naniwa 12k. Some guys like that, and others expect crisp.

The aforementioned stones are what about all of the pro honers use. You'll be taking on some responsibility in messing with other peoples razors. So proceed with caution.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Not quite sure what to say here

I am not sure it is possible to say it any other way

"You don't know what you don't know"

We simply are going to try and point you toward the sources of the correct info on the forum and help you educate yourself on the ins and out of what you are asking..

I can assure that all the info you are asking about is well documented on SRP

Did you ever shave with the razor you made 2 years ago ???

I appreciate it. I guess I just thought there would be a super obvious end all answer that I'm oblivious enough to miss haha. I'll do my digging on the forum, my sincere apologies if I offended anyone.

As far as the razor I made a few years back, I didn't have the equipment at that time to finish the edge and make it look nicer. It's incredibly crude and ugly, and I have since lost it in the process of moving. I gave up on that and just started shaving double edged when I did shave.

Originally Posted by Alera

I appreciate it. I guess I just thought there would be a super obvious end all answer that I'm oblivious enough to miss haha. I'll do my digging on the forum, my sincere apologies if I offended anyone.

As far as the razor I made a few years back, I didn't have the equipment at that time to finish the edge and make it look nicer. It's incredibly crude and ugly, and I have since lost it in the process of moving. I gave up on that and just started shaving double edged when I did shave.

No problem,,, later tonight I'll find some important links for you to start with & I'll link them here.
I have to leave right now.

Yeah I hear ya

There really is no "Short Cut" it just takes time

The best and fastest way to learn is across the table from somebody, the Denver Meet is a ton of hands on stuff and I know a couple of the CS guys had a small get together last year too..

I am hoping some of them see this and respond

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yeah I hear ya

There really is no "Short Cut" it just takes time

The best and fastest way to learn is across the table from somebody, the Denver Meet is a ton of hands on stuff and I know a couple of the CS guys had a small get together last year too..

I am hoping some of them see this and respond

Yeah, I would REALLY rather sit down in the shop for a few hours and have a face to face with someone that knows their stuff, but it seems far and few between. I also don't want anyone to think that we want to step on their toes by offering a service that they offer.

Originally Posted by Alera

Hello, I'm moderately new to honing and restoring straight razors, but my shop would like to start offering it as a local service. We wanted to know what materials are required to be able to fully restore and fully sharpen.
Current setup:

Combination India
400/1000 grit DMT (we figured we would use this for the occasional pocket knife that comes in and needs to be resharpened)
Soft Arkansas
Hard Arkansas
Black Arkansas
--------------
Green buffing compound
Red buffing compound
Leather strop
Honing oil (combo of kerosene and mineral oil)

We only have a slight clue of what tools are involved in restoration, and would prefer a more educated idea on this front. We're only a small shop, would prefer to stay away from expensive power tools if they are out of budget for now, so alternative tools are a welcome option.

I can get straights to a hair cutting edge with this combination of tools with relative ease. Is there anything that I'm missing on that front?

I want to wish you the best of luck my friends. I have been honing (or at least trying) for about a year now and I still don't know my ass from a hole in the ground. But, I have the people here at SRP guiding me and helping me. When they offer me feedback, it's not meant to hurt, it's meant to help you and enrich your experience. Listening to this feedback has improved my skills, but I still have a long way to go.

Again good luck and I hope that you prosper!

No offense, but with only a dozen razors honed, you probably haven't seen enough bad issues yet and don't have consistency in your edges. I honed probably 100 razors before I felt confident to hone for others and I'm still learning at 500. You'll run across dings, frowns, bad geometry and edges that crumble etc and I could not have fixed those after only doing a few razors. Even factory new razors can have issues. Get some more cheap bad razors and practice with those first.

Synthetic hones would be best as they are very consistent and fast. Arkansas hones are notoriously slow (but work well)

[QUOTE=Alera;1658051]

Originally Posted by BobH

I personally don't shave with the razors. Our store is actually a beard grooming store first and foremost, so I need to keep my beard. I cut hair on my arm and forearm in order to determine sharpness, but is there a way to get a sharp, shaveable edge without shaving with them? we plan to give about 3 of my razors to the barbers we are partnered with to test with, and their opinion is highly regarded in the local barber scene. Plus, i feel as if shaving with every customer's blade could be somewhat disrespectful or unhygienic and moderately time consuming on my part.

Like I said, for me if a straight razor easily cuts hair, in my case arm hair, all along the edge then I am reasonably sure the bevel is set. That I normally do on a 1K Naniwa hone and is only the start of the honing process. From there I go up the honing progression refining the edge to, hopefully, a shave ready state. I don't think I would want to shave off an edge that cuts arm hair as it might be a little rough.

You could search the forum for threads on the Hanging Hair Test, HHT, to see opinions on that as a final test without resorting to a shaving test.

The barbers you intend giving the razors too are going to be testing them on themselves or their clients? I know here barbers are not allowed to use straight razors on customers. They must use shavettes which use replaceable blades and the blade must be replaced with a fresh one before doing the next customer.

Personally I test my edges by how they shave, not all pass the first time round either. I have been learning to hone for several years now without any one on one help and am only now getting towards edges that I really like for myself. Honing is a simple process that is unexpectedly hard to learn to do well.

In any event those barbers, if they shave themselves with your straight razors and have used straight razors before, will be able to tell you about your edges. You really need seasoned veteran straight razor users who know what a good edge shaves like as testers.

I hope you work it all out because we need more competent quality honing services. These are few and far between.

Bob