Thread: A thought

So, a little while ago I was in a local flee market and they had a old razor, a Gentleman's Favorite (though I've never heard of the brand or model, or read anything about it) with a bit of a nick in the blade. The knick is about the width of the tip of my thumbnail and somewhere between a 16th and a 32nd of an inch in depth. I was thinking about picking it up to test my honing and stropping techniques on, as I'm going to have to develop honing techniques sometime. I'm kind of hoping that eventually the nick will come out, though if it doesn't, I'm planning on using the razor as a non-disposable exacto knife, as I work construction and have a terrible time losing all my exacto blades long before I use them. :P

So, my question is twofold. Do you think the nick will ever come out, and if not, how good an exacto knife do you think a straight razor would make?

1.Wait for a better razor for honing and stropping practice.


2. Razors are not good as exacto knives, the old english wedges are used by wood carvers but with a lot of resharpening.

Just my two cents,

Will the nick come out? I'd say yes. Will it be easy? Probably not. Is it worth it for you to practice on? Maybe. Tough to say without actually seeing the blade. Also, without knowledge of whether you have honed anything successfully before, Randy might be right in his suggestion that you practice on something a little simpler. Now if it is a junker blade and you don't care if it gets messed up, try practicing honing out a nick!

In my experience, nicks of that size often may be the start of a crack. I'd steer clear of anything that's not a no-brainer for the time being. Start simple.

The nick will almost certainly come out. You might consider sending the blade out to have the nick removed, and then you can practice your honing to get it shave-ready. (If you'd like, I'll take the nick out for you for free.)

On the exacto knife thing, I found this tutorial a while back about making a knife out of a straight razor. I've been wanting to give it a shot, as it would make an excellent knife for cutting the thick leather I'm using for sheaths.

Josh