Thread: Anybody ever have Bertarelli hone a razor??

Ask the person DOING the sharpening is HE shaves with straight razors sharpened this way. I'd even go so far as to keep asking questions if he says yes. If you are convinced he uses them, and he doesn't have visible scarring (extra points if he looks like he has a really nice shave), I agree with bringing a cheapo ebay special that in theory COULD give a good shave if honed properly.
That said, I doubt it, and I would bet your razor would either be ruined through the use of a grinding wheel, or at least in serious need of a real honing after.

You might ask how much they would charge and calculate that against sending it out for someone who knows what he's doing

If they sharpen razors with the same setup in the photo on their site it will not work well. It MAY ruin the razor if he isn't careful. I can almost guarantee all that.

Ask them whether the knives they sharpen pass the HHT.

Originally Posted by Philadelph

If they sharpen razors with the same setup in the photo on their site it will not work well. It MAY ruin the razor if he isn't careful. I can almost guarantee all that.

The only thing that gives me some hope is that there is no mention of razors on that page. They said it's some "machine they put it through," which doesn't sound great, but at least it's not a grinding wheel!

Gotta admit now I'm at least curious what they'd say. Not to mention curious as to whether people around this shop have tried (and continue? quit?) straight shaving after using their products.

I doubt it would shave well without honing on a stone, a razor's edge needs a bevel for strength, and a bevel can only be set on a flat surface such as a stone.

If these guys use a wheel to sharpen (and let’s assume they have hi-grit wheels) … at best, the bevel will be concave and only marginally better than a wire edge (too thin and flexible to shave well).

If it were so easy to use a wheel to sharpen a razor, then why after 200 years don’t the major manufacturers simply sharpen on a wheel?… indeed, they all used wheels to grind razor blanks.

But you never know, these guys may have some modern machine that does, so send then a razor and lets see what they can do.

You guys are talking about grinding wheels though, right?

What if they are talking about the machine that TI uses to sharpen razors. It spins horizontally and the blade is ground on the flat side of the wheel, not on the arch itself.

There's a video out on youtube that I can't get to because I'm at work and it's blocked by the firewall.....

While it's possible to use power tools to sharpen straight razors, these must be custom built machines and I doubt their sharpening service has them. You'll probably end up with a rough finish and possible chips.

Originally Posted by Oglethorpe

You guys are talking about grinding wheels though, right?

What if they are talking about the machine that TI uses to sharpen razors. It spins horizontally and the blade is ground on the flat side of the wheel, not on the arch itself.

There's a video out on youtube that I can't get to because I'm at work and it's blocked by the firewall.....

Yes TI uses the flat side of a wheel (like the ones used to sharpen clipper blades)… They first lay the blade flat (and I believe sometimes with the spine raised) with the wheel moving away from the edge. This creates a “burr” on the edge. They then flip the razor so the wheel is moving against the edge and this will “sheer” and remove the burr.
From what I understand this creates a “factory bevel” that makes honing on a stone much faster (production environment), its like using tape on to protect the spine, to remove most of the steel on a course stone to form a bevel close to the final bevel (a bevel formed without tape).

I suppose if the right wheels are used (hi-grit) this could “hone” a razor as good as when done on a flat hone, however I would hope one would find a way to make the wheel rotate in both directions.