Straight Razor Sharpening/Honing

Been meaning to get my christmas present sharpened, but obviously never got around to it. Did a bit of research on here for previous posts but found nothing.

Anyone here sharpen their own blades or know of any drop in services around London?
Will pay you a pretty penny.

I did buy a Honing brick a while back but realised it's only good for sharpening crappy scissors and such.

Proper honing bricks are expensive...

don't they use a good thick leather belt to regain the edge ? i think they still do.

Not even sure using a honing stone is a good thing for a straight razor because the edge is so fine.

If the edge is rounded off, why not pass it over a butchers steel a few times at a very shallow angle. take much less metal away and preserve the thin edge than using a stone.

after that finish on a leather strap.

Thought the strap was after every stroke.

What I do is use a stone with a 2p or 2 1ps near the blade to hold the right angle sharpening on the blade. I will always use that on that blade so make a note and repeat it ever time. One stroke on the rougher side whilst two passes on the finer side.

I do this with knives too. No idea if itd the correct think just what I was taught by my old pa, along with cross dressng and being a lumberjack.

Use a strop. You should keep it pretty sharp so you need to learn how to do it yourself. A blunt straight razor is not safe.
If you go to Trumpers they'll even show you how.

^ this guy knows what he's talking about.

Yeah I did some research and found some nice video tutorials. I do have a leather strop, but they are used to help retain the sharpness. My cut throat blade is past that and needs proper sharpening with the right tool.

Looking at all this I think I need at least a 10,000 grit waterstone.

Thanks for the input you lot.

Inky I'll check out Trumpers whatever that is. :P

Sharpening a razor is not an easy task - it takes time and a lot of practice. PLus you need to invest in various sharpening stones.
The minimum grit size you need for a razor is 8,000 although I finish mine first on a 12,000 and then on a strop with diamond compound at 50,000.
If you are looking for someone to do it, head to straightrazorplace and ask - I'm sure there will be somebody who will offer their services (I sent mine to Belgium to start with)
I would offer, but I'm in Poland and that is a fair bit further to send something.

Tiswas - the stones are for sharpening and the strop is for polishing just before the shave.
I guess I sharpen every few months but I strop before every shave.

Oh, and don't trust retailers who tell you that the razor is already sharp and ready to use - they never are. They always need some work on them and that amount varies considerably.

My oldest razor is a John barber and is about 200 years old and I needed to use a 300grit stone for a while just to remove all the unwanted metal all in all I used 7 different stones on it to get it sharp.

This guy has a nice tutorial on honing. Goes through various grits.

1 - 5 Parts

at 3:15 on Part 5, watch the Hanging Hair Test. Slices through the hair with out any force.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgJce7mpUEg&feature=related

His advice is:

"What grit of hone to start on depends on how much the bevel needs to be worked.
the gist of it is:
1000 grit: complete bevel rebuild
4000 grit: will remove some steel, but slowly
8000+ grit: polishing

Using a pasted strop with a straight razor.

Pasted strops are used to polish the bevel of a razor and don't actually remove steel like hones do. They can certainly and easily help make a razor super sharp, but will never remove nicks or blunting."

The hanginghair test is somewhat misunderstood as it only really tells you that the blade can cut a hanging hair, which is not what a razor needs to do! A razor that passes this test is very sharp, but may be over honed, it is also very dependant on you hair type. I have very fine hair and none of my razors can pass the test, only commercial DE blades can do my hair.

The best way in my opinion is to have 2 razors minimum. Send one to be professionally honed and get the other as sharp as possible and shave with it(maybe only one cheek) every day, and give it 5 or ten passes every day on a high grit stone. You will see a gradual increase in sharpness eventually topping out to a harsh edge, which then goes too far and ceases to be sharp(most people think that the edge breaks off).

Then you know how sharp the razor should be by comparing your professionally honed one to your effort and gradually trying to match it by honing it a little each day.

It is very tempting to try and do it all at once, which is what I did and you just go around in circles not knowing when to stop as there is no test that really works except the 'shave test'(I got to the point where I was shaving twice a day to get as many tests in.....crazy huh?!)

Pasted strops do remove steel. Yes they will never remove nicks, but the grey colour of mine shows that they remove a significant amount.
The big problem is that they also can round over your edge a little, making it hard to then resharpen once the paste no longer works, so I try to only do a couple of passes just to smooth a little bit before stopping on plain leather.

This thread is the first hit on google for 'straight razor honing London'!

Has anyone had a razor honed at trumpers? I would you recommend it?

A friend gave me a really beaten up Ern Ator razor for my birthday - it's got a couple of nicks in the blade which go just beyond the bevel. Is it salvageable? I'm all right at sharpening knives so I think I'll try to do it myself.

You should be able to sort it out with a bit of time on (various grades of) a stone... I sharpen plane blades for instrument building using them (the end test of this is also the hanging hair test mentioned above).

I gave up stropping and use the disposable blades.

Same - a double edge safety razor fits into my life much better than straight razors, which are mostly only good for kinking out with goth girls.

i was under the impession that stropping just removed the burr that proper sharpening produced.
Thats what we were taught as apprentices(boatbuilding i'll grant you but you need a sharp plane on occasion).

Seeing as this thread has popped up again has anyone ever had a straight razor lesson? I feel extremely unconfident using mine - this could be because it simply isn't sharp enough - but it could be down to incorrect technique.

edit - and how important is the strop paste on a strop? Is it needed?

My razor finally arrived today. The falling hair test, if I am doing it correctly, is not being passed so I reckon the website was right when they told me it needs honing before first use. Will contact Trumpers.

As for instruction, I have a friend who has been trained in the art, so I will be getting tips from her. Maybe get the details from her as to where she was taught.

Have to say that, now it is here, I am quite nervous.

I've collected and restored straight razors in the past and still occasionally use one when I do shave (I'm more often bearded.)

Honing and stropping are very important and it's well worth getting these right. The actual shave is not as daunting as you think once you get started but under the nostrils is an area I found tricky at first!

I use a Norton 4k/8k water hone and a four sided paddle strop with paste for mine and can get it... erm... razor sharp.

It's important to make sure your hone is perfectly flat - super fine wet and dry paper wetted onto a pane of glass makes a good surface to ensure the hone is smooth. Hone blade side first in the x-pattern and then move on to stropping spine first.

I've often used the straightrazorplace forums but for god sake UTFS!

Straight razors are also useful for removing bobbles from jumpers.

@johnnyhotdog would you be up for giving some instructions on honing and stropping, in person?

I have a strop but no stone, yet.

no.

^ have you lost the plot dicki?