Thread: New to razor sharpening

Hello all,

I run a mobile sharpening business in CC, TX and I get a lot of folks asking if I can sharpen a straight razor. I have always turned them down of course, but I ordered a straight razor and it was pretty dull when it arrived. I have been trying to hone it using the course side of a Smith's TriHone. I can't seem to make any headway even after hours of honing.

I am using water, liberally, on the stone but there is no slurry building up and it doesn't appear to do anything to the blade. Dull as a bread knife still.

Any suggestions?

Nelson

There will be tons of responses but honestly the Brand of the razor is the first question I have??? some are just razor shaped objects....

Welcome to SRP

It is an Ultimate Pro 150, made in Germany.

This is what I ordered from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Straight-Razor...2259300&sr=8-1

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Ultimate Pro 150 Straight Razor


Honestly I haven't had one of these cross my stones, Lynn hones way more than I do, maybe he has seen one, or one of the other guys that hone professionally...
From what I see and I am reading you look to be in for a challenge...

edit: I found only one reference to this brand on another forum but not from any experienced people so I just don't know

A challenge? How so?

I like a challenge, but I'm not a masochist!

Welcome to SRP.

You'd be much better off ordering a quality equipment. Straightrazordesigns.com would be my goto place, as you will get properly honed razor to know what to aim for. You can buy a second dovo razor with the factory edge on it and compare the differences. Or buy something vintage off the classifieds here, or if you feel like gambling and that you can avoid junk razors you can try ebay.

The thing is that if you learn to hone razors so that you can expand your business you really want to make sure you know what you're doing and start it right. Bad publicity is probably going to hurt you more than you can imagine.

So, first get a benchmark razor, second get a quality razor to practice on, third read some threads in the honing section of this forum and you'll get an idea what's involved (take a look at the honing articles in the wiki). You may need to buy another hone or two, but the ones you already have (not the trisistem) may be enough. Generally razors start where knives end.

Finally practice over and over, once you're comfortable that you can hone few good razors to the benchmark state, then give that razor you bought a try.

Oh, and you really want to learn how to shave with straight razors, because the only test that will tell you if a razor is properly honed, or not is how it shaves.

Originally Posted by Nelson

A challenge? How so?

I like a challenge, but I'm not a masochist!

Many of these unknown brands, are not actually German some simply are Pakistani or Chinese steels put into Solingen scales to be able to claim MI Solingen... The steel's temper is normally not good enough to hold onto a shaving edge.. The only way to know is to hone it and use it a bit...
The problem is no matter the amount of advice I give to get it honed up, you won't know if it is the steel or your technique that is holding the edge back...

Give it a few hours and see if an experienced "Straight Razor" honer has messed with one..

Not heard of the brand, but it certain looks like one of those unusable Pakistani blades that you will not be able to get sharp no matter what..
First ting to is to start reading up on razor honing in the wiki here.

I have honed this thing for hours using the X method and circular motion, counting strokes for each side. It still won't cut a hair off my arm.

I have a 4000/8000 combo but I used the trihone just to see if it would make a difference.

Well if you have the norton combo, you need a real razor. It's possible that yours can be honed, but with a lot of effort. You can ask Glen, he's a bit of a masochist and has honed a number of these subpar razors. Some of them won't take a shaving edge no matter what though.