Honing by a knife sharpener?

[djh]

I am a DE shaver and have been fascinated by the look and feel of straight razors for a long time. I still remember having the occasional barber's chair shave when I was living in Australia- a great experience.
At the moment, I am toying with the idea of buying a straight and learning to shave with it. Obviously, prep and lathering are not a problem and I would try to shave with a straight on the weekends when I was under no time pressure. My problem lies in honing. While I can easily buy a shave-ready razor, I don't feel the need to buy honing stones etc right away until I decide if the experience is for me. There is a place in town here that I have used several times to sharpen my kitchen knives (and they do a fantastic job) and I questioned someone on the phone earlier in the week about sharpening a razor. Naturally the response was "sure"........ Do any of you experienced honers/straight shavers have thoughts on this? Would they be able to do a sufficiently good job? I realise that newbies are tougher on gear than old-hands but how often might a straight need to be honed?

 

[mparker762]

There have been several guys that have tried this approach over the last few years, and the usual result is a ruined razor. Not saying your guys couldn't do a good job, but...

 

[Proinsias]

Not much experience here aside from some straight shaving and the odd touch up on a hone but you can keep a shave ready razor going for quite a while with a strop and a high grit stone. I've got a Chinese 12k which was very cheap and seems to refresh the edge with only a few passes.

If you get a shave ready straight and a strop you should be able to get enough shaves to determine if straight shaving is for you. If it is you can get something like the Chinese 12k or an old barber's hone fairly cheap to keep the edge going.

You could also use a pasted strop to keep the edge sharp.

I would definitely recommend getting a razor from someone who has a good reputation for sharpening razors for a first experience. If you want to see if straight shaving is for you I think you'd be much better with a cheap razor that has a great edge on it than an expensive razor with an ok edge on it.

 

[mainaman]

My advice is to ask them how they sharpen knives. If they use belt grinders run away. If they use stones ask them what stones. In general knife sharpening requires to apply pressure on the stone , razor sharpening requires no pressure. If those guys have no experience you are going to risk them ruin your blade.

 

[ouch]

Knife sharpening and razor honing couldn't be more different. Expertise in the former is no indication of ability in the latter, and vice versa.

 

[BOOURNS]

Knife sharpening and razor honing couldn't be more different. Expertise in the former is no indication of ability in the latter, and vice versa.

+1 on this, I was a butcher so I know a thing or two about honing a knife. My straight is a completely different thing. Different grits, different pressures etc.

 

[kwigibocity]

If you have a good strop & are starting with a shave-ready razor there's no reason to hone again for at least as long as it takes to get proficient at using the razor. This does assume, of course, that in your zeal you don't roll the edge upon the strop leather.

I'd not entirely discount the possibility that the local knife guy can't hone your blade well. Maybe he can. I honed chisels, planes, & knives for years before trying the str8 & it was undoubtedly beneficial to me in my view.

 

[ouch]

+1 on this, I was a butcher so I know a thing or two about honing a knife. My straight is a completely different thing. Different grits, different pressures etc.

Right. I'm sure you'd laugh at a honemeister who offered to sharpen your knives.

 

[jendeindustries]

As a knife sharpener myself, I must agree with everyone above - knives and straights are two different animals, and odds are that unless this person does routinely hone razors, you'll be sorry.

Good luck!

 

[djh]

Thank you all for the input. I will admit that the advice was not what I was hoping for, but it was what I expected. More thinking to do......
Thanks again.

 

[Will P.C.]

Its probably still cheaper to send it out to one of the pros.

This way you can eliminate the factor of the razor NOT being shave ready. This is one of the big things newbies complain about. Most of the times its them and not the razor.

 

[SliceOfLife]

You could always ask them if they've done any straight razors before, and buy a $10 Gold dollar to try them out on. The important thing to note is that most professional knife sharpening services are really grinders. They bevel your knife at maybe 1k on a wheel then buff it. This is obviously not the treatment you'd want to shave after.

 

[DaveMartell]

Knife sharpening and razor honing couldn't be more different. Expertise in the former is no indication of ability in the latter, and vice versa.

So true!

I say unless he straight shaves himself and can show you his work there's no reason to think that he can handle doing your razor correctly.

 

[forum9]

I agree with the general advice.

Ask them a simple question. Does anybody there use a straight?

If they don’t, they won’t have a clue.

Thinking and knowing are very very different animals. You only know you can sharpen a razor when you can test it, positively on yourself.

 

[holli4pirating]

Even if a knife guy told me he shaves with a straight, I'd still be skeptical. Who knows if it's true or if he just wants the business? Then again, I have been told I'm overly skeptical....

But with all the honers for hire, I don't really see any reason to take the risk.

 

[Will P.C.]

I'd be skeptical about someone wanting my business

 

[burns420]

I went to buy some kitchen knives from a local cutlery store, and they offered sharpening. I had an old straight in my pocket that I bought at an antique market that day, nothing special and cost me $5 so I wasn't too worried about it getting ruined. They said the same thing "no problem, our guy can handle anything". Sure enough, when I picked it up later that day the lady was all smiles until I started checking the knives. All were good until I took out the straight razor. Her face changed to an embarrassed look and the excuses started. Sure enough the blade had been over heated and had that rainbow colour to it as a result and it had a very rough edge. They bevel was huge and the whole blade had huge scratches all over it. It looked like he tried to remove the blueing caused by the heat by going over it with a wire wheel or brush. Not sure what he used, but it was definitely bad and totally ruined. I got pretty upset, not because it was ruined but because they lied before and after, than attempted to charge me for it knowing it was ruined. I got my money back and extra $60 for a new razor and to cover my troubles. Sorry for the long story, just wanted to share my experiences with this situation.

 

[Disburden]

Sounds like a horrible idea to me. They hone knives, there's a big difference between knives and razors.

 

[treydampier]

Here is a good Rule of Thumb: If the person honing your razor does not shave with one, then its probably a bad idea to have them hone them. The term razor sharp is often used by knife honers in cases where they have no clue as to what they are talking about. I am sure there is someone in your country or in Europe especially that can hone them for you. I say don't be scared, buy yourself a quality stone and dive in. Its not that hard to hone your own razor and there are a lot of materials out there on how to hone properly. It''s not nearly as hard as it sounds I assure you.
Good Luck!

 

[luvmysuper]

I haz won of these, and I sez I can sharpens up my razors reel gud!