Is it okay to get this bloke to hone my brand new razor?

[Ikaponthus]

G'day guys,

I'm new to straight razors. Am I safe trusting my brand new razor to a knife-sharpener?

I have a brand new Dovo Solingen Straight Razor: Renaissance 6/8; and I'm having trouble finding someone to hone it for me in Sydney, Australia.

I rang a few knife-sharpeners, one of them said he couldn't do it himself, but recommended someone who he said "might be able to help". I rang that individual (who offers a mobile knife-sharpening service to the restaurants in Sydney), who said he could do it for me tomorrow for $20.

On his website, it says he uses "cold stone, water-cooled sharpening", although I don't know if he'd do that with my razor, or use some other technique. To be honest, the guy really did sound like he knew what he was talking about, which made me feel much more confident.

The reason I am posting is that there is nobody that offers a specialist razor-honing service, and I know absolutely nothing about it. Am I safe trusting my brand new razor to a knife-sharpener?

 

[drathgeb]

I don't know. I just got my Renaissance and it is a fine razor. I would hate to hear about something going wrong. Good luck and hope all goes well

 

[Nobody]

The wiki is your friend and you are in luck! There are several people listed in Australia, Sydney to be exact.

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Honemeister

• Oz Parker (a.k.a. onimaru55)
  • ozzzz (at) tpg.com.au
  • Razor Honing/repairs
  Simon Chambers (a.k.a. Buckler)
  
• Send a PM to Buckler
• Razor Honing/repairs

 

[Doc226]

Unless the guy actually has experience honing razors-no way. You can ask what stones he uses and to what grit.

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Honemeister

There are two listed in Australia in Melbourne and Sydney

 

[Seraphim]

Don't do
It!!!

 

[Seraphim]

Knife sharpeners like to hone with the spine away from the hone, which is horrific for honing a straight razor.

It's equivalent to having 100 layers of tape on the spine!

 

[Noswad]

I would use caution with this guy as I have read horror stories about knife sharpeners and razors. Not saying that he does not know what to do, but...
Also everyone has a different opinion on a shave ready edge.

There are a few guys down there in Australia on B&B. Send johnmrson an e-mail and find out if he knows if there is anyone near you. (Think he is 500 miles or so away from you.) I have bought at least one razor from John and he can put a nice edge on a razor. Do not know if his honing shingle is out there but I bet he will know who or how to get you taken care of.

Australia is a huge country/continent so hopefully there is someone near you. The absolute best thing would be to have someone teach you how to do it yourself. Which leads to a whole new bunch of ADs. Best of luck to you.

 

[Legion]

If you are in Sydney take it to Oz (Onimaru55) . I think he is on the north shore, but I could be wrong about that.

You can send him a PM here for the details.

 

[life2short1971]

If you buy me a plain ticket to Oz i'll be glad to put an edge your new razor with my hones at no charge even.

 

[Legion]

If you buy me a plain ticket to Oz i'll be glad to put an edge your new razor with my hones at no charge even.

Why didn't I think of that idea? International travelling honebloke. A briefcase full of hones and a girl in every port, sharpening and having adventures...

 

[life2short1971]

Why didn't I think of that idea? International travelling honebloke. A briefcase full of hones and a girl in every port, sharpening and having adventures...

Well we can't expect you to come up with all the best schemes..I mean ideas

 

[rimmini]

FIRST, TAKE YOUR NEW RAZOR AND PUT IT IN THE MEDICINE CABINET. Do not send it to someone and do not use it...YET.

Next go down to the local antique store and buy a 20 dollar razor or two ...or three. Next order an Arkansas honing stone. When your stone arrives set aside a day...yes a day... To learn how to hone your own 20 dollar blades. just rest the blade on the spine and draw the blade , edge trailing, over the stone. Once you learn to hone and maintain a shaving edge ( yes you should learn to shave with these also) then and only then should you pull your pride and joy out of the cabinet.

Happy Shaving

BTW If you are willing to accept a few nicks in a used blade you can probably pick up a straight razor for around 10 dollars. This shouldn't be a problem while you learn to hone because you have to learn how to hone nicks out anyway. Besides, if you do ruin the blade in you learning curve , you won't feel bad about it.

 

[Disburden]

Never take your razor to a knife service....ever.

 

[Legion]

FIRST, TAKE YOUR NEW RAZOR AND PUT IT IN THE MEDICINE CABINET. Do not send it to someone and do not use it...YET.

Next go down to the local antique store and buy a 20 dollar razor or two ...or three. Next order an Arkansas honing stone. When your stone arrives set aside a day...yes a day... To learn how to hone your own 20 dollar blades. just rest the blade on the spine and draw the blade , edge trailing, over the stone. Once you learn to hone and maintain a shaving edge ( yes you should learn to shave with these also) then and only then should you pull your pride and joy out of the cabinet.

Happy Shaving

BTW If you are willing to accept a few nicks in a used blade you can probably pick up a straight razor for around 10 dollars. This shouldn't be a problem while you learn to hone because you have to learn how to hone nicks out anyway. Besides, if you do ruin the blade in you learning curve , you won't feel bad about it.

I'm not sure I agree with this. You should always get your first razor, the one you learn to shave with, honed by a pro. Until you do that you do not even know what a properly shave ready edge should feel like. And when you do start honing your own you will have no bench mark to measure your edges against.

Also, without knowing for sure that your razor edge is up to scratch, you will never be sure if any shaving problems you have are the razors fault or your own.

Get the Dovo honed.

 

[UPD]

My simple opinion, for what its worth... I wouldn't trust anyone to hone a razor unless they shave with a straight razor. I dont care how good they might be at knife sharpening, before I'd pay them to hone a razor I'd ask if they shave with one themselves. If they dont, then how do they know what shave-ready is? More than likely a knife sharpening shop would sharpen the razor until it was shaving arm hair just like a sharp pocket knife will and call it "shave-ready".

 

[Slash McCoy]

FIRST, TAKE YOUR NEW RAZOR AND PUT IT IN THE MEDICINE CABINET. Do not send it to someone and do not use it...YET.

Next go down to the local antique store and buy a 20 dollar razor or two ...or three. Next order an Arkansas honing stone. When your stone arrives set aside a day...yes a day... To learn how to hone your own 20 dollar blades. just rest the blade on the spine and draw the blade , edge trailing, over the stone. Once you learn to hone and maintain a shaving edge ( yes you should learn to shave with these also) then and only then should you pull your pride and joy out of the cabinet.

Happy Shaving

BTW If you are willing to accept a few nicks in a used blade you can probably pick up a straight razor for around 10 dollars. This shouldn't be a problem while you learn to hone because you have to learn how to hone nicks out anyway. Besides, if you do ruin the blade in you learning curve , you won't feel bad about it.

An Arkie would be a terrible stone to have as your only stone! Plus, you don't normally hone with the edge trailing. The edge should lead.

An Arkie fine enough to be a decent finisher would take thousands of laps to hone major nicks out of an edge. An Arkie coarse enough to do edge repair would be far, far too coarse to shave off of, unless you were easily satisfied with a grossly unrefined edge.

A beginner should stick to film, which is fast and easy for the newbie to get better than professional results. If he feels compelled to stay stuck in the stone age, then synthetic progression up to Norton 8k and a Nani 12k or Cnat or (dare I say it?) Jnat finisher. If he must have one and only one stone for all of his honing needs, I would have to say a large Coticule would be the only acceptable answer, and I would leave it to the coti experts which vein would be best for this. Possibly a Jnat though I have to confess a relative ignorance of their properties and capabilities. An Arkie would not even register on the list of possible solutions. What grade would you suggest? Hard? Black or translucent? Something softer?

A medium or soft Arkie could be one's only hone for pocketknives or maybe kitchen knives. For razors, it would either be way too coarse for finishing, or somewhat too coarse and way too slow, depending on grade. In 1940 your answer might have been acceptable. This is the information age, and we are global. There are a myriad of infinitely better solutions at our disposal now.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Why didn't I think of that idea? International travelling honebloke. A briefcase full of hones and a girl in every port, sharpening and having adventures...

But if you use film, there will be room in the briefcase for other stuff.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Knife sharpeners like to hone with the spine away from the hone, which is horrific for honing a straight razor.

It's equivalent to having 100 layers of tape on the spine!

Which is, of course, quite evil.

 

[Slash McCoy]

My simple opinion, for what its worth... I wouldn't trust anyone to hone a razor unless they shave with a straight razor. I dont care how good they might be at knife sharpening, before I'd pay them to hone a razor I'd ask if they shave with one themselves. If they dont, then how do they know what shave-ready is? More than likely a knife sharpening shop would sharpen the razor until it was shaving arm hair just like a sharp pocket knife will and call it "shave-ready".

+1

How would a person who doesn't even shave with a straight razor know if the razor he honed was sharp or not? There is sharp, and there is shaaaaaarp. The problem is, without shaving with it, you don't know which one you got!

 

[Legion]

But if you use film, there will be room in the briefcase for other stuff.

Yeah, but then I'd lose the girl in every port. Chicks hate lapping film. No mojo.