Sharpening my straight razor

[DaveC2k21]

Hello,
I am fairly new to shaving with a straight razor. I use a DOVO that I just purchased. I love shaving with a straight razor. I have never had a closer shave in my life. I am curious about the sharpening kits on Amazon. Are they good for straight razors, or should I just wait until the shop that I bought my straight razor from has the kits in again. What is a good kit to get?

 

[rbscebu]

Do NOT get a "sharpening kit" from Amazon or anywhere else. I strongly recommend that you start off with lapping film. It is all covered in this thread:

Lapping film, try it.

I got some lapping film in a PIF a while ago, 4/8/16/30 equivalent grits. I use them on top of a lapped 8x3" hone, but any flat surface will do. They may not offer the sexy smooth feel of a big dollar hone, but man they are effective, and the edges off the "30k" film is not that unlike a $350...

www.badgerandblade.com

If your SR is truly shave-ready, you can go straight to diamond pasted balsa strops:

How To Use a Pasted Balsa Strop

lol camo

www.badgerandblade.com

Once you have your SR shaving technique all sorted and you can consistently get good edges off film and balsa, then start looking down the whetstone rabbit hole.

 

[rbscebu]

I assume that you have a leather strop for your Dovo SR. For the time being, just strop your SR before each shave. That should keep you going for 30 to 100 shaves, depending on your stropping and shaving techniques. This will give you time to read and prepare for using lapping film.

Do NOT use any paste or other abrasive on your leather strop. Keep it clean. Using an abrasive will tend to convex the bevel and round the edge. Not what you want in the longer term.

A set of decent whetstones will cost you many hundreds of dollars. A lapping film setup will cost you tens of dollars. You can get into whetstones later.

 

[Thetyr]

Pastes are awesome! You just need a piece of cotton and somewhere to put it. Cut up an old pair of trousers and lay it on the kitchen table.

 

[McBlade]

I think stones are easier to learn on than film.

For example, suppose you're struggling to set a bevel. It might take many tries to get it right. The thin layer of abrasive on film will wear out after a bit but you might not realise without some experience. That introduces another variable to deal with if you're trying to figure out why a razor isn't getting any sharper. A stone just keeps on working consistently (provided you lap it flat regularly).

I'd recommend Naniwa Super Stones.

Film certainly can get the job done though and it's cheap. I've got a mixture of both including a 1k Naniwa SS for bevel setting and a 10k Naniwa SS for finishing. Note that most people seem to prefer the 12k for finishing.

 

[Thetyr]

Don't listen to the "DO THIS" or "DON'T DO THAT" - all the different ways of sharpening works for somebody. Try something you think looks interesting. The worst that can happen is that you have to send the razor out to someone to fix it if you can't/won't/whatever do it yourself. It's just a razor.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Hello,
I am fairly new to shaving with a straight razor. I use a DOVO that I just purchased. I love shaving with a straight razor. I have never had a closer shave in my life. I am curious about the sharpening kits on Amazon. Are they good for straight razors, or should I just wait until the shop that I bought my straight razor from has the kits in again. What is a good kit to get?

Before I knew what I was doing, I bought one of those 3k/8k combo hones from Amazon. Yes, you can hone razors on them, but not very efficiently, and they slurry so much that the effective grit is widely variable. My opinion is that even at the cheap price point they're not really worth it. At the same time, I bought an Imperia La Roccia finisher. The ILR has a mixed reputation, but mine gives a comfortable and relatively sharp edges. I still go back to it sometimes when I'm looking for something different. Currently I mostly use lapping film, though, because 1) at the moment I'd rather spend money on razors than hones (that may change down the road) and 2) they're fast and consistent and really taught me how to dial in my technique.

I have a few suggestions that you can mull over as options:

1) Get a second*, inexpensive razor, preferably shave-ready, and when one needs honing, send it to a honemeister for around $25 plus shipping.
2) Get a second razor, not shave ready, and set yourself up with lapping films and learn the process, using your Dovo as a comparison edge. Likely by the time the Dovo needs honing you'll have it down pat.
3) Same as 2, but set yourself up with some *good* synthetic stones. I'm sure others will be able to recommend specifics: Personally I'd be looking for a 1k for bevel setting, and then something in the 3 to 5k range, an 8k, and a finisher of some sort. Oh, and you'll need something to lap those stones flat, whether it's w/d sandpaper on granite or a DMT plate or the like.

In terms of short term investment, 1 and 2 are probably about the same if you're smart with your second razor purchase. 3 is a little more expensive upfront but probably the best long term value.

*This is, of course, a dangerous proposition, because you may well find yourself with 10 or 20 razors before you know what happened.

 

[Greg S]

I started out pretty simple with a 1200 grit diamond stone for general bevel setting and quick tune up before going to a black arkansas which is a big jump. I stated to suplement lapping film between the 1200 diamond hone and the black arky.

I got a sheet of blue, brown, pink, green and white (1800, 4k, 8k & 14k) and generally run up from brown through green. After i'll run on the black arky then 50 lapse on linen, 50 on the flesh side then 30-50 on the smooth leather.

About once or twice a year I treat my strop with a glycerin soap (Col Conk Lime) lather and allow it to dry a day then polish off with a paper towel.

For a touch up generally the last two diamond grades, black Arky then leather i the bevel isn't too rounded from stropping or strop pastes.

Edit: My black arkansas stone was marked as surgical and looks like polished black marble on the surface and puts a mirror finish on the bevel.