Re: Does anyone shave regularly with a straight edge?

[Jende Industries]

Tom

I watched the video and got the name of the kershaw knife and went to knifeworks and purchased one. The steel is advertised as 14c28n. I hope this is close to the same as the 13c26, do you have any ideas on that, what angle do you use to sharpen that puppy on and can I get to shavin sharp with the WE system? I have the pro kit and the two strops they sell.

Thanks
Lucky

Lucky,

First, I don’t advocate shaving with anything other than a proper standard razor… not that I have any intentions of stopping you – just be sure to get a video 🙂 That crazy Swede (Jens) from the previous video is a very experienced straight razor shaver, as you can see from the speed and deftness at which he moved his EDC across his face.

OK, with the proper caveats out of the way, you’ll quickly find that there is a difference between knife sharp and shaving sharp. They serve two different purposes.

If you’re going for shaving sharp, whittling hair won’t be a comfortable shave. You’ll need to get the hairs to pop.

The pro pack from WEPS has up to 1K diamond, which is a very good start. At the very least, you’ll need the 5 and 3.5 micron diamond pastes if you have them, although adding the 10 micron may help the transition from the different types of scratches of the plates vs. strops.

I would highly recommend adding Hand American’s 1 micron diamond spray (here) to at least get you more in the refinement level ball park for a decent shave. I haven’t used the HA 1 micron specifically, but the general rule is that if it’s from Hand American, it’s good (I have their finer then 1 micron diamond products, though B) )

You can certainly use the WEPS to sharpen the Kershaw. I know Jens (the crazy Swede) did his freehand, but when I did my cleaver, I ended up at 18 degrees. I would suggest something between 15 and 20 degrees per side. The Angle cube will really come in handy here.

Start by profiling the knife on the 100 WEPS, you can raise a burr here, when you’ve raised a burr on both sides, then still with the 100 WEPS, continue to do abot 50-60 extra light and consistent alternating strokes – you don’t want a burr, but you want the smoothest surface from the stones. Then continue on at each level with light alternating strokes – If you can check with some sort of magnification that will help you gauge where you are in terms of scratch consistency on the bevel. When you get to the plain leather, do 10-20 super light strokes and without taking the knife off the clamp, try popping a hair on the blade or try running the hair up and down the edge.

It you whittle it, it is not quite there – go back to your finest or second finest abrasive and do dome more strokes.

Oh – and don’t forget the shave video 😉