Straight Razor

[David]

Hello all,
I was just given an old straight razor by a friend of mine that he asked me to sharpen for him
Now I don’t think he is going to be shaving with this as it is being used as a prop for a video trailer for a book of hers.
So my big question is am I capable of getting this razor shaving sharp with the WEPS? Right now I have the pro pack plus a set of 1k-2k Shaptons, and the ceramics. I slap have strops down to .5 micron.
Will I be able to produce an edge capable shaving facial hair with this set up? And is it going to be best for me to clamp the razor or use the spine of the razor as a guide and do it freehand?

Thanks,
David

[Tom Whittington]

David,

Clay has a very informative video on his youtube channel demonstrating a good method of handling straight razors on the Wicked Edge. I haven’t gotten to try that yet and don’t have any razors handy myself, but many folks here can attest to even a relatively short progression giving extremely good results. Of course the pursuit of perfection drives some of the folks around here to the far end of the spectrum with the finest polish possible, but don’t be too skittish of the earlier progressions and grits! I would venture that a half micron polish on a fine angle is well beyond shaving sharp 🙂

[cbwx34]

Now I don’t think he is going to be shaving with this as it is being used as a prop for a video trailer for a book of hers.

So… why do you need to sharpen it??? :dry: :silly: Seriously, if it’s going to be a prop, they may not want it sharp, since it may not be handled properly… maybe just make it look sharp by polishing the sides? This could be done by just using the strops.

Anyway…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5APdXK9-0V4

[Josh]

The method in the video doesn’t work… At least in my experience. The reason is because when you flip the base of the arms forward your angle constantly changes on your edge through your stroke. I have also found the stock pastes /strops to not work for me (although Clay and others have excellent results on knives). I have found the cheapest *fix as far as progression goes to be going up to your ceramics and then on to lapping films and finishing on a strop ( 125 cbn works great).

[cbwx34]

You are kinda right about the angle… since now the rod can pivot horizontally…. but I tried it on a razor (the only one I have is a “disposable” straight razor but it’s shaped like a straight), and it seems that if you have contact at the blade edge and spine, it maintains that contact because of the horizontal movement is free. I guess you’d have to make sure you don’t lose contact between those two pointe i.e. keep pressure so that contact is maintained at those two points. (Hope that makes sense).

That’s a good catch though… on a knife, which only has one contact point to the stone, the angle could change because of this.

[wickededge]

I agree. You can use the technique to sharpen a razor as long as you pay attention to keeping the stone in contact with both points on the regular models. I’ve just done some testing with the new ball joints and they don’t have the same issue when rotated. What’s more, you can use the micro-adjustment feature to maintain an angle that is ever so slightly higher than the spine of the razor which seems to be important to the straight razor people I’ve talked to. They often use tape or other protectors on the spines of their razors during honing to prevent it from being worn down.

-Clay

[Josh]

yeah, the new ball joint arms probably fix this… I was just having issues w/ the older joint. it is hard to explain w/out pics/video. I will try to do one or the other for you at some point soon (when i’m not so busy) so everyone can batter see what happens on the old ones.

clay, are the new ball joints limited in the range of motion at all when you rotate them forward? or is it not enough to cause any issues when you are doing straight razors? (i.e. clamping on the base of the spine).

[wickededge]

yeah, the new ball joint arms probably fix this… I was just having issues w/ the older joint. it is hard to explain w/out pics/video. I will try to do one or the other for you at some point soon (when i’m not so busy) so everyone can batter see what happens on the old ones.

clay, are the new ball joints limited in the range of motion at all when you rotate them forward? or is it not enough to cause any issues when you are doing straight razors? (i.e. clamping on the base of the spine).

Good question Josh. I’ll try to bring a razor in this week and shoot a little video. I’m by no means an expert on straight razors, far from it, but I think you’ll the way it works. On the other hand, the mod you’ve done already is awesome, don’t know why you’d need anything different.

-Clay

[Phillip Hyun]

Hi Clay,

Any progress on the straight blade video? I am very curious as I have a sheeps foot style blade that has a perfectly straight edge (Kevin Wilkins Parforce). I’ve been wondering how to sharpen this on the WEPS. Could you clarify what the “two Points” you were referring to on earlier responses on this thread? 2 points along the edge and the spine?

Thanks!

[Josh]

Finally got some pics of what I was talking about… (how rotating the arms forward will change the angle mid stroke). see below:

so, as you can see, anyone wanting to do straight razors will need the new upgraded arms =)

[David]

Thanks for the help everyone. Since I don’t have the new arms I wound up just honing the razor freehand on the WE stones and strops. I started with the 600 diamonds and worked my way up to .5 micron CBN. I shaved a little but with it but didn’t push it too much being that I don’t have any skill is using a razor. But it did work really well I was pleased.

[cbwx34]

Finally got some pics of what I was talking about… (how rotating the arms forward will change the angle mid stroke). see below:

so, as you can see, anyone wanting to do straight razors will need the new upgraded arms =)

That’s what I was talking about in my other post… you can use the original arms on a razor, because the razor can control the angle since it has two points of contact with the stone.

Thanks for the help everyone. Since I don’t have the new arms I wound up just honing the razor freehand on the WE stones and strops. I started with the 600 diamonds and worked my way up to .5 micron CBN. I shaved a little but with it but didn’t push it too much being that I don’t have any skill is using a razor. But it did work really well I was pleased.

Sounds like a good way also… Thanks for the update! 🙂

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