Straight razors

[Petrovich]

Hi there...newbie on board.

I ordered my new machine today from sharptools usa.

I intend to use my machine mainly for knives and household/garden/garage tools.

I enjoy shaving with a straight razor now and then.  There is no smoother shave I'm telling you.  Sometimes I can get my wife to give me a shave 'barber style'.

I have a small fortune wrapped up in razors.  They stay sharp if you strop them with each use, but in time they get a bit dull and then it's not a pleasure to use them anymore.  My solution was to buy a new razor.  Eventually, I did find a source to sharpen them but it's a pain.  I've tried hand hones and they don't work either.

Watching the video it appears that the machine might to a good job.  Since my razors all have a straight blade..ie no curve to the edge; I think the general purpose jig will work.

The one issue I have is the concave grind of the razors.  Straight razors have a super hollow grind starting with a relatively wide spine and tapering to a very thin edge.

Has anyone tried this?  I suspect the two main issues are going to be fitting the blade into the jig, and determining proper cutting angle which will be significantly less than 40 degrees.

I do recall somewhere that the grinding angle is nearly flat.  Stropping is done completely flat.

Also...will the 1000 grit of the wheel be fine enough?

[Jeff Farris]

I have done a couple to the delight of potential customers who brought them to a show.

As I understand the geometry, you need a small edge angle worked off the hollow grind of the blade.  

I used the SVM-45 Knife Jig, grabbing only the very back edge of the blade and laying the angle out as flat as I could achieve.  I graded the stone to 1000 grit.  When I thought I had the stone smooth I enough, I spent another minute and a half with the grader -- you cannot overdo it.

For something like this, you want the grindstone surface to feel like a piece of wet glass.

Use the leather honing wheel being very careful not to bring the angle too high.

Practice, practice, practice.

[Petrovich]

I can hardly wait to try it for myself!!

Thank you, Jeff, for a prompt reply.

My results may be awhile coming...but if I am successful I'll post my results here.