Honing service in the Calgary area.

[IamKnightly]

Hi all, I am hoping someone can help me out here. I am looking for a honing service in Calgary (or within a couple hours drive), I've searched the forum and found nothing current. The only shop I have seen mentioned is knifewear in ingelwood, but not sure if I trust knife sharpeners to get my straights done properly. Any suggestions?

I have a Henckel model 87 1/4 with a tiny nick near the toe, a Friodur Inox 72 1/2 that has heavy toe bias that I think could be fixed up by someone who knows what they are doing, and a Le Grelot 6/8" that just needs a rehone.

Thanks in advance for everyone's time.

 

[cam101]

There's a guy on Kijiji Calgary that is offering his razor honing service. I have no experience with him, but may drop off two family hand down straights I was recently given.

Let us know if you find any other options!

 

[IamKnightly]

I think I'll take one to knifewear tomorrow and see how that goes. I was also thinking that whoever barbers / hairstylists use to sharpen their scissors might be a viable option, has anyone tried that?

 

[IamKnightly]

So for any brothers in the Calgary area that are reading this, here is what I found... Knifewear in Inglewood no longer hones straights, but they have opened a shave shop across the street. It is called "Kent of Inglewood" and is staffed by some guys that seem to truly appreciate the craft and participate in it themselves. They are a well stocked store with everything you may want to trick out your den; straights, doubles, soaps, brushes, stands, the list goes on. They have some cool bespoke art from a local iron artist, and even some nice battle axes, should the need arise.

They also hone straights, decent price for a regular hone, and just a little more if they need to repair your edge (nicks, chips, uneven wear, etc.). I had them do a couple of mine and will shave with one tomorrow to report back on the edge.

 

[IamKnightly]

Well, after shaving with both straights I've come to the following conclusion..... They were both 'shave ready' in the sense that I could shave with them, the only question is, do I want to? Definitely not honed to what I consider shave ready, more of a grip it and rip it feel than an enjoyable smooth shave.

So I'd say the guys there are a great resource for buying products (they do have a great selection, and there's no waiting around for your shipment to arrive), and it is a cool store, but I am back to hunting down a true honemeister practicing here in Calgary

 

[HunterBlades]

If you want to pay shipping i'll put an edge on whatever you want for free. Send more than 1 if you want to justify shipping costs.

Nothing I hate more than people charging for a bad hone job. I'd be happy to help.

 

[IamKnightly]

Thanks for the gracious offer mate, I may take you up on it. I bought a couple stones, so I'm going to give it a shot and see how I do.

 

[HunterBlades]

What stones did you get?

Make sure to use virtually no pressure while honing.

 

[David]

What stones did you get?

Make sure to use virtually no pressure while honing.

Sometimes a little pressure is called for

 

[HunterBlades]

Yea I should clarify, when finishing don't use any pressure.

When bevel setting or refining scratch patterns sometimes a little pressure is needed. It all depends on what stones you are using. If you tell us what you got we can give you more specefic advice.

 

[IamKnightly]

I got 2 Japanese corundum (I think) whetstones, 3k and 8k. I'm hoping that's good for a start, my strop is a 127 from the Illinois Strop Co if that makes a difference.

 

[IamKnightly]

I was thinking of getting something in the 800-1k range for bevelling in the future, but the bevel on these seems okay (nice even line of clean metal all the way across the blade) so I figured starting off with a thick slurry and medium pressure on the 3k would do me for now.

Since we're on this now, is there an advantage to getting like a rough diamond hone to lapp my stones?

 

[HunterBlades]

Definately. You can get a dmt 8c for like 40$ or an atoma but they cost more. If your stones are JIS rated 8k should be enough.

You could get some cromium oxide or CBN spray for a pasted strop if you wanted further refinement. But with skill you can shave off the 8k.

 

[IamKnightly]

Well after what seemed like hours and hours of honing (work keeps distracting me from the task at hand, just cuz they pay me doesn't mean they should be able to tell me what to do haha) and a few rather tuggy shaves, I think this next one may be it. Last shave was soooooo close to being smooth.

Getting some strop paste is what I need to do next, that should get me over this plateau for now, at least until I can actually hone a razor.

Thanks for for all the tips and help guys!

 

[HunterBlades]

Working at the 8k until you get a good shave is probably the best thing you can do.

You will know where an edge should be before you move on to anything finer now.