knives and razors?

[red2]

I have a couple of questions regarding straight razor honing and knife sharpening:

I have read this thread: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25522&page=8&highlight=sharpen+knife

And this thread: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26010&page=2

Are the stones used for honing a razor and for sharpening knives the same? Are there razor honing stones and knife sharpening stones? Or rather are there blade/edge sharpening stones of various grits which are more appropriate for one application or another? Can any of the equipment be shared? Are the skills transferable? Or should I think of these two thinks as completely separate endeavors?

 

[Doc4]

The grit for razor honing gets much finer than for knives, but some of the stones can do double duty where the required grits overlap. As far as I know, though, the sharpening methods are different, basically to do with blade angles.

 

[red2]

Thanks Doc!

Somewhere around here I saw a rough conversion of the various grit rating systems. I will have to search for it again.

 

[Doc4]

Thanks Doc!

Somewhere around here I saw a rough conversion of the various grit rating systems. I will have to search for it again.

Usually, for regular honing of razors, you start with a 4k/8k Norton stone (or equivalent) and then maybe move on to something finer for a final polishing. The 1k or 2k are more for repairing a chipped razor or one (eBay?) that has really no edge.

I'm not a knife-sharpening guru by any means, but I suspect that'd start coarser than 1k, and probably not get past 4k ... but I may be totally on that ...

 

[Finnigan]

If I remember correctly (and I could be wrong) Usually knife blades are sharpened at about 30 degrees, and razors are about 15 degrees.

 

[mparker762]

Unless you are a sushi chef, there is very little overlap between the hones used to sharpen knives and the ones used to sharpen razors. Knives generally start out at around 100 grit on the low end and top out at around 1000 grit (arkansas) for the polishing step. The very lowest grit I would use on a razor is 1000 grit for emergency situations (for removing chips, fixing ebay specials, etc) or about 4000 grit for a razor that has been cared for. Razor hones top out at 30,000 grit though many guys go even further by using abrasive diamond pastes on some nonabrasive substrate like leather or mylar. If you go much lower than 1000 grit on a razor you risk damaging it from chipping - razors are very brittle compared to knives.

Razors, unlike knives, have a built-in honing guide which would seem to make them easier to hone. However, the common technique for honing a knife (hone to a burr, then remove the burr) doesn't work for razors - the resulting edge is far too dull to shave well. So you must hone the razor to shaving sharp without creating a burr, and this winds up being *much* more difficult than honing a knife. And you'll discover that what the knife guys consider "razor sharp" isn't anywhere near sharp enough to shave comfortably with. Even experienced knife honers find razor honing difficult to pick up, so don't get depressed if you flail around for awhile.

 

[Bruce]

red2,

This one just read what mparker just wrote and he nailed it. I am an experienced knife (chisel, plane iron, etc.) sharpener (and was spanked a bit on another thread for my too casual approach to knife sharpening), but can both get a knife to shave hairs from my forearm and effortlessly slice tomatoes. Now onto honing a razor. Arrrgh! I have finally gotten a razor to shave comfortably, but not yet to shave as closely as one honed by our good Mr. Abrams.

Both approaches are applying steel to stone, but razor honing requires such a deft and delicate touch. Knife sharpening is crude in comparison and maybe that crudeness comes from the coarseness of the stones used, dunno, but it is surely different from honing a razor.

Bruce

 

[GsSixgun]

Here's the opposite opinion on this,,, Isn't there always one out there I find I can't sharpen a knife for love or money unless I use those stick type sharpeners.... Razors however I found to be much easier because you don't have to worry about the angle, just the smooth light touch, this came easy for me but of course YMMV