Honing old Black Diamond blade

[Markrdawson]

Hello,
I recently became owner of a Black Diamond C.M. Harrison & Co Scranton P.A. Made in Germany straight Razor blade.
I have been unsuccessfully trying to restore it to it's original and proper sharpness. I have a properly lapped Norton 4&8k stone but am not able to get it to pop the hairs off the arm nice enough to progress to the next stage.
I need suggestions on what to do next. I have very likely overdone and broken the burr off but am unsure how to restore the burr with backstrokes. Any and all input would be appreciated. I have no problem making some hairs come off my arm with the blade but it is definitely just not sharp enough for beard hair. My many thanks,
-Mark

[Gamma]

I had to get a 1k stone to set the bevel before going to the combo stone.
The 4k Norton was too fine to handle a bevel-set with my blade. Maybe if I went 500 laps it would have worked but I don't have the time/patience for that kind of honing.
Once the bevel was set at 1k - I was able to establish a good edge with the 4/8k stone pretty quickly. Now - I can shave off the 8k Norton but I don't like it. I had to get an 8k Naniwa which is more like a 12k Norton (if it existed) - Shaving off the 8k Naniwa is wonderful. I may get a 12k Nani next.
I've read that many members here were happy with an edge from an 8k Norton though. I'm not sure if that's due to having more experience with the stone or their beard being different or what.

[Thebigspendur]

You have problems. The fact you say burr says you have no idea how to sharpen a straight. Straights are entirely different than knives and many an expert knife guy will tell you that. Forget about burrs. You need to make sure the bevel is well established and then go up in grit from there until it's sharp.

[dalew]

Hello,
I recently became owner of a Black Diamond C.M. Harrison & Co Scranton P.A. Made in Germany straight Razor blade.
I have been unsuccessfully trying to restore it to it's original and proper sharpness. I have a properly lapped Norton 4&8k stone but am not able to get it to pop the hairs off the arm nice enough to progress to the next stage.
I need suggestions on what to do next. I have very likely overdone and broken the burr off but am unsure how to restore the burr with backstrokes. Any and all input would be appreciated. I have no problem making some hairs come off my arm with the blade but it is definitely just not sharp enough for beard hair. My many thanks,
-Mark

You may want to try a balsa wood strop. They work for me. I have used 12K chinese stone and proceeded up to a 16K Shapton. The stones were not as good at restoring the blade as the pasted balsa strop.