Sharpening a Rolls Razor

uofi1963 said:

If you observe the way that the mechanism work when stropping or honing, the blade is flat on the hone/strop just as when honing a straight.
Joel K

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Hmmm... I will have to experiment a bit to see if the angle stays the same when the honing surface is fixed below the standard location of the Rolls hone. It could well be, and if so means that I could use my hard black Arkansas stone. That might offer an even better honing surface.

RoadKing

cvixx and Joel k are right, the spine will guide the edge when you hone the blade, so honing outside the box should be only a matter of patience - since there is no handle the process, will be laborious.

I tried a few things with my Rolls this weekend,including honing without the box, which was indeed fairly labour intensive. Much more succesful was a strop made of 80lb drawing paper and .5 micron paste. The drawing paper was cut to the size of the Rolls strop and then covered with the paste. The paper strop was then placed directly atop the strop in the Rolls case, and the blade was stropped using the Rolls mechanism. It worked a treat; the 80lb paper was rigid enough not to buckle, and the paste polished the bevel beatifully. I think the same thing could be done using the superfine sandpaper mentioned by cvixx in his post.

Best Regards

Graham

Thanks to the several guys who offered suggestions so far, especially CVIXX and Grahamfor their careful thoughts.

I will take these ideas under consideration and do some experiments with the Rolls blade. If I learn anything I will put the results on B&B.

-- Dave

It's reassuring to see in the instructions that the brushes are "free of anthrax"!

cvixx said:

I asked the same question and Joe Lerch, who is the guru on sharpening them, told me his method of honing a Rolls.

It is his assertation that most ROLLS razors found on E-bay have blades too dull to sharpen with the onboard hone. His method starts with a piece of flat glass and 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. You work on that, moving forwards, to start the blade on its way. Also use a microscope to see how ragged the blade is and try to get it smooth. When you have done that for a while, move to a medium hone and do the same. Then on to the Rolls hone and strop. If not sharp enough, go through the steps again.

I substituted 1500 grip sandpaper for the medium hone, as I did not have one. Soak the sandpaper and lay it flat on the glass. It should stick. Do not use a lot of pressure on the blade, let the paper do the cutting. Kinda like shaving your face.

I am getting there, though not sharp enough for my likes yet.

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Have tried, but blade still dull. Used grinding wheek attachment. Still no luck. L

cvixx said:

I asked the same question and Joe Lerch, who is the guru on sharpening them, told me his method of honing a Rolls.

It is his assertation that most ROLLS razors found on E-bay have blades too dull to sharpen with the onboard hone. His method starts with a piece of flat glass and 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. You work on that, moving forwards, to start the blade on its way. Also use a microscope to see how ragged the blade is and try to get it smooth. When you have done that for a while, move to a medium hone and do the same. Then on to the Rolls hone and strop. If not sharp enough, go through the steps again.

I substituted 1500 grip sandpaper for the medium hone, as I did not have one. Soak the sandpaper and lay it flat on the glass. It should stick. Do not use a lot of pressure on the blade, let the paper do the cutting. Kinda like shaving your face.

I am getting there, though not sharp enough for my likes yet.

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Tritd your mehod without succces. Still working on below method. Guess needs more time on the grinding wheel. Believe Joe Lerch suuggested the use of a grinding wheel in one of his posts.


To: Customer Service
Classic Shaving

From: T. J. Steenland
Home Office

Bought some blades from EBay. Unfortunately they are too dull to use. Do you have any way of sharpening these blades?

Have tried following so far unsuccessful method:

1. Grind with drill grinding wheel attachment.
2. Hone with medium sharpening stone.
3. Use 1000 grit wet or dry sandpaper.
4. Finish with Rolls on board honing stone and strop.

Thanks,

I'm new to the group and new to this style of shaving. I have three Rolls and a Gillette safety razor, not sure model but I'm looking to learn more. I'm a cyclist so I also shave my legs which adds more frustration with some of the new store bought models. In the current Bicycling magazine one of the editors mentioned the Rolls and the Merkur and the luck he had with these so I jumped on ebay and purchased a few now I'm lost and terribly intrigued. I was trying to download the manual that wann posted but do not find it any longer. Any help would be fantastic. I really would like to convert to the Rolls or a vintage Gillette totally if I can get the results I'm hoping for.

Thanks, Douglas

I've shaved with a Rolls Viscount for several years. To sharpen I used 2 different methods; 1) build a box lid type frame out of wood and lay your stone in this. My stone was a black Arkansas, it must be 1 7/8" wide as 2" width won't fit (insert) into the frame allowing the blade to float just above it. Remove the lid which holds the stone and set the Rolls on top of this frame and sharpen. Rolls frame resting on wood frame. About 1/16" clearance is needed.
2) Simpler.
Since, the blade of a Rolls does not rest on the hone like a straight razor the spine must be raised. Remove the blade from the units handle and using tape (I used black electric) layers folded around the spine create the same lift as in the Rolls units handle. I used 4 layers. Then sharpen as normal laying the razor on your stone or strop by pushing or edge trailing method with a light finger resting at front of blade. Use a black marker to mark the edge bevel then give it a stroke to make sure your at the correct angle. If mark is removed your there. Then sharpen away on stone or strop using the tape each time between shaves. They give a decent shave. Possum

Rolls Razors turn up quite regularly here and do not command anywhere near the price of TTO Gillette Superspeeds etc, in fact one can get them on ebay for as little as 99p sometimes.

Standard strop dressing is all that is needed. I have one and cleaned off the leather with white spirit and re-dressed it. you can also take the stone out of its housing and turn it over and use the other side if it is badly worn or marked.

djmjay2 said:

I'm new to the group and new to this style of shaving. I have three Rolls and a Gillette safety razor, not sure model but I'm looking to learn more. I'm a cyclist so I also shave my legs which adds more frustration with some of the new store bought models. In the current Bicycling magazine one of the editors mentioned the Rolls and the Merkur and the luck he had with these so I jumped on ebay and purchased a few now I'm lost and terribly intrigued. I was trying to download the manual that wann posted but do not find it any longer. Any help would be fantastic. I really would like to convert to the Rolls or a vintage Gillette totally if I can get the results I'm hoping for.

Thanks, Douglas

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Hi DJ, i would just buy a Adjustable Gillette Slim so you can adjust the settings from aggressive to sensative since the legs have different regions and the hairs may be tough on some areas. The rolls are nice razors but not functional in your particular case. Get a nice silvertip badger brush w a good shave cream like Proraso/bigelows. prepping the legs is important to reduce the hairs w less irritation and smooth results.

Possum said:

2) Simpler.
Since, the blade of a Rolls does not rest on the hone like a straight razor the spine must be raised. Remove the blade from the units handle and using tape (I used black electric) layers folded around the spine create the same lift as in the Rolls units handle. I used 4 layers. Then sharpen as normal laying the razor on your stone or strop by pushing or edge trailing method with a light finger resting at front of blade. Use a black marker to mark the edge bevel then give it a stroke to make sure your at the correct angle. If mark is removed your there. Then sharpen away on stone or strop using the tape each time between shaves. They give a decent shave. Possum

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As above. I run mine over a 600 diamond plate as prep, then go to the 1500 grit wet/dry paper with oil. You will probably have a double-bevel by doing this, but it is not a problem, as after the initial prep work, you should be able to maintain with the Rolls hone.

If your hone has been well-used, a light abrasive, such as Comet, Bon Ami, etc., and water will quickly de-gunk it.

Neet's foot oil, harness/tack conditioner, or WD-40 can be used to restore the strop.

I have a couple of Rolls Razors. Both in very sharp condition. Used them for about 2 months, a graduation of sorts from a DE. Then, BAM the straight razor bug bit and the rest is history!
I got a perfectly fine shave with the Rolls, you should too. The usual rules apply.....go slow, concentrate and when you think you are done...stop!

"...you can also take the stone out of its housing and turn it over and use the other side if it is badly worn or marked."

I have thought of doing that but the reverse side appears to be coarser or is it my imagination?

Mickey