My old barber once told me, if you want to save money on razors, stop buying the disposable junk, and get a straight razor. He said its a skill to learn, but once you have it, you'll love it and save tons of money. I just ordered one
I remember old timers waaaaay back in a day in mexico, that would do this style of shaving. So cool, it doesn't get any more old-school and nostalgic than this 🤘🏼
A friend once had this done somewhere and it was on a beach, he is a skinhead so they did his face and all his head... people where watching and laughing, when he finished my friend turn round and the shaver was blindfolded!!
I've shaved off of an edge honed on an 8000k stone and it shaved, but finishing off with a 12k grit stone and some laps on cotton w/ chromium oxide paste makes a HUGE difference in the edge. Keep it simple though, it's amazing how complicated people make the honing process. It's not complicated, and this is a refreshing video to watch.
I can tell by the sound that you are honing correctly haha, thank you for the awesome video, I’m really excited to start this new small lifestyle change.
HEYA!!! Happy New Year!!! I missed you as well!!! Perhaps we'll do a LIVE soon to make up for lost time. Hope you're having a great start to the New Year!
Nice video, you are super clear and articulate, I would say, 1) double sided blocks are not great, each side is different and this can cause them to bend a bit over time or temp.. 2) place your fingers across the blade when pressing down, (also 6lbs pressure seems a bit much i would of said 2) if you are holding the handle make sure you just use it as a guide, if you are pressing on the tip and the handle you could cause the blade to bow. 3) personally i dont like doing leading strokes on stones as you could dig in and gouge them but thats more a preference thing and honestly never seen it happen, but i like trailing strokes really. 4) Really dont wipe your fingers across the flat of the blade after sharpening, if you have caused a burr to raise up they can slice you open!! 5) when it comes to stropping some people like really light passes, some people say press really into it hard, personally i like to do it lightly, the apex can be really thing and pressing it into the strop could bend it over a bit.
Only if the blade is very destroyed i use the stones, which is very rare. Every knife/razor i'm sharpening is with a steel mostly. Pull through system, i start each side from 45° or 30° angle, i go lower until i reach about 15-17° angle on each side. Only after that i drag the knife over the leather strop, while placing it totally flat not raising it at all. Always away from the edge, very important. I do the straight motions, no x or cross action. This way i can guarantee that the blade will become scary sharp. It also makes sense to start from the higher angles to get the blade more durable and all the way to lower angles to make it the sharpest possible 😉. But that's only one of my techniques out of numerous ones haha. Nice video though 👍🏻.
I know I’m a year late to the discussion, but if you’re a true blade smith, you know it’s all subjective. A somewhat to each their own type of situation. I never hold mine flat while stropping but definitely want to keep it at a lesser degree to avoid reversing the entire prior process of honing. I’ve never seen anyone hold it flat, but if this works for you and is your preference, I surely won’t tell you it’s “wrong”. There’s an old saying “everyone loves the smell of their own farts.” ( which I truly truly hope is strictly figurative because… well 🤢) which for those who don’t understand, it means everyone has their own process and this holds true when it comes to sharpening as well. I don’t mean to come off as aggro or combative, but I will say your demeanor somewhat felt like you were telling him “he’s doing it wrong”. To which one could argue, most of the renowned smiths will tell you almost word for word what he just did. Again just a “personal preference is key” subject and i sincerely apologize if that wasn’t your intent. All the best🫡
My dad finished barber school. Would cut my hair, I wish he was alive to show me how to do this. I do remember ( not laughing) him using the big barber razor strap to hit my thighs. A multi- purpose tool I guess. I wish I had that one. Somehow got kissed. A great video. I have purchased everything. I like how complete it was and I also collect and sharpen knives- learning a lot. Thx - a beautiful beard BTW.
I always taped the spine to prevent wear when sharpening. All "I" have owned have the angle made into them, meaning laying the razor flat on the stone gives you the angle needed to sharpen. If there are any made different I've never owned them. If you wear the spine down it will change your angles, atleast that's always been my thought.
@@oggabryrente5159 I was worried about wearing down the spine also but you make a very valid point. I think I’ll follow this mindset from now on and not tape.
What are some of your favorite blades? My pops got me two different one from art of shaving almost four years ago...use one at home and one for travel and only shaved w both since recieved and now first time home one is needing sharpening..i always thought they were a bit pricey cant remember exactly but somewhere just above$200 each one but now after 4 years first time needing sharpeing thinking well worth it but wonder what the $20 blades off amazon or others am unaware of would be like
Excellent presentation. Thanks for sharing. A suggestion. As I understand it, in woodworking and knife sharpening using water stones or other types of stones for sharpening plane blades, chisels, spokeshaves and others, it is necessary to be sure the stone is flattened. Woodworkers often use diamond plates to ensure flatness for the sharpening stone. The procedure is to start by wetting the stone with water or even glass cleaner or Hone-Rite or a similar product sprayed on or the stone to make a good slurry. Then rinse the stone with water. If this procedure is skipped, a divot, a kind of scoop will be introduced into softer stones. Then follow the same procedure shown in this video. The angle for the blade, if kept as the gentleman shows should make a perfectly sharp blade at the correct angle provided the manufacturer has the rounded non-cutting edge set for the cutting edge to be at the correct angle. This process might take some time to acquire the proper technique. But going slowly as shown in the video seems to work very well. Introducing a test by cutting something as seemingly insignificant as paper, might render the blade far less optimal for shaving. However, testing this out for oneself is reasonable. Another suggestion is to re-strop the blade on the strop as the gentleman perfectly demonstrates in the video. A light and gentle honing and stropping will keep the razors sharp end from becoming bent. Too much pressure will distort the razor's edge. Again, many thanks for sharing. I'll explore you channel for updates and your other presentations.
Before I got into straight razors I was using Shavettes and I’m glad I did because it gave me a lot of practice. Are you safety razors more often but are used to use one alternating with my safety razors. Like on a Monday I will use a vintage Gillette, and next time I see you I will bring out a straight razor. I hone my blades myself and really enjoy the process of stropping and maintaining my razors
Thanks for the vid. I just bought a straight razor over the weekend and decided to try to achieve the manliest shave possible. 😂 I tried using the whetstone and strop I ordered to sharpen it but didn't seem to be getting anywhere. I didn't think to soak the whetstone but now it makes sense why the strop has the canvas side as well as the leather side. I will try it again after fininshing the whetstone soak and see if I get better results the second time around.
Hello Dan! I want to ask a question. I have curly hair similar with Henry Cavill, i want to do undercut. Which number for tops and sides-back will look better? I dont want it to be messy! Thanks a lot
You shouldn't have the stabilizer on the stone while sharpening and honing. Stabilizers are different, but most will mess with your angle if you have it on the stone. Also I would get a better quality finishing stone, I doubt that stone is actually 8k JIS. That appears to be a Chinese Amazon/AliExpress stone and their grit rating is considerably coarser than Japanese. You won't get a fine enough edge. I'd use a compounded strop before the bare strop too.itll make the edge smoother.
@@danzbeard after reading my comment again, it sounded kinda like I was ridiculing you or critiquing. I really am only trying to help. I'm no professional or even close, but I've got most aspects of razor sharpening down. I get pretty good edges on my razors, but I'm sure they could be better. I use a 10k Super Stone, then Stropbros green compound before going to bare leather.
Either use a blunt straight razor or a shavette with no blade in it to practise your strokes without injury. You will cut yourself, so buy alum and a styptic pencil as you learn. T
To be honest they’re wet stone looks mighty cheap looks like it’s only meant for knives. If I were you I would get the naniwa SUPERSTONES or something like a Norton ir Shepton glass. But I can understand why somebody doesn’t want to get a wide variety of grits because once you set the bevel all you have to do is just touch it up and a lot of people just keep one finishing stone like a 12 K And use The green chromium oxide on the cotton part of the strop in between honings
When the shoulder of the razor touches the stone, that's the right angle. Same when stropping on leather. Please note that when honing on stone the blade "goes first", when stropping on leather the shoulder goes first.
@@vishensivparsad If you don't remove metal from the blade and the spine, the blade angle will slowly change over time. You rest against the shoulder and blade when removing metal, if only one of them loses metal, the angle the blade is sharpened at will end up becoming greater.
@@joepangit6938 I see thanks for the new information. I have to grind in a bevel though because my razor came completely blunt, so I'll have to protect the spine until the bevel is nearly set then I'll remove the tape from the spine
Pay someone else to sharpen it for you, but you have to have a strop if you use a straight razor and that can be an old pair of jeans or my preference which is a piece of balsa wood with diamond paste on it. T
So, how many passes for each grind? I got a straight razor that needs a sharpening, I'm tired of spending money on razot blades, but I'm afraid of ruining it
It's really the same process of shaving your face. I do it all the time. Warm hot towel Shaving cream Shave with COLD water Not too much pressure or you'll scalp yourself. Just gotta start doing it, or you'll never get it.
Bro's got that Christian Bale slick back. My man hasn't been out of the Bat Cave in months. Excellent tutorial. I'm thinking about upping my game from DE Safety Razor for a Straight one (for the beard lineup and to help avoid skin irritation) and I'm looking up blade aftercare videos. Thanks a bunch.
I could never see an edge going into the blade, never made sense, I move my blade away from the stone just like you do on a grinding wheel, you sharpen the blade moving it so you cause a edge coming on the blade, that's how I see it.
Just letting people know, a better way to test the edge is to steal a strand of hair off your wife's hair brush. The weight of the hair should be enough for the hair to split in half if you drape it over a true razor edge
i sharp my blade like hel, its cuts like a beast but as soon as i touch my face it only ripps a few hairs... i think i stand at a wall. i dont know the quality, i only know its 70 years old. i should get a new stone.
