John

I probably cant scar my face up any more than it already is, But I just might give it a try! I still have a septic pencil in the medicine cabinet.

Beautiful stand by the way! I think I need to go cut a piece of Madrone and purchase a good whittler and get busy.

I know ..like.. you need more equipment

..... but .....

They do make razor blade sharpening machines.

This is a stock pic I pulled of the net. I've 2 of them somewhere ..&.. a # of other varieties.

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The Kriss Kross is REALLY cool. The hand crank turns a leather platter .. while the razor blade holding fixture presses the razor blade against the spinning leather. With every turn of the crank .. the razor blade is lifted off the leather .. flipped .. & the other side of the cutting edge pressed against the leather platter.

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And get this .. every time the razor blade is flipped .. the force applying t to the leather platter is reduced .. ever-so-slightly.

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!!! .. It's really cool .. ingenious .. !!!

Very nice brush stand .. very nice !!!

Dale,

Now that is an impressive sharpener!

Dale

That is something I have never seen,

What a cool razor sharpener,I wonder if it could work on some certain knives?

Dale that is a fascinating machine I have never seen one like it . I will have to look out for one in the antiques shops , I may have seen one in the past but wouldn't have known what it was .

The only thing cheap about DE shaving is the cost of blades ,they are cheap, so the sharpener may not be practical . When you find a way of making a chore interesting , shaving in this case , then there is a tendency to start collecting stuff . For most people at least as far as I have seen so far old razor's are a big draw . Otherwise shaving soaps seem to be a common fetish , you should see the price of some of these things !

Oh and brushes , Badger Brushes to be precise , these things are a big deal to wet shavers . That seems to be the collective name "Wet Shavers" got a bit of a ring about it I suppose . Well Badger Brushes are close to the Holy Grail it appears with endless discussions on the merits of certain brands and the demerits of others , Sounds a bit like knife collecting really !!!

Mr John Kellogg how can you think of putting that lovely razor into early retirement . Think of all the fun you can have planning your new badger brush and which shaving soap to choose , the stuff in cans is thought of as REALLY bad in the circles that I now inhabit . There is endless possibilities for useful expenditure if you put that razor to use , and you will be supporting the US economy .

Kriss Kross

Thanks for the link Jan I think I will need to get one of those ,

Need to wait for a while there have been a lot of deliveries of late ! A viper is on pre order as well as the possible straight razor .

Here is another version that I have ..TWINPLEX..  specifically designed for double edge razor blades.

Again .. a stock pic I pulled from the internet .. I still need to dig mine out.

.......................................................................................................................................................

This one has two leather sheathed revolving drums .. that the razor blade is pressed against. With each turn of the hand crank .. the razor blade is flipped & the other side of the cutting edges is placed in contact with the revolving leather drums.

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The Kriss Kross is a much more clever design.

Well I am moving slowly backwards and am hovering around 1932 at the moment . At least that was the time when my new , to me , cutthroat razor was made . It is nice to get something made in Sheffield as I don't have a knife that was made there . I got this razor from eBay so that I could practice sharpening without potentially ruining an expensive purchase . I also didn't want to spend too much in case I just couldn't bring myself to use it !

The seller claimed that it had been sharpened , and it would have been possible to cut yourself on it , but it wasn't that sharp . So I have been busy watching video's on YouTube about both using a razor like this and of course sharpening it . Some of the razor forums seem a little bit sniffy about knife people trying to sharpen a razor and seem to want to make out that there is some kind of voodoo about it . I have been told more than once "sharpening razors is completely different to sharpening knives". No it isn't you are putting an edge on a piece of steel , somewhat different edges are needed though , an almost sharp razor isn't good enough ! Then again your razor isn't asked to cut anything other than whiskers  , unlike a knife which you could use for a variety of different jobs . Anyway it seems to be pretty sharp now and I am getting used to the feel of it against my face . It is a little daunting the first time that you pick it up , perhaps a bit more like terrifying !!

Most folks say to get used to it slowly and take a few weeks to become comfortable with it , so I do a little every day and then swap to the DE razor to do the tricky areas .

John,

I admire your beginning this journey.  I know you have a love of sharp so I wondered when you would begin to work your magic on a straight edge.  I love that you have taken to a basic level, it is an edge on a piece of steel.  It just seems to me this is the logical mind set.  Find your bevel, keep your angle level and do the finishing touches we may not always do with our knives.  The leather strop and a good hone.  It is funny that most would not see this as an adventure but I certainly do.  An adventure back in time !

And , "No Sue I am not collecting razors now " !!

I just received a new(ish) razor , bought on Ebay ,it has been restored with new scales but the blade is sound . I was carried along a little by the other razors that the seller had for auction which were magnificent though a little beyond what I am willing to pay at present . Well this little razor wasn't very expensive at $55 and it is an attractive razor , very sharp out of the box , I have cut myself already and haven't used it yet !

One thing I really liked about it , and this has no real effect on performance is it was bought from Verona in Italy . It sounds sort of Shakespearian to me but then I am easily pleased .

Small and not really growing razor collection , no not collection I am not collecting razors !?

Although I am not collecting straight razors , at least not officially , I am getting used to using one ! There is a definite learning curve to using these things . It does take a while to be able to relax the right hand when the razor is approaching the face ! Then of course there is the question of whether to use the left hand on the left side of the face , I was reluctant but after trying to just use my right hand I had to bite the bullet and train that stubborn left mitt to do it's part . 

It was surprisingly easy to begin using the "wrong hand" to shave with . It seems unlikely but perhaps getting used to using an Edge Pro where the left hand needs to be used as much as the right has helped in this respect . Whatever the case there is a lot of satisfaction to be gained from trying to master the straight razor . I guess these things would hardly be possible without all the information available on the internet these days and there is a mass of stuff on You Tube etc which does make the endeavour possible .

John,

As someone that did dabble in collecting straight razors for a while but never used one, I have to ask.  There are so many configurations, some with very little dip in the blade and some with a deep well!  Is there a difference how they use?

I guess you mean the degree of hollow groundness for want of a better term Jan. I think that all my razors , well all three of them , are fully hollow ground and that is all I have used so far . I will have to direct you to the site below for more accurate information .

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Straight_Razor_Grind

Straight razor place is a great source of info for anyone wanting to know anything at all about straight razors .

http://straightrazorplace.com/

I believe that hollow ground razors were a German invention in the early 20th century , whereas the razors from Sheffield tended to be wedge shaped . The hollow ground razors have won the race so I guess they must be a great improvement , course most of us think that isn't the case with knives but then razors only need to cut the one thing .

They are an interesting subject to study though and a lot of razors are very beautiful in their own right  , as in the photo below .

John,

LOL yes the hollow grind!  I assumed since the evolution of the razors shows the hollow grind gets larger it must have been an improvement but I always wondered if the wedge would work well also

The old wedge shaped razors seem to be popular on various forums Jan and go for a good price on Ebay . The sharpening is what really stops me going for one at the moment I am sure that hollow grind is a little easier to deal with . More on the trials of razor sharpening later !!

A fourth razor has almost arrived here , it would now be in my hands but alas Sue was busy when the postman called and the sneaky chap must have realised and pushed the card through the door before he "legged it" back to the post office !  I guess I will have to go round there in the morning . 

This new razor , and it is a brand new one , is not an addition to my collection but is a necessary in fact essential model to check on the progress of my sharpening . Anyway a picture below , I would have liked a nice fancy looking job but as I come from the North of England I am too mean to buy one !!

I have been making progress with this straight razor shaving business and can now compete a shave in a reasonable amount of time . This is helping to motivate me to use the cutthroat , I do hate that word, every morning so helping to make this a more natural process .

I guess , no I know , it is fear that is the main problem in the first few weeks using a straight razor . Well it is for me anyway some folks may not find the idea of putting one of those things against their face in the morning troublesome , yeah right !!   What they say is you need to relax your hand and arm , find the correct angle and use very light strokes . One guy said you just need to remove the soap with the razor and I am beginning to find that that is true . Not for a while though when I first started a tense arm and hand didn't want to relax and it is rather difficult to use a very light stroke when part of you is rather keen to move away from such a potentially hazardous operation . 

It has seemed like a long business getting to grips with this way of shaving and I only have a modicum of skill at the moment but at least I can claim to have made progress . Anyone wishing to have a try at this should bare in mind the idea of making just small progress as a step too far could get messy , also a step too far today just becomes "the next step" in due course . Like learning anything lots of time practising is a major help .

Course it isn't very good to be trying to learn to sharpen the razor at the same time as trying to learn how to use it . That however is the course I have decided on and I hope that my sharpening has improved . It seems to have because I am after all shaving with the thing and managing to get reasonable results  . This is where the New Razor comes in , in a day or two I should be able to test my self sharpened Ebay cheapies against a brand new razor sharpened by a well known UK supplier . I hope that I am not in for any shocks.

John,

I am extremely impressed with your adventure and everytime you post I become more so.  We spend a good amount of time saying we should be passing on skills to the next generation.  This is a skill that has missed the better part of 2 or 3 generations.  BRAVO!

I am also impressed John, however I don't have the courage or need to try it as you are. Since deer camp last year I came back with a beard and decided to keep it. For now at least. I'm not keen on the idea of putting a straight razor to my face or throat though! :-)

As it was, I gave myself quite a nasty gash last Sunday and that not even with a knife. My wife was baking and left some of her equipment to wash. I decided to help out, washed and dried all, and the last thing to dry was a small stainless steel top from her scale, about 4 inches square with a lip maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. Removable for washing. Somehow in drying it I managed to slip, and an edge that is not even sharp gave me a nasty cut about 3/4 inch long, easily 1/4 inch or deeper and left a flap of skin and flesh with blood all over.

I managed to stop the bleeding with pressure while my wife got excited and wanted to take me to a doctor or urgent care for stitches, now she stops me doing anything possible with knives because I do have a bit of a history. But when deer camp comes again I will be field dressing, the skinning and quartering while wearing my big boy pants alone in the woods. :-) I did but some "No-Cry cut resistant gloves" for this season because last season I came home with quite a few nicks.

But my neck and a straight razor ... you have more courage than me, and you have my respect!

Allan thanks for the kind words , brave no foolish maybe .

Bravery is reserved for men who are willing to offer advice to their wives about hair styles or whether their "bottoms look big in this dress" !!

As you have found out to your cost washing the dishes is a far more dangerous activity than playing with knives , you really should be excused from the washing up in future .

I am willing to admit that it is beginning to look , to the untrained eye , a little like the start of a collection but that is purely coincidental and every razor is here for a purely practical reason . I do hate it , and I have tried to stop her using the "O" word, but Sue keeps mumbling something about obsessive or obsession whatever that means .

The latest razor which is a Dovo from Solingen in Germany was bought to see if my sharpening was up to the mark and I am glad to say that it appears as though I have made progress . It was bought from a firm called The Invisible Edge here in the UK and though this isn't the cheapest place they are supposed to do a good job of sharpening a razor before dispatch . New razors it seems are a lot like new knives in that the manufacturer tells you they are "Razor Sharp" but us knifey's know that ain't necessarily so . Well the Dovo was very sharp when it came but not so much sharper than the old razors that I have bought from Ebay and sharpened up myself. It was worth the money to check that out and now I will be able to buy older razors again, in the unlikely event that I need any more !

Of course when I said "in the unlikely event" ...etc I have to confess to having an entirely innocent stroll around the bay last night and I don't at present have a 13/16 th's razor and this one looked "as new and unsharpened" . The next hurdle is to learn how to "set the bevel"and for that exercise one needs a new unsharpened razor . Of course a cheaper one would be best like the sort of thing you may accidentally come across whilst checking out Ebay.

I think the "O" word may come out again around about Friday . No dear it's not an obsession it's a,... erm..I have a couple of days to think of something !!!

Options John ... options.

How many pairs of shoes, and how many hand-bags for the Brits and colonies (where I came from) or purses for the Americans (where I am now) do the wives have? They're options, you can't keep using the same one all the time.

You need variety to go along with the different brushes, shaving creams, and even days of the week!

Allan I am off work at the moment with back trouble and have just been watching repeats of "Yes Prime Minister" on one of the more obscure TV channels . Your answer sounds as though it came straight out of the mouth of Sir Humphrey!! Well done .

Won't work though , I have already tried that with knives !!

For those who don't know of Yes Prime Minister ,

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/yes_prime_minister/quotes/

It is an opportunity to enhance your sharpening skills skills with useful objects!

BTW are you free handing the edge or using a sharpening device ?

I am not using the Edge Pro at the moment Jan , mainly my Belgian Blue stone . I may try the Edge Pro at sometime though .

see, plenty of opprtunity

If anyone wishes to know about sharpening a straight razor with the Edge Pro then this is a link to one mans experience .

http://straightrazorplace.com/honing/97386-straight-razor-sharpenin...

The new razor arrived yesterday with surprisingly little comment from my better half , think she has lost the will to fight in such an unequal struggle .  It was quite a cheapy just to allow me to practice "establishing the bevel" as they say on the forums . I got a nice equal bevel on it with a couple of japanese waterstones and put it to dry outside my shed on a stool to dry in the sun , whilst going to make tea , being English I need to drink tea constantly . It wasn't a good idea to put it on that stool because coming back with the tea I managed to trip over the stool and the razor clattered to the floor , edge first of course !!

It is a good idea to learn how to repair a damaged razor blade  , so I did and it looks quite good . Will try it soon even though it isn't a very expensive looking razor it does seem to be very hard steel and although I don't know what age it is , from thirties to the sixties at a guess , it will go into the rotation if it shaves okay .

Just had a shave with that new razor , well it is sharp ! Now it is either much better quality than you would think , or I am beginning to get the hang of this razor sharpening , I hope it is the latter !!

What have I learned from using a straight razor so far ?

The inevitable wee knicks don't hurt , well not too much , but keep the styptic pencil to hand !

Don't rush , it is a great sense of accomplishment to shave with one of these old razors that someone last used in maybe the 1930's .

Sharpening one is no more difficult than sharpening a knife despite what they will tell you on the shaving forums . You don't need to use a stone made from unicorn dust on a full moon . But and it is a big BUT you do need finer stones and you do need patience when things don't quite work out . These things must be SHARP very sharp you can't use pressure to make them work , if you value your face ! 

I think riding a motorcycle has a lot in common with shaving with a straight razor  . If you don't watch what you are doing things will become painful . On the other hand when it works it is far more fulfilling than sitting in a car and every journey is something special . 

Yes I did have a bike or two though it has been a while now , the last one was just like this ,

Just bought a new , well new to me , sharpening stone from the auction site . It is an "Imperia La Roccia" which is at least an interesting name ! It is claimed to be between 12/15K but as it is a natural stone then it doesn't really mean that much . I have heard mixed reviews on the various forums but as some of these guys have their heads so far up .... you know what I mean .  You get the impression from some people that you can't sharpen a razor on anything less than a whole string of Japanese Naturals each one costing a thousand $$ or ££ . I think that some people are too precious about this sort of thing as I am getting very good shaves from a straight sharpened on a Belgian Blue and a home made strop with red and black Dovo pastes then a few strops on a very cheap hanging strop . The hanging strop is the only thing I am keen to change , I bought a cheap one cos they say you will cut your first one and that at least is true ! Anyway I will try the new stone later  but here it is ,

I'm enjoying reading your updates John, keep them coming! 

Seeing the BMW - I was never in that league, our of my price range, I used to ride a Kawasaki Ninja. Most people who know me were shocked when I turned up one day riding a Ninja. :-)

Thanks Allan , I did like that old Beemer but times got tough for a while back in the mid nineties and she had to go .

Ninjas were very popular at one time over here and I did have a Kawasaki GT550 at one time but I always liked a big twin engine , I am basically lazy I guess .

Just wanted to add a link to a video of Dr Mat using the ILR stone with some great micro photo's of the edges he get's from this , let's face it , economy stone . Oh yes I should have said it only cost me £20 /$29 it has been used but very little it looks as good as new .

https://youtu.be/cXVW_S6VaBw

To many here in the US I'm a blaspheming savage since I have no interest in a Harley. :-) I like the look and sound of a good, "purring" sport bike. A Harley that sounds like it is in serious need of some tuning to stop engine clatter, and the potato-potato sound they make, along with needing a proper exhaust/silencer system to me is a huge turnoff. But we're all different.

Many criticize the "crotch-rocket" style as being uncomfortable to ride, leaning forward and somewhat crouched, but that crouching is mostly by racer "wannabes". With my body aches/pains the way they are, the sport bike leaning into the handlebars was actually a very comfortable posture for me.

One thing I always liked the sound of more than a typical Japanese bike engine, was the sound of a bigger bike - 1,000cc+ with shaft drive. Some people think it's a whining sound, that was for me like the sound of a big muscle car engine to many others. 

I've never ridden a Harley  Allan but I can see the point of the seating position now that my legs and hips have gotten stiff !

John,

LOL...You don't need to use a stone made from unicorn dust on a full moon .

Well that is a good thing!!

I just re read this from the beginning and I just love it.  Watching you take each next step and onto the sharpening aspects.  I am going to watch the edgepro video.  I have been wondering if it would work as well as it does for knives

Thanks Jan , it has been an interesting trip that only started in February . I have learned what appears to be an awful lot about razors and sharpening in that time , though I am sure there is a long way to go . If this helps others to see that it isn't as scary as you may at first think and if I can revive some old razors that craftsmen made some years ago then anyone else could do the same .

Well now one big difference that I have noticed of late has been the welcoming of cuts , little cuts !!

I used to occasionally cut myself with a modern razor curse a little and stick pieces of toilet paper on my face and then watch in dismay when the bleeding restarted again as soon as you peeled it of .

Well not any more I don't I got two little cuts and was almost cheering as the red stuff appeared  !  Strange you say , yes it would be if I wasn't learning the whole razor sharpening business at the same time as trying to master the art of straight razor shaving . Let me explain , as I expected to do quite a bit of bleeding whilst starting this old fashioned shaving , I took the trouble to arm myself with an Allum Block and a Styptic Pencil . The Allum Block stops tiny bleeds and closes the pores after shaving and if that doesn't work then the Styptic is the one to go for . If that doesn't stop the bleeding best check that you have made a will !!

Yesterdays cuts were catered for by the Allum which stopped the bleeding straight away and in truth these were very minor wounds . The main point and the reason for celebration was that I didn't feel a thing as the small amount of red stuff appeared , not a thing , nothing , nowt .

I must be getting the hang of this sharpening business .

That is a good thing John, the sign of a very sharp blade!

When I took the tip off a finger many years ago with a very sharp Japanese kitchen knife, I didn't feel a thing, just saw red spurting and realized I could not hide that from my wife. :-) Duller / blunter knives have always hurt me more.

I'm still holding onto my November 2015 deer camp disguise, I have not shaved since prior to October 31st so while I'm interested, I'm not trying your techniques any time soon!

Ah yes you are just saving it up till you can no longer stand the hairiness . If you want to try one I have a spare cutthroat that you can borrow Allan .

 Just be careful LOL!!