Steeling a Straight Razor
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shavedhead
- Posts: 222
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 2:10 am
Steeling a Straight Razor
is it ok to run a straight razor over a knife steel to straighten the edge instead of stropping or will this mess up the blade? The knife steel does not remove metal but rather straightens the edge. Thx
Have a wonderful shaving day
I know it is not a recommended practice on the shaving forums, nor is it mentioned in the old barber text books.
It works well on soft kitchen knives like my Henckels set. In theory it might work on some straights, but the risk of brittle failure damage would be very high. Also, I doubt it would function to restore sharpness and smoothness as well as conventional stropping on canvas and leather.
Simple knife sharpening steels come in two varierties. The smooth type and the grooved version. The grooved version acts like a file and would be death to a straight razor edge. The smooth type might work if used very lightly, but I wouldn't go there.
It works well on soft kitchen knives like my Henckels set. In theory it might work on some straights, but the risk of brittle failure damage would be very high. Also, I doubt it would function to restore sharpness and smoothness as well as conventional stropping on canvas and leather.
Simple knife sharpening steels come in two varierties. The smooth type and the grooved version. The grooved version acts like a file and would be death to a straight razor edge. The smooth type might work if used very lightly, but I wouldn't go there.
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notthesharpest
- Assistant Dean SMFU
- Posts: 9449
- Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:32 am
- Location: Vancouver, BC
I do think it could easily mess up your blade and is not even worth a try.
If you're going to shave with a straight razor more than twice in your life, you really do need a strop. You don't really need to buy any hones, since if you want you can send your razor to someone else for that - but stropping before every shave is not optional.
If you're a newbie who's not sure about this whole thing and don't want to waste money, then I suggest you get a strop that's good enough to sell to someone else. That way, if it turns out you're not going to continue, you can get most of your money back on it.
If you're going to shave with a straight razor more than twice in your life, you really do need a strop. You don't really need to buy any hones, since if you want you can send your razor to someone else for that - but stropping before every shave is not optional.
If you're a newbie who's not sure about this whole thing and don't want to waste money, then I suggest you get a strop that's good enough to sell to someone else. That way, if it turns out you're not going to continue, you can get most of your money back on it.
