Razor Hones

Re: Razor Hones - vicarious comment

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I read about them somewhere (Woodwork mag?) a few years back, and the author sang their praises for sharpening WW tools. As I recall, they're a low-fire clay composition - ceramic, in other words, but softer than a lot of the modern ceramic stones.

I've been watching for them and now have several but haven't been doing anything but carpentry for too many years now (about eight, since we bought the house - hmmm), so don't know how they work. If you experiment with them, please offer us your observations.

Re: Razor Hones

Alan Hamilton

>David,

Saint Roy of Underhill has and regularly uses "razor stones" to sharpen his edge tools. I've seen him use a razor stone once or twice on the "Woodwright's" show; and IIRC he talked some about them in one of his books. They were the last stone in his sharpening regimen; they put on the final "mirror" polish just prior to his strop.

Saint Roy did not use his razor stones dry. IIRC he used oil--and unless my memory is again really freaky--he used olive oil. (We children of the sixties are often confused; our confusion usually arises because we took to heart the core notion in those "better living through chemistry" television commercials.)

Alan

Re: Razor Hones

George Makowski

>David, I have used razor hones for a long time to touch up wood working blades and to sharpen my straight razor for shaving. Over the years, I have ended up with a number of them. Some, as an earlier post says seem to be composite. These vary from slightly rough to glass smooth on their surface. I have two that appear to be natural stone.

Used in the last step before stropping, they can help you get a very good edge. Typically, with razors for shaving, they are lubricated with some of the lather from the shaving mug with a bit of extra water. You will actually see this mixture turn dark as metal is ground off the edge of the tool. You can use them dry, but they will load up.

I have found that the amount of benefit gained from using the razor hones depends on the type of steel in the tool you are sharpening. Even different razors will sharpen differently on the same hone. Experiment and see what results you get.

Good luck!

George in AL

Re: Razor Hones

David Miller from Iowa

>Thanks to all - very informative. I will give this a try. I actually do have shaving soap and a badger brush, but I have never used a straight razor. I'll start on plane cutters first.

What is a razor hone?

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>Is it a sharpening stone sold to straight-razor users?

You got it!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

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