Until the middle of the 20th century, the straight razor was the most popular tool with which a man could get rid of facial hair. With the introduction of safety razors on the market, the straight razor has lost its former position and is truly rare today.
The art of sharpening razors is gradually becoming a part of history, just like the art of using it. These days, a person absolutely does not have enough time to shave with a straight razor. This requires special skills, the process is quite time-consuming, and the razor itself needs careful care. Now its use has become the lot of the elite. It is more of a hobby and one of the elements of a lifestyle - measured and old-fashioned.
The section of the razor blade has sharp concave slopes, widening towards the edge in order to converge with the leads into the thinnest blade. With this design, the blade is as sharp as possible and at the same time allows you to shave off the bristles without damaging the skin of the face.
There are three ways to sharpen a straight razor: on rocks, on a hide, and on a belt. Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Sharpening on the skin
Skin sharpening is the simplest and most inexpensive method. It only requires a few different grains of skins, water, a hard surface, and glass to help create a perfectly flat blade surface.
To sharpen this method, put the razor blade on the glass, grind it first with a coarse-grained sandpaper, then with a medium-grained one, and at the very end polish its surface with a fine-grain sandpaper.
Nowadays, it is quite difficult to find fine grain skins necessary for sharpening in stores. Their grain size must be at least 2500 thousand. Therefore, after sharpening with a coarse sandpaper, the blade will have to be brought to perfection on the belt.
Belt sharpening
Any leather belt on which GOI paste will be applied can be used to sharpen a straight razor. There are also special belts that you can buy in specialized stores without any problems. Editing the razor on the strap is easy and requires no special skills.
However, according to experts, sharpening on a belt is much less effective than dressing on stones. When sharpening on a belt, the blade will be less sharp, and accordingly, it will have to be sharpened much more often. After every second shave on average. The process of sharpening on belts is fundamentally no different from sharpening on a skin.
Sharpening on stones
Sharpening on stones is the most reliable and durable method. But this technique is the most difficult and time consuming. It takes a lot of practice to apply it. Sharpeners warn that early experiments are likely to fail. You will need to carry out this procedure more than a dozen times in order to learn how to do it perfectly.
First, the razor edge is formed on the rough stone. The geometry of the blade is corrected, it is sharpened until its surface becomes mirror-like. The resulting burrs are removed by gently dulling the razor. To do this, the blade must be pulled along its entire length along the edge of the stone. Further, a similar procedure should be repeated with stones of medium and small grain size.
It is necessary to understand that it is the sharpening on the stones that will make the tool the sharpest for a comfortable shave, and also save the time that would have to be spent on frequent dressing of the blade.
