The fast and easy way to a perfect razor edge
Like other aspects of straight razor use, razor sharpening has benefitted from modern processes and materials. The use of today's diamond sharpening pastes in your razor-sharpening regimen can vastly improve both the quality of your razor's cutting edge and the comfort and closeness of the shave.
Razor sharpening pastes have been around for years. The most common pastes have traditionally used a fine powder of iron oxide, chromium oxide or graphite as the cutting agent, suspended in a carrier; this was spread onto a leather or wood surface, used as a strop to finish the edge. A bundle of strops would hang in a corner of the barbershop, each dedicated to a different type or coarseness of sharpening paste. The use of sharpening pastes is similar to the use of hones; you begin with a coarser grit to accomplish the most amount of work in the shortest time, moving on to progressively finer pastes to refine the edge, ending in a finely polished, mirror-like finish. Advances in metallurgy produced ever harder steels, rendering ineffective the compounds used as cutting agents in the sharpening pastes; they were actually softer than the blade they were expected to sharpen. Using such sharpening paste made the blade duller, not sharper. All this changed with the development of diamond sharpening pastes.
Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man; far harder than any steel yet developed. Industrial-grade diamonds, similar in hardness to gemstones, are biproducts of the diamond mining industry. Their flaws, color inconsistencies, or other characteristics make them unsuitable for jewelry. Also in the process of cutting and polishing gemstones, significant waste is produced. When all of this is crushed into a fine powder, the resulting particles acquire irregular cutting edges. Being harder than any other substance, the particles hold those edges longer than any other material. This diamond powder does the actual work of sharpening.
However, all diamond compounds are not created equal. The best are very carefully controlled in manufacturing to assure consistency in the size of the actual particles. For example, a compound classified as "one micron" though it may have particles smaller, should contain no particles larger than one micron. This is important, especially in a close-tolerance application like producing a highly refined razor edge.
Another differentiation between compounds is the carrier paste. In an industrial polishing application, an oil-based carrier (typically a petrochemical) may be acceptable. In sharpening a straight razor, a water-based paste is preferable. This will easily rinse away after sharpening, lessening the risk of any skin irritation or infection.
IMPORTANT: A razor's edge can actually be too sharp which can be a result of over-sharpening with diamond pastes. Such an edge will catch on every surface imperfection in the skin, causing irritation and razor-burn. For a close yet comfortable shave, the razor's edge should glide over the skin, barely touching, catching only at the base of the hairs to be cut. Generally using a diamond compound as fine as or finer tan 0.5 micron can result in an over-sharpened edge. In most cases, one micron or smaller diamond pastes are more than capable of sharpening a razor that has become dull through normal use. By starting with an even coarser grit (in the 6 micron to 1 micron range) depending on how dull the beginning edge is, you can refine the "not quite shave-ready" edge typically found on a new, out-of-the-box razor. Before sharpening a new razor, first try shaving with it. If it pulls, drags or is in any way uncomfortable, sharpening is required. By this test, you learn how much sharpening to do. Generally 20 round-trips on each side of the diamond-pasted strop will get it right. If after sharpening and again trying to shave, it needs more work, repeat the process. You may have heard of many different ways to test the sharpness of a razor; the hanging-hair test, the standing-hair test, shaving your forearm, etc. But, the only true test is actually shaving with it.
In most cases, a good 4 sided paddle-strop, or one or more 2 sided strops and several different grit diamond sharpening compounds (typically about a 1 micron grit followed by 0.25 grit) will be all that is needed to maintain a fleet of daily shavers. What diamond paste will not do alone is establish a basic working edge on a razor that hasn't seen a strop in 50 years or remove a ding or chip (the result of dropping the razor or some other accident). For such a repair, only a hone will do. But, once a hone has done the heavy work, diamond sharpening pastes (this time a 6 micron grit to a 3 micron, followed by 1 micron and finally 0.25 micron) will refine the basic edge more quickly and in a much more controlled manner than a hone can.
The best tool to use with your diamond sharpening pastes is a paddle strop. A surface of either soft wood, such as balsa, or leather is preferable. The important thing is that the surface be sufficiently rough or grainy as to hold the paste. If the surface is too smooth or hard the paste will simply be wiped off with each pass of the blade. This is not only wasteful (and expensive) but is ineffective. The paste should be applied to the surface in very small amounts, usually about the size of a pea.
For a typically sized paddle strop 2-3 pea-sized dots evenly spaced along the length of the strop is sufficient. These dots should be thoroughly worked into the surface using the fingertips or the heel of the hand. The more time spent working the paste into the surface, the more effective the sharpening action will be. You will also find that with successive uses the effectiveness of the cutting action will be improved as the surface becomes more built-up with abrasive. Toward this end, do not clean off the surface after use. When the effectiveness seems to have diminished simply apply a small amount of fresh paste, work it in and continue.
As with all sharpening pastes, a surface coated with a particular grit of paste should now be dedicated to that grit only. While it is possible to increase in grit size, you cannot decrease. A surface once used for .50 micron may subsequently be used with 1.0 micron, but you cannot do the reverse. To maintain a fleet of regularly used razors, typically a two-step process beginning with 1.0 micron, followed by .50 micron will achieve a perfectly smooth shaving edge. Be sure to completely wipe off the blade when moving from the coarser grit to the finer, and again before moving on to your un-pasted finishing strop to prevent cross-contamination. The motion used on the diamond pasted surface is identical to that employed on your hanging strop – working from the blade’s heel to the point as you travel up or down the surface, leading with the razor’s back, and applying no pressure – using only the weight of the razor to maintain constant contact between the razor edge and the pasted surface. After having sharpened your razor you should finish on the un-pasted leather strop, omitting use of the canvas or linen side.
Your razor is now ready to use. Routine use of the canvas/leather pre-shave stropping may be resumed for successive daily shaves. This procedure, used every 2-3 weeks, should be all that is necessary to keep your razors in perfect shaving condition.
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