Trying to sharpen up a straight with sandpaper. Just wondering if anyone's done this and where I could find grit equivalent charts.
Don't have a straight, and never tried this on knives, but I've known some people that use 4000 grit sandpaper on top of the bottom side of a thick, cushiony mouse pad. They use very light strokes on a knife that has a basically good edge to begin with.
You can sharpen a straight with sandpaper, but that does not make it good to shave with - those are two different things. For a comfortable shave you need to refine the edge in various steps, slowly going to a smaller grit size, down to the 1-5u size. Even after this, the edge is not quite comfortable to shave, so many then strop the edge with 0.5CrO paste/powder, and finally strop on leather. Then the edge will be smooth enough to shave with. Just google "how to sharpen a straight razor" or "how to hone a straight razor" to get lots of great guides/videos/etc..
I have a strop etc with 10000 grit on one side of of the linen. I just need to touch the edge up on an almost shave ready straight. I think (my first straight) that I just need to use the equivalent of 4000 and 8000 grit. I don't want to buy stones just for one razor. I thought abrasive film would be a cost effective solution.
If your razor is already shave-ready, and you already have a strop, then you don't need to hone the edge. Stones/lapping paper are used to hone the edge - to get 95% "there". The last 5% is the stropping, which smooths and lightly polishes the very tip of the edge (which does the cutting). On B&B there is a thread going on right now showing high magnified images of the polishing effect stropping has on the edge.
Link? I've watched a bunch of honing vids and the razor I have, though sharp, doesn't seem to pass the 'hanging hair' test ie. the hair doesn't pop apart like the videos say it should with a sharp, honed razor. I'm 85% lol.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/337802-What-does-stropping-really-do In my opinion, the HTT "is" important. I get better and more comfortable shaves only when the straight razor can past at least the HHT 3 level of sharpness. To get there I have found I have to strop more on the 0.5CrO and then more on leather than I initially started with. Once it passes the HHT, then only the leather strop is needed for 4-7 shaves, and after that, you might need to touch it up again on the 0.5CrO. It is all experimentation - trying to see what works for you, but your face "will" tell you when the edge is good, as it will be sharp and smooth at the same time, with no razor burn (of course assuming your technique is good).
The term you are searching for is not Sandpaper it is Lapping Film, 3M makes it in the "Grit" that you are looking for and yes it does work.. I have no Idea what you mean by the 10k and your Linen The HHT has to be Calibrated for it to make as sense at all, until you do the work to Calibrate your very own HHT it means next to nothing in fact it can be detrimental to your getting a good shave.. Does your HHT work with a fresh DE blade ????
Yup, Glen's advice is awesome. We are fortunately that experienced folks like him stick around to help us newbies
