I've come across something I own that was mentioned earlier in this thread.. a cut-throat razor. I've owned it for years but have never used it more than the initial shave.
It was a blunt as heck, but after doing some youtube type research, I've finally learnt how to sharpen it up. It still isn't "quite" ready for a proper shave yet, but it's 100% more sharp than it was yesterday. (and I've owned it for near on 17 years)
Tomorrow should see it twice as sharp as it is now, and I'm going to have a test run sometime over the weekend.
The one thing I've learnt, is that the leather strop isn't for the actual sharpening...you need a wet-stone. There is a huge amount of advice on youtube for this.
You can even buy very cheap old cuthroats now and restore them to pristine condition (razor sharp) easily. A good razor after the crash could be very worthwhile!
postie wrote:I've come across something I own that was mentioned earlier in this thread.. a cut-throat razor. I've owned it for years but have never used it more than the initial shave.
It was a blunt as heck, but after doing some youtube type research, I've finally learnt how to sharpen it up. It still isn't "quite" ready for a proper shave yet, but it's 100% more sharp than it was yesterday. (and I've owned it for near on 17 years)
Tomorrow should see it twice as sharp as it is now, and I'm going to have a test run sometime over the weekend.
The one thing I've learnt, is that the leather strop isn't for the actual sharpening...you need a wet-stone. There is a huge amount of advice on youtube for this.
You can even buy very cheap old cuthroats now and restore them to pristine condition (razor sharp) easily. A good razor after the crash could be very worthwhile!
It is a highly pleasurable task to sharpen a good blade, be it a plane blade or a quality chisel. I've never sharpened a cut-throat blade. Well done, postie.
In sharpening, you go through the various increasingly fine stages raising a burr and then taking it off, with the strop being the final, molecule-thin burr. I use jeweller's rouge on the strop for my plane blades. One piece of rouge can last a lifetime.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
Beards are natural, shaving is un natural. The last time I was clean shaven was 1979 and that was only for a couple of days until it grew back. Rumour has it I looked like a startled hamster. Trimming is done with scissors, no energy intensive device needed.
Baldybloke wrote:Beards are natural, shaving is un natural. The last time I was clean shaven was 1979 and that was only for a couple of days until it grew back. Rumour has it I looked like a startled hamster. Trimming is done with scissors, no energy intensive device needed.
When I first grew mine I used to trim it with scissors. Now I don't touch it until it starts to annoy me, and it's time for the clippers. Mine aren't energy intensive, as they will run off my small PV system and cheap inverter!
DominicJ wrote:Surely scissors are blunted as quickly as razor blades?
They're not. They work on different cutting principles. Razors cut through what they come up against using the extreme sharpness of the blade whereas scissors shear whatever is in the jaws between two almost right angled edges. The shearing action is, to an extent, self sharpening.
I did say "to an extent." Scissors last far longer then a razor. I remember my father sharpening his reusable razor before every use. He had a contraption to fit it into which drew the blade back and forth, turning it at the end of each stroke, over a whet stone when pushed and pulled.
My wife will not let anyone use her dressmaking scissors for anything but material. Using them on paper produces much ire on one's head. funny though, they can be used for pattern cutting.
I suppose blunt scissors are rather less of a problem than a blunt razor because of the different cutting action.
A Razor needs to be just that, scissors not so much.