Boker Barbers Corner | BUSA Edition 2017 / 2018

48
BÖKER MANUFAKTUR SOLINGEN
SHARPENING OF STRAIGHT RAZORS
If you love your razor, you will want
to be able to care for it yourself.
This also includes sharpening it
on the whetstone. The edge
slowly becomes rounded due
to regular stropping. This is
intentional up to a certain point.
However, at some point the angle
of the edge becomes too steep
and has to be ground flat again
using a whetstone. Grinding also
becomes necessary if the edge
was damaged due to unintentional
bumping, falls, or rust due to
improper storage.
We have compiled a small guideline
for stones and sharpening. A
grinding material or abrasive
is defined by two parameters.
One parameter is grit, the other
binding. The grit states how fine
or coarse the structure of the
stone is. The coarser the grit, the
more steel the stone removes and
the faster it works. In synthetic
stones, the grit is determined in
production by using corresponding
sieves. In natural stones, the grit
can only be stated approximately.
The standard commercial measure
is JIS (Japanese Industrial
Standard). The European FEPA
standard is almost exclusively
used in industrial applications.
The stones used for straight razors
should be fine.
Opinions vary on what exact
grit should be used for synthetic
stones for the final grind. For
straight razors, we only use and
deal with proven traditional natural
stones whose grit corresponds to
4000 to 10000 JIS.
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The binding states how strongly
the grit, the actual grinding hard
particles, are bound to each other.
The grinding particles blunt over
time and break out of the stone.
This allows the stone to remain
sharp over time. The softer
the binding, the faster the stone
works and the faster it wears.
There are no standard industry
and retail indicators for binding.
ATTENTION! Straight razors are
never ground on dry stones. The
natural stone "Belgian Brocken"
(Fr.: Coticule) is used with water.
Its very soft binding creates a
fine grinding mud over which the
blade glides. American Arkansas
stones, also natural stones, are
used exclusively with a special
grinding oil. These stones have
a very hard binding and basically
don’t wear at all.
Similar to stropping, during
grinding, first carefully place the
back and then the edge on the
stone. However, in contrast to
stropping, do not pull away from
the edge but rather push into the
edge. To do so, place three or
four fingers on the back of the
blade and push the razor across
the stone with light pressure in
the direction of the edge. If the
blade is positioned correctly, the
water on the Belgian Brocken
or the oil on the Arkansas stone
forms a small wave in front of the
edge. If the back is decorated
with gilding, etching, or an
engraving, you should cover it
with thin insulating tape to avoid
grinding off the decoration.
Once the straight razor has been
sharpened sufficiently, strop it
on a belt treated with paste, and
finally on an untreated strop.