Sharpening is a term most often used to describe the process of putting an edge on a knife . Generally it involves smoothing the edge on an abrasive that ' s in the neighborhood of 15 microns 1200 grit . But sharp for a knife isn ' t nearly sharp enough for a razor . A razor must be sharpened on a ~ 1200 grit stone , but that ' s just known as setting the bevel . It ' s the first of several steps . From there , the honemeister uses increasingly fine abrasives to refine the edge until it ' s shaveready . New razors are almost never sold shaveready . Unless you buy from a honemeister or a vendor who has one on staff or on contract , you will need to have someone set the bevel and put an edge on the blade . If you ' re going to buy a new razor , the best bet is to buy one that ' s shaveready . Vendors who sell new shaveready razors include Straight Razor Designs , Maggard Razors , and Rituels . If you ' re going to buy a new entrylevel razor , you may want to consider Ralf Aust or Boker rather than Dovo . But personally I ' d go with a vintage blade instead as others have said , uRocTraitor is a great source for those . PM him and he ' ll hook you up .