How To Make A Knife Sharp Enough To Shave With?

A knife is integral to our life as it fulfills multipurpose applications. We use it to cut veggies and other ingredients in the kitchen. Some will use the knife in outdoor adventures. However, I bet none has thought of using a knife to shave their beards. 

I understand that it is a wild idea and a bit risky too. Yet, you can use a razor-sharp knife to shave your beards, particularly during long adventures. For this, you must know how to make a knife sharp enough to shave with confidence. 

Luckily, you don’t need to be a Gillette razor specialist to sharpen the knife for shaving. You can quickly get a razor-sharp knife blade using a whetstone and lubricating liquid. You may even use a stone without the proper whetstone or professional sharpening tool. 

So, making a knife sharp enough to shave isn’t difficult, as long as you follow our guidelines.

Is It Okay To Shave With A Knife?

You might be excited to shave with a razor-sharp knife following our steps. It indeed looks exciting and challenging. But can you really shave with a knife? Is it right or hazardous for your health? These are common questions a health-conscious may ask before shaving with a sharpened knife.

The good thing is you can shave your beard or mustache with a properly sharpened knife. In fact, you might even use an axe for shaving your beards. It would help if you only remembered that the knife should be adequately sanitized.

It is essential because bacteria and viruses on the knife without sanitization might cause septic. Your facial skin is susceptible to such septic, which could lead to severe complications. Thus, we advise you to sanitize the knife with proper sanitizer.

Also, move the knife in one direction as you cut the beards and mustaches. If you move the knife in abrupt directions, it will hurt your skin. Plus, you will see bleeding. Thus, you must maintain the right direction for shaving beards, mustaches, and even your head. Lastly, use a clean mirror to stand in front of it and shave. The mirror should be powerful to highlight the scars on your face. It will help you shave those scare-trodden places without any cuts. It makes your shaving with a sharpened knife safe and straightforward.

How to Make A Knife Sharp Enough To Shave With It:

Keep your backpack as portable as possible when you are on mountaineering or wild adventure. So, carrying a proper shaving kid can be a luxury there. Following it, most times, your beards will grow bigger, and you will have a dull look. 

However, you can use your knife to shave and maintain your look. It is possible once you razor-sharpen the blades. 

Step 1: Determine the damage on the blade:

Your knife will be continuously in use at home and outdoor. So, the edges of the knife get damaged. When you plan to sharpen it for shaving, you should closely look at the blade. The edge is made of smaller lines. 

In most cases, you will find that these lines are damaged due to the overuse of the knife. Also, there will be chips or rolls around the edge. You must find the amount of metal worn out around the chips. It will allow you to know how much sharpening the knife requires. 

Step 2: Find the right sharpening stone:

The best way to sharpen a worn-out knife for shaving is to use a whetstone. It is a professional sharpening tool with different grits on either side. One side has rougher grit, and the other side has a finer grit. 

Ideally, the grit coarse on one side of the sharpening stone should be 325-400. The coarse of the grit on the other side should be 600 or slightly above. The coarser the grit is, the more metal it will remove from the edges as you use it. So, don’t buy a whetstone or diamond stone with equal grit-coarse on both sides. 

Step 3: Removed the damaged steel from the edges:

As you look at the edges of your dull knife, you will find weak and ruined steel. It happens due to the overuse of the knife. Plus, you must remove the ruined steel to reveal the sharpening part of the edges. For this, draw the knife slightly on the sharpening stone. It will remove the damaged steel and reveal the part of the knife that you need to make a razor sharp. 

When you draw the dull edges on the whetstone, it blunts the edges. Also, it reveals the new steel to help you sharpen it quickly. 

Step 4: Determine the right sharpening bevel:

When you want to shave with a knife, you must find the right angle of the edges. It is important to sharpen the knife with the right angle as you work on the whetstone. Usually, utility and kitchen knives have a 15° to 20° beveling angle with their edges. 

Hence, you need to maintain the knife’s right angle when sharpening it. For this, you may use an angle guide. It is gettable in around $10 from online stores. 

Step 5:  Start sharpening the knife:

As you have found the right beveling angle of the knife to sharpen it on the whetstone, find the coarser end of the stone. Then, use the angle guide to position the knife at the right bevel. Then, sharpen it by drawing the knife from front to backward direction. 

You need to sharpen the knife on one side 2-3 times. Then, flip over the knife and sharpen the other side of the edge. 

Finally, turn the whetstone to find the finer coarses on it. It is necessary for micro-level adjustment through the finer coarse. So, start sharpening the knife with the finer grit of the whetstone. 

Tips On Adjusting Macro And Micro-Bevel Of The Knife:

When you plan to use the knife to shave your beard, its edges must be razor sharp. Thus, you must balance the knife’s micro and macro bevel. Adjusting the primary bevel is easy as you can easily stroke the edges with the coarser side of the whetstone. 

Finally, for the micro bevel adjustment, stroke the edges slowly. Also, stop stroking the edges and test them with your fingers to check the sharpness. You should also try getting wider edges as it will make cutting the beards easier. If the edges are narrower, they can cut through your skin while shaving. So, be aware of the right width for the knife blades. 

Tips for checking the sharpness of the knife for shaving:

As you finish sharpening the knife, you should check its effectiveness. For this, you can apply the following tricks:

• At first, try slicing paper with a knife. If you have sharpened the knife enough, it will cut through the paper effortlessly. 
• You can use the knife to shave the hairs on your legs or armpits. As the knife easily shaves the hairs on your leg, it has a razor-sharp application. Also, it is a safe trick before you start shaving your beard. 
• You can place your index finger on the knife’s edge to feel the sharpness. Be careful not to put any pressure, or it will cut your skin. Alternatively, you may cut an onion to check the edges. 

Final Words:

Adventurous people find it enjoyable to use a knife to shave their beards. Also, the trick can be a good solution when you are in outdoor locations for months. However, be careful to use the knife for shaving beards as it may cut through your skin. Also, disinfect the knife before shaving because it may contain germs. Or else, it can cause septic in your face, which can sometimes be fatal.