How hard is it to sharpen sapphire? (Straight-edge shaving razor)

I’m thinking about buying this. (I’m not planning to, but someone may.) They’ll pay for sharpening for the next 20 years, and I’m interested in what all that involves, as well as a typical operating regime for the blade and the rate it will dull.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time on knife boards with steel/carbon breakdowns, FWIW.

Sounds like the blades are sapphire.
That means they can be sharpened with a diamond hone. Pretty easy, if you have the right fixture.

The handle is iridium. The blades are sapphire.

Ah.

I’ll ask a mod if he would change it.

Moderator Note

Title changed: iridium -> sapphire

Thereby making beowulff and I look like…morons. Thanks heaps. :wink:

Wow. And I thought the Gillette refills were expensive.

Did you notice that it’s a 100K razor and it doesn’t even say if it’s a single, double, or triple edge?

No lube strip, either.

Not to mention that a company which is relying on Kickstarter to fund its production run is unlikely to be around to honor its promise of 20 years of free blades and servicing.

BTW e_c_g, that isn’t a straight-edge razor, either. You are 0 for 2. :wink:

That’s on OP. Just like the original “moron” bait-and-switch.

Just looked at the Kickstarter page.

I thought smart business people gave away the razor and charged for the blades.

I find it interesting that they waxed poetic about the handle and the screws and didn’t have much to tell us about the blades.

And for $100K that should include at least 100 years of blades and servicing.

I think I’d go for the $200 Z2 and spend $39 every six months on a new blade cartridge.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zafirro/zafirro-sapphire-blade-razor

For 1/10th the price, I could get a decent old-school metal Lathe. I’d have to make a metal holding clamp to secure the handle (possibly lined with a soft material to limit scratching the work).
Once I get a bit hard enough to work with sapphire (I’m thinking carbon), its just a simple matter bringing the blade material slowly to zero on the X axis and then sliding the work along the Z axis to ensure an even edge.
Tell Ya What I’m Gonna Do: You buy me that Lathe, have it set up in my basement, and I’ll sharpen every one of your blades for free anytime you want. Deal? :smiley:

I lathe isn’t the right tool - a Mill is.
And, the only form of Carbon hard enough to work Sapphire is Diamond.

But, the way Sapphire is typically sharpened is on a diamond wheel, or with a slurry of diamond dust on a flat metal disc.

Also according to them the blade is only 80 atoms wide or about 1/5000 the width of a human hair. That lathe (mill… whatever) had better come with an electron microscope.

That’s how the upper crust enjoy their daiquiris.