Belt Auction

How come a razor can be sharpened just by rubbing it against a leather belt?

My grandfather is 80 years old and he is using a razor to shave his beard. He has been using that razor since he had a beard to shave, that means he's been using it for a very long time. He is using his very old leather belt in order to sharpen the razor by rubbing it against the belt. It has always been a mistery to me how a soft surface can have any effect on that metal object.

Public Comments

1. It's not really sharpening it, but rather standing up the burrs on the edge of the blad that bend from use or sharpening on a stone. The leather sort of polishes it.
2. It is not called sharpening - it is called honing the blade. The leather is realining the egde of the blade to maintain its edge. Once it is dull then it would have to be sharpened by stone or grinder
3. possibly the belt is cording the blade by bits( via friction of-course) hence making its edge more pointed or sharper.
4. If the razor is sharpened with the hard substancr the sharpness of course would be there but smoothness cannot be ensured, as somewhere it would be sharpened too much, somewhere the sharpness would be less and somewhere some thin saw like edges would apear. Naturally, that can be harmful to the tender skin of the human being. So the leather bwinf durable and smooth rubber, the razor gets sharpened slowly and smoothly by rubbing and that too up to the tolerance level of the skin.
5. he is not sharpening it ,its called honing the blade to create a new very sharp burr