I can't access coticule.be recently, I don't know if it's my problem or the page is missing?Rolling x-strokes on a narrower hone are your friend. There was a great thread about this on coticule.be, but the site no longer seems to be.
I can't access coticule.be recently, I don't know if it's my problem or the page is missing?Rolling x-strokes on a narrower hone are your friend. There was a great thread about this on coticule.be, but the site no longer seems to be.
This illustrates very well the benefits of a smiling edge. I used to consider a smile a defect but in fact it provides greater tolerance to blade geometry issues while honing.I have encountered the most curved gold dollar 66, as shown in the picture I corrected the BACK.
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Also you may need to spend a bit more time on the strop than you are used to... the center of the cupped side is going to not get much contact/pressure on a strop.
Probably right, as thin leather like roo will conform to the edge, unlike thick, stiffer leather.This was another aspect I hadn't considered for if and when I do manage to get a good edge on it.
I've got a slightly narrower roo leather (i.e. very thin) strop that I assume will be quite good for that kind of thing...?
This second-hand razor was already smiling when I bought it, but I also saw that the "BACK" change can become a smiling razor.This illustrates very well the benefits of a smiling edge. I used to consider a smile a defect but in fact it provides greater tolerance to blade geometry issues while honing.
Oli, this might help with managing wonky razors. This Leon Pelleray belonged to my French friend’s grandfather, and although it is not warped or twisted, it has both a smile and a frown. My job was to hone it as-is, with minimal changes to the shape, since it is a family heirloom. No brute forcing a straight edge on it. Oh, and a nice additional ‘bonus’ is that there was absolutely no trace of a bevel, none at all. The edge was as round as a butterknife. Alfredo did the cleanup, first image is his.
I mostly worked on it in sections, toe, middle, and heel, cutting the bevels with a mellow 320 diamond plate, using the corners and edges of the plate. Once I had bevels, I went to my usual synth progression, using the corners of the stones and again working in sections, with occasional ‘smoothing’ strokes, sliding the heel off the hone so that the edge of the hone would ride into the frown and across the smile.
Finally, I used narrow JNats to finish. The suita on the left can hone one any shape and although it isn’t quite a finisher, it can take an edge from bevel set to ready to finish with no problem. The second stone from the right, a narrow Nakayama kiita from Alex G, finished the edge. It took a great edge.
You don’t need narrow hones, you can use the corners of regular hones just as well, but if you have them they’re useful. The suita and the triangular asagi (second from left), were sold as tomo nagura for about $30 each, and the asagi is a good finisher. The suita sat on Takeshi’s site as a nagura for months and didn’t sell, no one wanted it. I finally clicked on it and saw that it was ~300mm (yes, it’s almost a foot long). and couldn’t hit the ‘buy’ button fast enough, lol.
The methods that I’ve described will allow you to hone just about any razor regardless of its problems, if it has it’s temper and the bevel angle is OK. The downside is actually doing it is a PITA and not something that you would want to do for a razor in regular use, just because the edge maintenance effort would not be worth it. That’s always something to consider when dealing with a warped/twisted razor that you own. I usually PIF these with a good edge on them and a warning to the recipient that no, I don’t want to hone them again
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YW sir and good luck. Just lift the toe a little to get that last bit of heel, you’ll get the hang of it very quickly.