H.Hobson Warranted Wedge

[Bevel]

I've had this sitting in my to-do box for years. I love these old Sheffield wedges.
While the blade isn't too bad it does have serious honeware and the scales are in very poor condition.
I usually dremel out the pins with a diamond ball to protect the scales but because of the condition I went straight to the flush cutters.
The scales were badly de-laminated so I started sanding away the years.


After sanding the faces of the scales I thought I'd leave some of the age of the razor there and lightly sanded the edges just enough to knock down any rough spots. They're smooth but show their age. Outside for a buff they shined up nicely, the blade was sanded separately and given a light polish.
I left a spot near the pivot pin that was deep enough where if I were to sand down to that level it could compromise the integrity of the scales. The faces of the scales a re mirror apart from that.


I decided to go minimalist with the classic small washers when repinning. Fancy collars just wouldn't have looked right.
Nice that it has a real lead wedge too.


Did I mention I love wedges


Honing was interesting with some wacky spinewear. The spine at the toe was pitted and about 0.05mm narrower than the rest. I didn't know that at honing time but it became obvious when 2/3rds of the blade was sharp but the toe was nowhere near done. I was using a layer of tape and doubled the last 1/3rd so I could reach the toe while ensuring some bevel uniformity. 1 layer of tape leaves a fairly wide bevel but that's just the way it goes.
1.5k Shapton for bevel and the rest with a selected coticule, dilucot and to under running water.
A typical silent wedge shave this thing goes through bone stubble like butter but the smoothness is where it excelled. Virtually no allum sting after a 3 pass shave so I'm happy to add it to the rotation.

 

[Sando]

Nice work! I prefer the minimalist approach when refurbing. She’s good to go for another 100 years at least.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I didn't know that at honing time but it became obvious when 2/3rds of the blade was sharp but the toe was nowhere near done. I was using a layer of tape and doubled the last 1/3rd so I could reach the toe while ensuring some bevel uniformity.

Nice job! Simple but elegant design. I agree about the smaller washers.

I have run into the problem of reaching the end of the toe on these old wedges. Are you happy with the method you used as opposed to just keep removing metal until you form a complete bevel?

 

[Bevel]

Hi Frank
I'm not a fan of using tape at all but sometimes, especially on wedges, you just have to.
For wedges I usually use 1 layer of tape to set an exploratory edge just to see what going on. I'm not setting a bevel here, just checking. Some use markers, as do I sometimes, but the tape exaggerates what's going on in 5 or 10 laps. If that 10 laps gave an even edge I'd hone the thing without tape but on a wedge you also need to factor in bevel width as a wide bevel can reduce the quality of the shave if it's big enough to stick to your face.

I'm usually very careful up near the spine when restoring something so I know I didn't make the last 1/3rd of the toe thinner, it was just like that. I did remove pitting from up near the spine but the narrower toe was there before I did anything, I only knew for sure when I started bevel setting and pulled out calipers to confirm it.

The smile was honed with a rolling stroke but it did need the last 1/3rd taped again, so 2 layers, to reach the toe properly. I could have done it without tape at all but the is still some pitting on the spine at the back and a pitted spine will wear much faster than the non-pitted front so it was just better to tape it. Adding sections of tape to a part of the blade has another benefit in that it produces a more even bevel width along the entire edge too which I always try and do as a wonky bevel drives me nuts so I'll fix it if I can.
I had to do some honing gymnastics on the last W&B wedge I did to get an even bevel all the way along as the first bevel set had and uneven bevel width which annoyed me enough to go back and reset it again. Have a look there and try the taping spine and edge thing to really get an idea of what's going on at the micro-meter level. I find when restoring something and bevel setting I always try to remove as little metal as possible to keep it as original as possible. The method, or whatever it's called, of honing one side to a burr then the other horrifies me. I suppose if you've never set a bevel before you might learn something from it and get a decent edge but I don't believe in taking more metal than absolutely necessary.