HEEL CORRECTION - REPROFILING

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Yea, a diamond plate or file make it quick and easy, an India or Carborundum stone also works, as does a sheet of 220.

If you want to use a low grit stone, just use the side of the stone to preserve the stone face.

Nice work Tomo. Note where the spine wear ends on Tomo’s razor, well away from the stabilizer. Cake!

 

[Seelector]

I did heel correction to one of my razors last night. This was the 3rd one I've done and by now it's so simple I could do it in my sleep. I didn't bother with a template, I just put a little sharpie mark where I wanted to new heel to end and eyeballed it from there. I don't think it took more than 5 minutes using some adhesive back 180 or maybe 220 grit sandpaper stuck to a piece of granite, followed up with some 600 w/d to take off any sharp edges.

Right away it sat better on the stones and I was honing right to the new heel. Thanks again @H Brad Boonshaft for putting this tutorial together.

 

[cotedupy]

I've never done this before (on a razor), but am going to later as I have a new one that definitely needs it, but I have a related q. too...

This is the razor I'm going to correct:

You can't really tell in that pic, but there's a few mms at the heel where the bevel's not set, and perhaps a further cm where it is set but the stabilizer is clearly still impeding subsequent light-pressure honing and the edge isn't very good.

What you can see is that I've honed on the stabilizer a bit, and I did that intentionally. I have other razors with less prominent stabilizers than this where all I've done is hone it down when setting the bevel so that it no longer lifts the edge off the stone.

Is there anything particularly wrong with doing that?

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All of this is effectively the same as how you treat a knife with a fingerguard that's stopping you sharpening properly. And there are a couple of equally valid ways; either grind the very heel off (like 'correcting' razors here), or sharpen/grind the fingerguard down until you get to an angle where you can sharpen the entire edge.

Am I missing something about razors that makes the second option invalid or problematic or less than ideal? Or is it more just that the first option's easier?

 

[cotedupy]

Hopefully this might be a bit better now, we'll see how we go later on. It is very quick isn't it (when you haven't got a cm of solid steel of fingerguard to remove!)

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

“What you can see is that I've honed on the stabilizer a bit, and I did that intentionally. I have other razors with less prominent stabilizers than this where all I've done is hone it down when setting the bevel so that it no longer lifts the edge off the stone.”

“Am I missing something about razors that makes the second option invalid or problematic or less than ideal? Or is it more just that the first option's easier?”

Certainly, a lot of razors have been honed this way and the stabilizers just ground even with the blade edge and kept the razor shaving.

If you do this intentionally, it works. Most folks though, have no idea that the stabilizer is keeping the heel half of the razor off the stone and just grind the spine and the toe, because that is what is making contact.

If you grind the stabilizer while honing you create excessive spine wear over the heel and cause an uneven spine, that can cause an uneven bevel.

If one tries to hone up to the stabilizer you can create a sharp corner and eventually a heel hook, both can cut you.

As you found, it only takes a few minutes to re-shape the heel and take it out of play. Interestingly, once you are aware of heel issues, you will see that most razors with stabilizers could use correction.

 

[Ravenonrock]

Thanks all for posting! I have been watching with interest as I’ve run into this problem lately and not confident in how to approach it.

 

[cotedupy]

Cheers @H Brad Boonshaft! That's what I suspected; not necessarily wrong, but might have some consequences that I hadn't envisaged. Such as this:

If you grind the stabilizer while honing you create excessive spine wear over the heel and cause an uneven spine, that can cause an uneven bevel.

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TBH though, having seen just how quick and efficacious correcting it is - I'm never going to try 'honing' the stabilizer down again. Your way here is just incomparably easier and better. I immediately went and did it to another one I'm going to hone later:

 

[Rosseforp]

Any suggestions for where to get diamond files and which type to get?

I searched Google and Amazon with various keywords of diamond, file, tool, 600, 1000, grit, and spend about 2 hours looking at useless results. I would prefer something like the yellow/black handle hand file in the photo.

Thanks.

McMaster Carr is also a great source.

~doug~

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

“Thanks all for posting! I have been watching with interest as I’ve run into this problem lately and not confident in how to approach it.”


Don’t over think it. Just move the corner away from the stabilizer and you will see that the whole razor edge will sit flat on the stone.

Many Japanese style western razors grind the heel corner at a sever 45-degree angle moving the corner well away from the stabilizer.

They all work.

Use a black sharpie to draw a profile of what will be removed using a coin, washer, or ruler as a template. It will give you a good idea of what the heel will look like once the steel is removed and give you a guide of where to grind.

The heel is thin and grinds easily with a Diamond plate, India stone or the side of a 1k stone.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

This is the one I use, bought several years ago from a tool vendor at an Antique Swap Meet. Yellow handle. It is dual grit advertised at 600/1000 grit.

Here is a similar one on eBay for about $10, 400/1k grit should work just fine. Black handle.

EZ laps also has some nice smaller files that also work but the diamond surface is much smaller and finer. I use EZ lap files for removing edges of razor that I will be working on. It just removes a tiny bit of edge with one swipe, also good for removing chips.

Since I started removing the edges, years ago, I have not cut myself with a razor.

 

[Bayamontate]

Thank you for primer, this will work very well on razors where the shoulder doesn’t extend too close to the edge. If the user/owner doesn’t care of the aesthetics of the repair going to the edge than why not, thanks again.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

“TBH though, having seen just how quick and efficacious correcting it is - I'm never going to try 'honing' the stabilizer down again. Your way here is just incomparably easier and better. I immediately went and did it to another one I'm going to hone later:”

For the record, it’s not my method. I learned it from Glen Mercurio, GemStar Custom Razors, many, many moons ago. I have been doing it ever since.

 

[johnb65]

You guys worry too much about a bit of a heel hook!!
Just found this for sale.
Do you think it is too late to save it as there isn't too much hone wear on the spine?

 

[javast]

Wow, nice tutorial, and excellent instructions. I'm almost sure I have this issue on a new Dovo "best quality". I have already tried enough bevel setting that the spine is showing excessive wear at the toe. I'm a bit disappointed, due to the cost and the fact that I have more or less ruined it, but I have a dozen GD's coming - hopefully will be able to learn more cheaply once they arrive. Will hold off buying anything more expensive/older until I figure out what I am doing. BTW, it seems to me that this issue is more or less analogous to the issue with western kitchen knives, where the bolster meets the heel can't be sharpened, and the blade goes out of profile easily.

 

[JPO]

Wow, nice tutorial, and excellent instructions. I'm almost sure I have this issue on a new Dovo "best quality". I have already tried enough bevel setting that the spine is showing excessive wear at the toe. I'm a bit disappointed, due to the cost and the fact that I have more or less ruined it, but I have a dozen GD's coming - hopefully will be able to learn more cheaply once they arrive. Will hold off buying anything more expensive/older until I figure out what I am doing. BTW, it seems to me that this issue is more or less analogous to the issue with western kitchen knives, where the bolster meets the heel can't be sharpened, and the blade goes out of profile easily.

None of my Dovo razors have required a heel correction.
The stabilizer don't need to be on the hone.
A heel forward x stroke is usually all you need. This is not a design issue.

At the factory the primary bevel is set on a spinning disk. As a result part of the spine is not covered. If you are determined to hone the razor with this part of the spine on the stone, you need to correct it locally.
Riding this high spot on the stone will lift the heel and mess up the toe, and the razors geometry.

 

[rbscebu]

@javast, the last three Gold Dollar 66s that I received (May and June 2023) did not require any heel/stabiliser modification. Looks like they have modified their grinding technique.

As received
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Then again, I developed my honing skills using blades with pronounced and thick stabilisers. I am easily able to properly hone them by keeping the stabilisers off the honing surface without developing a heel hook.

One of my early SRs that I learner to hone with
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[H Brad Boonshaft]

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“Then again, I developed my honing skills using blades with pronounced and thick stabilisers. I am easily able to properly hone them by keeping the stabilisers off the honing surface without developing a heel hook.”

Well, not so much.

You are honing on the stabilizer and the tang, (Red arrows). That has caused excessive wear at the toe, (Green arrow) and beginning of a frown (Blue arrow) at the heel and a sharp corner, the beginning of a heel hook.

All that damage could easily have been avoided with a two-minute heel correction.

 

[Slash McCoy]

​

“Then again, I developed my honing skills using blades with pronounced and thick stabilisers. I am easily able to properly hone them by keeping the stabilisers off the honing surface without developing a heel hook.”

Well, not so much.

You are honing on the stabilizer and the tang, (Red arrows). That has caused excessive wear at the toe, (Green arrow) and beginning of a frown (Blue arrow) at the heel and a sharp corner, the beginning of a heel hook.

All that damage could easily have been avoided with a two-minute heel correction.

View attachment 1668175

Yup. Eventually it will catch up with you. Maybe many years or decades from now, but eventually. I nearly always apply a heel treatment to a razor the first time I hone it. It only takes a minute or three, with a belt grinder or sander, and can be done with just the end or side of a coarse stone, or sandpaper.