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Left and right side of the spine not parallel to the center line. Any thoughts?

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
So you’re saying honing toe-forward will offset the kind of taper being discussed here? If so that’s great info for sure.

No, if the razor spine is tapered like in the second image, continue to hone it the same way, at 45 degrees or so to the hone, like the first image. The first image is actually heel forward.
 
No, if the razor spine is tapered like in the second image, continue to hone it the same way, at 45 degrees or so to the hone, like the first image. The first image is actually heel forward.
Ok got it. I had read your points about the W&B again…😳
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
Those tapered spines are common. Look at any YouTube honing video and the first thing that happens is that the heel (and the spine above it) immediately come off the hone. If the spine above the heel was ever on it. The spine above the heel is on the hone in Alex Gilmore‘s videos.

You have to pull the heel off the hone with stones narrower than the razor is long to hone the entire edge. But look at those YouTube honing videos (I think that any will work), both the heel and the toe spend less time on the hone than the middle. You have to add more heel-centric strokes to make up for that, if you want to make up for it.

When you lap your stones, most of the time you will see a low place, an oval, in the middle of the stone. This is where the middle of the razor has spent most of its time.
 
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Those tapered spines are common. Look at any YouTube honing video and the first thing that happens is that the heel (and the spine above it) immediately come off the hone. If the spine above the heel was ever on it. The spine above the heel is on the hone in Alex Gilmore‘s videos.

You have to pull the heel off the hone with stones narrower than the razor to hone the entire edge. But look at those YouTube honing videos (I think that any will work), both the heel and the toe spend less time on the hone than the middle. You have to add more heel-centric strokes to make up for that, if you want to make up for it.

When you lap your stones, most of the time you will see a low place, an oval, in the middle of the stone. This is where the middle of the razor has spent most of its time.
The taper I’m finding on a few of my razors is totally different with the spine a bit more narrow all the way down at the heel end and ever so slightly wider at the toe (think of the a skinny wedge shape…). I’m not getting the narrowness in the center for some reason.
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
The taper I’m finding on a few of my razors is totally different with the spine a bit more narrow all the way down at the heel end and ever so slightly wider at the toe (think of the a skinny wedge shape…). I’m not getting the narrowness in the center for some reason.

Used or new? A used razor can be any shape. Trust me, lol.
 
Honing a razor with a tapered spine at 90 degrees vs the illustrated 45 degrees will cut a different bevel and tilt the heel up just like honing on the stabilizer.
I have a razor that was honed this way. I observed the taper but didn't understand how it came about and I'd already spent some time honing 90 degrees to the stone so I was kind of committed at the point. Later I read one of your posts that talked about this and I'm pretty sure I let out an audible "D'oh!"
 
I shave with the heels and the toes, which is why I prefer a spike point, unmuted.

So, I ensure the heel and toe are fully honed around the corner of the point about 45 degrees.

I always finish with heel leading 45-degree strokes until the bevel rounds the corner. It does not take much to finish with a few strokes on each stone or slurry, because you are honing just a tiny portion or the edge, add a bit of finger pressure if needed.

Yup, any honing video, you will see the heel come off the stone within the first inch of travel. The middle and toe are on the stone the whole time. Except for Alex’s. I am such a fan of the Ax Method.

The only modification, I put a small arc in my stroke, so that the toe, starts near the edge and ends about a ¼ inch from the edge at the bottom of the stroke. Like a J or Nike Swoosh, so the heel stays on the stone until the bottom of the stroke or at least a third of the stone.

This prevents honing towards a frown and keeps the heel on the stone. I finish on X strokes and heel leading.

As soon as the heel falls off the stone a lot of pressure is put on the middle and transferred to the toe at the bottom of the stroke, mores so with an X stroke, add to that an aggressive barber hone of the past and that wear pattern is common.
 
Creating a good apex is contingent on having a good triangle, which can happen even if only two points on each bevel facet make contact.
That 'parallel' measurement won't be a perfect calculation along the entire spine. More like an average thing. The rest of the grind has to fall in-line here. You can have a whacked spine and grind that cancel each other to make an ok blade. It happens. Iv'e had razors riding on two points of the spine only, and still shave great. Waves in the grind prevented perfect contact. Sometimes that I've had to hone into it, other times not. But when I have an apex, and even honing stem to stern, that's it... good to go.
That said, if the V of the apex is justified too far to one side - the edge can suffer. What's the tolerance there? No idea, not really a big issue tbh.

Overall, this geometry will never be scientifically perfect past a certain level of acceptable tolerances. Good geometry is just that. If one facet of spine wear is too far off, the 'v' is lopsided and cutting efficacy can deteriorate. I see this with cutlery. Not too often with razors but once in a while some yahoo using a honing 'method' will turn a good razor into a box cutter. If that.

In general though, stuff like this usually falls into the category of 'solutions looking for a problem'. In other words, if the razor shaves, it shaves. If not, chances are it's the bevel not a fractional angle of arc difference in the bevel angle's existence. Like David said, some of these shivs were made on Mondays.... they'll still shave though.
 
Adjust spine photos.
偏右.jpg
 
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