Regrinding the heel of a straight razor?

[Luc]

Okay, I got a few that need the heel to be regrind. I did not see any procedures or how-to guide to do this on the forum. I was going to take a wheel to do this but before I get there, how am I going to hold the razor, which grind should I use as a wheel?

Then, still thinking, maybe a small dremel is much better to grind a heel?

Any chances to see a few pictures?

 

[jred]

Make sure the wheel or dremel is rotating from the spine to the edge.

 

[otto76]

I don't have a bench grinder so all I use is a dremel. Between the grinding wheel bits and the small sandpaper rolls I'm not sure which I prefer. I am leaning towards the coarse sandpaper rolls, I think they cut faster and are cheaper to replace. Of course they wear out much faster too.

Here is a pic, I have my rotary tool attached to the Dremel Workstation, wheel is rotating spine to edge, I hold the blade with both hands to steady and control it.


Here is a pic of the grinding bit I also use, not sure of the grit but it's pretty coarse..


Also, I'm sure you are aware but this will heat the blade up pretty quick so I use short bursts (maybe 5 seconds or so) and have some water close to dunk the blade in.

 

[Luc]

Nice, thanks for that!

 

[Khay]

You can also hold the blade in a vice, edge up (make sure you use wood or rubber on the vice so it won't mark the blade) and hold the dremel instead of the blade. Just make sure the abrasive wheel is rotating from the spine to the edge, as said above.

 

[mdunn]

Depends how much you want to take off. I use the above method for a gold-dollar style removal

 

[Legion]

Clamp the blade or the dremel in place. Hold an ice cube or a wet cloth to the cutting edge with your spare hand. The thin edge gets hot almost instantly, so it is safer to keep it cool, rather than heat it, then cool it down with water. Keep some water nearby just in case, but by keeping the blade steady with a piece of ice it should not be required.

 

[otto76]

Clamp the blade or the dremel in place. Hold an ice cube or a wet cloth to the cutting edge with your spare hand. The thin edge gets hot almost instantly, so it is safer to keep it cool, rather than heat it, then cool it down with water. Keep some water nearby just in case, but by keeping the blade steady with a piece of ice it should not be required.

If I was clamping the blade I would definitely go this route as opposed to unclamping it and dunking it every time it started getting warm. I hadn't considered this method using the workstation and so far (knock on wood) have not overheated a blade.
But I am interested now- if I have the blade sitting on a piece of ice I can keep the blade on the grinder with no worries? For as long as I like? This would certainly speed up the process. What about RPM's, do you limit them or just grind away?

 

[dakotaev]

I use my belt sander to round off the heel if it needs it. It also works for bread kniving out frowns and fixing other problems like fixing broken tips into round points etc... I guess this might not work for all situations but I've yet to need anything else at this point.

 

[Legion]

If I was clamping the blade I would definitely go this route as opposed to unclamping it and dunking it every time it started getting warm. I hadn't considered this method using the workstation and so far (knock on wood) have not overheated a blade.
But I am interested now- if I have the blade sitting on a piece of ice I can keep the blade on the grinder with no worries? For as long as I like? This would certainly speed up the process. What about RPM's, do you limit them or just grind away?

I keep the dremel on a low speed. As the blade heats up it "cuts" deeper into the ice cube, and it has more surface contact for cooling effect.

This was not my idea. I think Kent was the one who brought it to my attention. But i've used it, and it works well.

 

[otto76]

I keep the dremel on a low speed. As the blade heats up it "cuts" deeper into the ice cube, and it has more surface contact for cooling effect.

This was not my idea. I think Kent was the one who brought it to my attention. But i've used it, and it works well.

Alright, I will have to try this. The whole stop & go of the other approach gets a little old and this does seem a lot less likely to accidentally cook a blade. Appreciate it David.

 

[superbleu]

I have piece of scrap metal, about 4 x 6 x 3/4 of an inch thick.
I toss it in the freezer for a few hours, then place the blade on it as a giant cooling heat skin, then I go to town on the blade with the dremel.

 

[cleanshaved]

never done it myself but I would reach for a bastard file to start with

 

[Legion]

never done it myself but I would reach for a bastard file to start with

Razor steel is harder than a file, or very close.

 

[Zamonium]

Thanks, this thread is great and informative!

 

[Luc]

All right guys, I had to do one of my razors (I identified 4 of them to regrind the heel) and started with the most difficult one.

Today's victim is my Ward Bros straight razor that had that huge heel. I know it's a shame to regrind that heel but I had to as I circled the issue that I had while honing. I wasn't able to hone the razor properly anymore and the edge would end up not being straight anymore as I could't hone the heel bit properly. You can see that the center of the circle was getting honed but that little bit of edge around it wasn't anymore


In the tools that I used, I went for the dremel as I couldn't get my hands on the wheel that I wanted. Attached to it, I had the dremel extension. It made the whole experience much easier to reduce the heel and take it where I wanted.


I started with a bigger type of grinding stone (not sandpaper) and it took me around 20 minutes


Later on, I got a smaller bit to make the heel a bit more even. Here's the small bit after, it was softer than my previous attachement


Finally, here's the razor. I just honed it and no issues anymore as I don't have the heel getting in the way. Of course, this situation wouldn't happen if I had a shoulderless straight. My unique razor now look like a regular razor, unfortunately...

 

[kirk 988]

i think im going to cry Luc nice to see it shaving again but that heel was impressive

 

[Luc]

i think im going to cry Luc nice to see it shaving again but that heel was impressive

I know it's a shame. The heel looked ridiculous when I buffed the bottom bit. Try to round it here, try to round it there and it looks like a regular heel now... The good news, I re-honed and shave with it this morning, it works like a charm now!

 

[kirk 988]

nice to see it shaves well
needs a rescale would be nice in some myrtle because of the curvy lines

 

[UKRob]

I had to round off a square tip recently and was advised by an experienced blade grinder that using tools near the edge of a blade could result in shattering - he advised gentle use of a stone which I thought would take quite a bit of effort. However, from jagged edge to round edge took no more than 20 minutes on a 500 Shapton.

I appreciate that rounding a heel is a different proposition but thought I'd add this anyway.