Hi All,
New to Badger&Blade as well as SR (shaving and honing). I got started about 1 month ago, and since I have experience sharpening kitchen knives and have some free time, I decided to dip my toes into e-bay to get a few vintage razors for experience with both shaving and honing. The 1st 4 SRs were easy enough, perfectly straight spines, nearly straight edges, just a matter of clean-up, setting the bevel and running the progression (a learning process in itself since I am new to SRs). I have shaved with all 4 and the shaves have gotten progressively better (though whether that is due more to increased skill at honing or shaving I can’t say). #5 has a geometry issue (if I am using the term correctly) but I am reasonably sure as to the proper approach for fixing.
That brings me to #6 - a Wade and Butcher near wedge. It has a slight smile (which I don’t mind) but the main issue is this - the blade edge is not parallel to the spine. It is literally a 7/8” at the toe and a 6/8” at the heel! Given the lack of wear (at least to my uneducated eye) I am thinking that it was made this way. Does that make sense, or is it possible that this shape is due to repair of a chip at the heel at some point in time? The spine itself is of nearly constant width (around 0.234”). Of course these dimensions imply that the bevel angle must be changing as one moves from heel to toe and in fact that is what my calculations indicate, with a 16.1deg bevel angle at the toe increasing to 17.6deg at the heel. No surprise then that the blade can’t pass a wobble test, though it’s not awful (my #5 item wobbles more).
So my thoughts are:
1) Leave the spine alone and just trying to hone using rolling-Xs. Thought here is that while the bevel angle is changing, it is staying pretty much within the sweet spot that I keep reading about. I have tried running a few passes on one of my stones, and it does seem possible.
2) Breadknife it to reduce the toe width to 6/8, thus getting me to a consistent 17.5deg bevel. Of course that may imply a final edge bevel > 18 since it seems that most people recommend using tape while honing a wedge. And the thought of literally removing up to 1/8” of steel from the edge and then re-setting the bevel definitely gives me pause.
3) Grind down the sides of the spine in a roughly linear fashion so that I end up around 0.21” near the heel. That would give me a constant bevel angle around 16 deg and an edge bevel around 18 if I use tape while honing (which almost sounds silly if I have just ground down the entire spine).
4) Sell it, (perhaps after trying option 1)
5) ??? I’m sure there are other options out there.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
New to Badger&Blade as well as SR (shaving and honing). I got started about 1 month ago, and since I have experience sharpening kitchen knives and have some free time, I decided to dip my toes into e-bay to get a few vintage razors for experience with both shaving and honing. The 1st 4 SRs were easy enough, perfectly straight spines, nearly straight edges, just a matter of clean-up, setting the bevel and running the progression (a learning process in itself since I am new to SRs). I have shaved with all 4 and the shaves have gotten progressively better (though whether that is due more to increased skill at honing or shaving I can’t say). #5 has a geometry issue (if I am using the term correctly) but I am reasonably sure as to the proper approach for fixing.
That brings me to #6 - a Wade and Butcher near wedge. It has a slight smile (which I don’t mind) but the main issue is this - the blade edge is not parallel to the spine. It is literally a 7/8” at the toe and a 6/8” at the heel! Given the lack of wear (at least to my uneducated eye) I am thinking that it was made this way. Does that make sense, or is it possible that this shape is due to repair of a chip at the heel at some point in time? The spine itself is of nearly constant width (around 0.234”). Of course these dimensions imply that the bevel angle must be changing as one moves from heel to toe and in fact that is what my calculations indicate, with a 16.1deg bevel angle at the toe increasing to 17.6deg at the heel. No surprise then that the blade can’t pass a wobble test, though it’s not awful (my #5 item wobbles more).
So my thoughts are:
1) Leave the spine alone and just trying to hone using rolling-Xs. Thought here is that while the bevel angle is changing, it is staying pretty much within the sweet spot that I keep reading about. I have tried running a few passes on one of my stones, and it does seem possible.
2) Breadknife it to reduce the toe width to 6/8, thus getting me to a consistent 17.5deg bevel. Of course that may imply a final edge bevel > 18 since it seems that most people recommend using tape while honing a wedge. And the thought of literally removing up to 1/8” of steel from the edge and then re-setting the bevel definitely gives me pause.
3) Grind down the sides of the spine in a roughly linear fashion so that I end up around 0.21” near the heel. That would give me a constant bevel angle around 16 deg and an edge bevel around 18 if I use tape while honing (which almost sounds silly if I have just ground down the entire spine).
4) Sell it, (perhaps after trying option 1)
5) ??? I’m sure there are other options out there.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!