Someone should make a "Bevel Setting" Sticky.

[Brooksie967]

I could show you how to set a bevel and teach you all the visual cues and tests to use but I'm not really eloquent enough or thorough enough or perhaps patient enough to try to write it all down in a well thought out step by step "instruction manual" type format.

More often than not, people new to honing are so unsure of what a proper bevel looks, feels, acts like. Can we all chip in here and figure this out? Think about the time it would save everyone that has to explain this, over and over and over again to people that can't seem to find a really solid answer to their question?

Perhaps what We can do is make a list and keep it short and to the point. I'll start off by posting my number one concern when setting the bevel here:

1. Inspect your razor. This means checking for a frown, a smile, chips, cracks, warps, uneven wear, heat damage, etc.

 

[Seraphim]

Here's mine:

The Key

 

[Brooksie967]

2. The MAGIC MARKER test: This can be done before OR after removing any chipping, frowns, etc from the blade. Under a loupe, there should be a smooth flat edge on the razor. Don't let this fool you, just because it lacks the previous imperfections doesn't mean the bevel is set.

Apply some magic marker on the existing 'bevel' of your razor. Without putting any pressure on the blade, perform 2 to 4 perfect x strokes on a stone. This doesn't have to be a 1k stone! You can do this on any stone actually.

After two to 4 perfect x strokes, visually inspect the 'bevel' to see if ALL the marker is removed. Pay close attention to the very edge of the razor. If your razor was previously honed with tape, the entire bevel might not yet be touching the stone.

Based on where the marker is removed and still remains, you can determine how you need to go about honing for the REST OF YOUR PROGRESSION. Pay close attention to this as it will determine the type of stroke, where to apply pressure throughout your entire honing process.

An example of a magic marker test: Your perfect x strokes have left marker at the toe on one side of the razor and at the heel on the other... What does this mean?? Slight twisting of the razor is the most common issue when you see something like this and most likely happened during he manufacturing process. Wapienicas seem to be big offenders in this area. To combat this, when the side of the razor that has marker at the toe is flat on the stone, place your finger on the spine while performing your x stroke. For the side that has marker at the heel, apply a finger on the spine.

 

[Brooksie967]

I should add that whether you count laps or not, you should do your best to perform an equal number of strokes on each side of the stone, throughout your progression, even during chip and frown removal.

 

[heavydutysg135]

The information is in the wiki guide to straight razor shaving on this site. Here are some of my contributions which are directly applicable to this topic.

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Sharpness_Tests_Vs_Edge_Uniformity_Tests_-_Bevel_Creation_Guide

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...t-Razor-Honing-Clinic-%96-9-Part-Video-Series