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this is still fun, right?

bought a sight half seen from larry and i opted out for the honing service. (bought it mostly to give me something TO hone)
so,,, its a very nice razor. black scales, 6/8ths blade......centered,,, tight,,, ......................but...........


this thing is KILLING ME!!!
i think all my blades are carbon, and this one has GOT to be stainless. setting this bevel has just been rough man. its coming out all uneven, the heel is cutting hair but the toe/middle is not. not without pressure.

i haven't played with it in a couple days.. getting frustrating when you hone for an hour or more but dont make any progress.:glare:

off to bed!! maybe i'll mess with it tomorrow.
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
Have you inked the bevel to see if its contacting the hone? Dulled the edge on glass?

You aren't a rookie so it could very well be a hard steel. My Brian Brown is the hardest steel I have, and it took me a while to get it right too.
 
no... i forgot about all that stuff. never needed it in the past. i guess i could do the marker trick but,, i can see now where the bevel is growing and where it is not.
as for dulling it? is it still worth doing even now?

as for the steel? YES.. this one, i would say is like nothing i have come across before.

i bet its going to shave like a dream when im done though.
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
If the bevel is getting larger at one point, it likely means that the razor is slightly warped or there is an uneven grind. Is the bevel the same on both sides? Or is one side big in the middle and small on the other side?
Dulling it would ensure that any edge on there is from you. Who knows? Maybe you haven't even set the bevel anywhere yet.

It IS fun, even the hard ones :).
 
"If it were easy, it wouldn't be as fun."

"We're not using disposable carts, after all. Those are so easy they *aren't* fun."

"The journey is as fun as the destination."

Just some thoughts of encouragement for ya, though no advice. Good luck!
 
i do enjoy it. its why i bought it. im out of things to hone!! i just ddint know it was going to be THIS much fun though....:001_unsur
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Pics? What brand? Swedish razors are notoriously hard steel.

Give the bevel a good paint job with a sharpie and give the razor one or two laps only on your bevel setter, and see what you got.

You could try the burr method of setting the bevel. Do half laps on just one side, a couple hundred to start with. See if you can detect a burr on the opposite side. Where you have honed the bevel all the way into the other side, there should be a burr. When you run your finger off the edge as if running off a cliff, you should feel a tiny catch as if the steel of the edge were bent up slightly. (That is exactly what you got!) Keep going until the burr can be felt along the entire edge. Flip the blade and do the other side the same number of half laps. You should again be able to feel a burr for the full length of the blade, on the opposite side from the one you just honed. When you have raised a burr on both sides, remove that burr with normal alternating laps, about 40 laps. If you do this, you know that the bevel is set, without a doubt. It should shave arm hair smoothly.

After you know that the bevel is set, you can continue with your progression.

Another thing... are you resting your stone on a fixed surface such as a table or bench, or are you holding it in your off hand? Holding the stone or plate loosely in hand, so that it is in effect floating in midair, will give better results. This method resists any tendency for uneven honing pressure. The blade and the hone can find their own alignment when the stone is free to move, and offers no resistence to honing pressure. Probably the worst thing you can do is to hone with both hands on the razor. It may feel like you have more control, but that is the problem. Your hands and forearms are heavy. Tiny excesses and imbalances in pressure have a magnified effect when the stone can't give and take, when it is fixed and immobile. Two hands is worse than one.

It is possible that your blade is slightly warped. The warpage could be original to the blade or it could be unevenly honed. When the same person hones a razor for many years, his personal honing technique shows in the razor. Maybe you have a natural tendency to hone toe or heel heavy. Maybe you are heavier on the "to" stroke than on the "away" stroke. These personal errors add up when you hone the same razor every other week or so for 30 years or more. I call this, "honing-induced warp".

Another thing... is the edge straight? Smiley? Frownie? A frowning edge should be straightened out. A smiley can generally be honed though some folks like to straighten out a smile, particularly when the smile is caused by honing and is not a design feature of the razor. Straight edges are far easier to hone.
 
it is german. marked with 130. i will take pics the next time i hone it more. (maybe this weekend)
 
i tried the marker trick and it is not hitting bevel on the top left 20/25%... the right side seemed to hit all the way, just not very much. even less in the middle..
what are my options? can this be re-ground?
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
You can try rolling x strokes. Is there a slight frown? Pics might help.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Rolling x strokes work good when one or both ends are not making good contact. When the middle is not getting any love, it is time to straighten that edge out. It can be a simple matter of hitting a coarse stone until everything is as it should be. In extreme cases you might breadknife but I am thinking breadknifing is not needed in your case.

What I would do: hone on only one side until a burr can be detected by feel along the entire length of the blade. This might take a lot of strokes. When a burr can be felt along the entire edge, flip the blade and do the other side the same number of strokes. You should feel a burr on the opposite side. If not, go some more, until you do. Once the burr has been raised on both sides, hone normally, with regular alternating laps, until the burr is completely gone. Now there is no question about the bevel. The burr tells the tale. And coincidentally, the edge should be straight.
 
thats cool just honing may correct it.
 

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yeah its a nice razor and the edge is nice and straight, no frown. but if it is bent up at the end, or middle? how would honing fix it?
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
It looks to me like the blade was straight originally and now has a tapered nose from years of bad honing by the same person. While rolling x's will fix it in the short term, I question the wisdom of not only perpetuating, but worsening the situation. If it were mine, I would simply hone hone hone. Maybe with a slight bias of pressure towards where the end of the bevel is. For the whole blade to have a slight taper is not a problem, and that's eventually what you would have.

Already, regular conventional honing has put what appears to be the beginning of a good bevel on 3/4 of the blade. That 3/4 of the blade could be made shave sharp without too much effort. A little work on a 325 (well, maybe a lot of work) would increase the length of the useful bevel and eventually result in an end-to-end straight bevel. The OP mentioned that the back side of the blade isn't getting good contact in the middle part, indicating a possible warp, maybe honing induced on a narrow stone. Lots of steel removal is the cure for that, and at the same time, it will cure or at least alleviate the taper at the toe end. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
so i put the blade to face today. not too bad. i still think a bit more honing is in order, but i did get a decent shave. nothing special around the neck but then again, i never do. a bit more honing may help it along though.
 
if you want PM me and i will give you my address..... i will make it shave ready for you and return it.... then i will tell you what i had to do to make it that way...
 
ive heard about your edges paco. (scary sharp) ...i did use it today. so i know its close. i just dont like the marker test. i dont like the way its not flat on the stone.
i may take you up on that paco. just so i can hear from you what it took to make it right.
 
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