What is the right and true end for a warped straight?

[oakeshott]

The honing fury in the Oakeshott household continues undiminished and as the next ebay or antique store bargain hits the stones, I've learned the difference between a truly straight razor which is biddable and sharpens up quickly and without complaint and the warped rascals that bedevil and infuriate a wannabe honer.

As of today, I've determined that at least four of the razors I've bought (admittedly on the cheap) are warped to one extent or another. I can tell that much, but am unable to distinguish degrees of severity. I'm assuming that of the razors I have yet to be honed (or even bought), more will be warped. The question is, what do the rest of you do when you get one of these? I understand they can be sharpened, but is the juice worth the squeezing? Will the shaves be worth it? Are there too many decent razors out there to be bothered with this crooked steel?

What is the right and true end for a warped straight (the name of my next rock band will be Warped Straight, btw).

Edumacate me boys.

 

[GreekGuy]

I think it is best of course to avoid buying warped blades. But unfortunately it can be hard to tell from photos. If the razor is a "desirable" one, I can see going through the hassle of honing it. But it does require a lot of experience to know how to proceed, which is certainly beyond my level.

Hopefully someone will be along shortly with a better answer than myself.

 

[wherndon]

What is the right and true end for a warped straight (the name of my next rock band will be Warped Straight, btw).

Edumacate me boys.

I use my warped blades to chop fatwood.

 

[Wid]

It's actually hard to explain exactly how to proceed with any given warped blade as each and every one takes a different approach. Going from regular rolling x strokes to an array of variations of the rolling x to honing a blade in sections. The only way to learn is to do it, it can be very frustrating at times especially during the learning process. Not that I know a lot, I'm always learning with each razor I hone.

 

[smalltank]

Got any pics?

 

[gash]

Praise it to the heavens, and then put it on the B/S/T.

 

[oakeshott]

Got any pics?

Although it pains me, I will post them.

I think it is best of course to avoid buying warped blades. But unfortunately it can be hard to tell from photos. .

Is there a way to tell just by looking if a blade is warped?

Praise it to the heavens, and then put it on the B/S/T.

Gash, this may be the "true" end of a warped razor, but is it the "right" one? If so, I can PM those pics to you for a good price (insert mischievous emoticon here).

 

[Thomas Martin]

Is there a way to tell just by looking if a blade is warped?

Look at the bevel. Is it symmetric in width along the entire length of the blade? If not, the blade may be warped.

 

[oakeshott]

Got any pics?

Here are the four culprits in groups of two, one pic of each side:

The first are a pair with blond celluloid scales. The top is from Electric Cutlery and it has really attractive engraving on the blade and very cool figures on the scale. Would hate to have to get rid of this one. The second one cost me very little and was really purchased to be a project razor.

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The second pair are, I think, more valuable. The top one is a Frederick's Celebrated with an ivory or bone spacer that I quite like the looks of. The second is a Marsh & Bros, Pond Works in about a 6/8ths with either ivory or bone scales. My guess is ivory, but that might be wishful thinking. Both are marked Sheffield.

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Not looking in this thread for advice on how to fix them (though that never goes amiss), but rather what the rest of you lads do when you get razors like this.

 

[Fish Slayer]

I am far from an expert, but some of those razors look like they may have a frown in the edge. This would take some more work to fix, but not impossible.

From reading this forum, it sounds like there is a lot of knowledge to be gained from struggling with a razor that is “misbehaving”. Like most things, you often learn more from your failures than from your successes. These may be considered a good learning experience.

If you are just trying to build a stable of razors that work for you, then there may not be much point in continuing to work on those razors. Personally as long as you disclose what you know about the razors that you can not get to sharpen, I see no problem selling them here or any other venue. There are others that may wish to spend the time needed to get these razors working, or just use them to practice restorations on before taking on a heirloom piece etc.

 

[jpcwon]

I have a Joseph Elliot "Cutlers to Their Majesties" that I just did a restore on, and the blade is tragically warped. My solution was to break out my skinny coticule bout (I find that skinny stones work best for warped blades)... However if you don't have access to a skinny stone, you could always divide up the edge into sections. In other words I will hone just the toe first, focusing on that section by doing tiny ellipses with just the toe on the stone. Then, I will move to the middle of the blade & put my index finger directly on the middle of the spine, and continue with the small ellipses. Then I will move my index finger to the heel of the spine & concentrate my pressure there, doing small ellipses...I try not to pay att'n to the swarf running under the other parts of the blade (it's going to when you're focusing pressure like this)..

In theory it works well, but in practice it can go either way (YMMV big-time!!)....That's just what works for me.../