Urhgle.... Or... a lousy razor grind, that grinds my gears.

I picked up a Clauss 5/8 round point off ebay a few years ago. It looked rather NOS in the pictures and when it arrived, it again looked like it had never been used.

Putting it on the hone the other day, it seemed quite normal with the edge coming towards me, but when I flipped the razor to go the other way only half the edge was touching the stone!

After giving up on using the the X stroke to try and hone the whole edge and not succeding, I took a closer look at the spine of the blade. It was not warped, but rather there was a hump on the one side, about 3/4" from the tip that just made the razor near unhonable... or at least it was for me.

After a lot of head scratching, and almost ruining the edge with heavy body english on the hones... I decided to straighten it out on my DMT 320. No, it's not the ideal way, appearence wise, but the razor was never going to be usable in that condition, so I had at it. I suppose the "correct" solution would have been to fix the grind of the spine, but as I'm keeping the razor and it's a plain vanilla, with black synthetic scales, and nothing special kind of razor, I felt that I could live with the rather large "hone wear" on one side of the spine.

End result is that I'm currently trying to get the edge of the blade back in shape... it's close, but that toe really got bunged up from trying to hone it without fixing the rocking on that hump. The razor will be my backup razor for those times when everything else is dull, and I find myself short of time for honing... (not very likely as I plan to retire in the spring, but hey... I have to justify stuff somehow, right?)

I don't know who at Clauss ground this particular razor, but had I purchased it new from some store back in the 1950s, I would have taken it back for a refund/replacement... it really was bad!

On a more postive note, my Shapton Glass Stone holder arrived in my mailbox today.... I did not care for the price, but is sure is nice to hone on!

Regards

Kaptain "I'll show THAT spine who's boss..." Zero

I wish you had taken close-up pictures before you started trying to show that razor who was boss, but at least you did not try three layers of tape! Fix the spine and you'll fix the razor.

Yeah, that was what I figured, straighten the spine and everything else should fall in line.

Me?!?! Pitchures? You are kidding, right?

Regards

Kaptain "Shutterbug I ain't" Zero

Yeah, I've been trying to learn this whole photography thing for a while now too so I forgive you.

And, I just remembered that I never replied to your PM--good intentions only go so far. Maybe we'll have to arrange that meet-up at the halfway point in Fargo!

Something I should have added in the first post was that I taped the *edge* so I wouldn't grind away at it while scrubbing off the hump on the spine. That allowed me to keep the edge on the stone without actually honing it on the 325 while keeping the spine in almost perfect honing position.

I've yet to finish the bevel set, and there still is a tiny bit of rock to the bad side, but easy enough to hone with a slight rolling motion.

I finished another project today instead.... but before I post, I need to take some pics with my phone, so I can do a proper show and tell for Mr. Utopian. :)

Regards

Kaptain "Camera flashes and open straight razors might not be the best combination" Zero

Woot!

Tonights shave with this infernal razor went great. Now that I've conquered the hump on the spine, it's honing up nicely.

I'm also starting to get my muscle memory and confidence at the hones back, which is nice.

I will say though, I just recieved a tube of 0.5 diamond paste and put some on a new bench strop and it promptly brought my edges up another level. Perhaps I need to refresh my chrome ox strop, but either way, the razor, she was nice and piquant. I'm still looking for a teeny bit more, but I'm not sure how to make it happen. Perhaps one of those 20K hones?

Regards

Christian