Thread: HONING A HEEL AND TOE

HONING A HEEL AND TOE

On almost every razor I have honed, I hone the heel and toe separately. Generally, when honing and especially razors with a rounded tips or muted spike tip, the tip does not get fully honed with a straight or X stroke.

If you watch most razor honing videos you will see that the honer using an X stroke drops the heel off the stone, after the first inch of horizontal travel and the toe only gets an inch or two as the tip swoops down to the corner, most of the stroke the toe is off the hone. So, it is not surprising that heels and toes are not fully honed. Watch some honing videos and you will see, most honers never address the heel or toe.

I prefer a spike tip and specifically use the tip and heel to shave. I also note that most razors I have purchased or are in for honing, the tips and heels are never fully honed.

Because tips are rounded, one must lift the heel to hone the tip. How much depends on the tip shape. The flat part of the edge and at least a quarter of the radius should be honed and able to shave with. Most only need the heel lifted a few thousands to hone the radius.

An easy way to find how much lift is needed, is to ink the bevel with colored ink, make a thickish slurry, put the razor on the stone and do single stroke. Look at the bevel to see where the ink is removed. The purpose of the slurry is just to see the slurry move. You will do this with just water unless you are honing on slurry. But as an experiment to learn how much to lift, slurry will make it easier to see.

Now do another stroke and lift the heel just enough so that the heel is not moving the slurry. The toe half or 2/3rds of the razor will move slurry, but not the heel. Now look at the ink on the toe, you will see that ink is now removed around the tip and up to the top of the curve. Probably a quarter to two thirds of the radius.

If ink is still not removed, the heel must be lifted further to hone the toe. Again, look at where the slurry is moving on the blade, to tell how much you have lifted the heel. Make a mental note of where the slurry movement stops on the blade, that is the amount of lift you need for that razor to hone the radius.

Once you have determined how much to lift, (it is not much) then you just need to lift that amount to hone the edge. You do not need to hold that height, in fact you do not want to hold that height, or you will hone a flat.

You want to hone the radius and blend bevel around the radius into the straight edge, blended not faceted. Use the slurry/water movement as your gage and start with the razor flat on the hone and slowly lift the heel, so the slurry stops moving at the same spot. This will blend the edge rather that cause a facet. Time the speed of your lift with the amount of travel on the stone, so you end up at lift height about the time you reach the end of the stone, go slow this is a finishing stroke, not hogging off material.

This is a straight stroke, but you can use a modified X stroke so the tip curves down towards the corner, you do not need to make an exaggerated X stroke to the corner, just a small radius to about half of the stone width. The goal is a smooth stroke that blends the bevel around the radius.

It should only take a few laps to hone the tip as it is just a small amount of the edge. If you do a few laps on your bevel setting stone, it will make the laps on the finish stone go much faster and give you a smoother edge at the tip.

The heel also is usually curved and only the flat part gets honed, the part you will shave with will be the corner that makes the turn. And as we said they usually get no time on the hone.

So, first make sure that you are not honing on the stabilizer, if the heel needs correction, reshape it. It is easily done and only takes a few minutes. Heel correction should be a part of every honing, the corner should be radiused not a sharp point. If your radius it every time you hone it will never need a full correction. But literally takes a minute to correct.

Ink the heel and hone the razor with a straight stroke, with the heel leading. If needed add a finger of pressure to get the heel fully on the stone. Usually, you will not need to lift the toe to hone the heel. I use the index finger of the hand holding the scales, just the weight of the finger us usually enough.

Once you figure out how much pressure is needed, start your stroke with the razor at about a 45-degree angle or more, at about halfway across the stone slowly swing the toe around until it is an edge leading stroke, and it will blend the edge nicely around the radius.

Again, it should only take a few laps to fully hone the heel. The big trick is to blend the rounded heel or toe with the edge. Do not use excessive pressure it is a small area that hones quickly.

Lastly when you strop, make sure to do a few straight or X laps with the toe and then the heel on the strop, just a few and watch the pressure, light pressures to fully strop the toe and heel.

I use the heel to shave the mustache and the corners of my mouth using two hand for better control, especially against the grain.

I figured out long ago, the heel and toe issue seems to be for those of us the shave around some type of facial hair

Most any of the Older Sheffield's have near an inch of the heel that has never been engaged, sometimes the first 1/2 inch of toe is pretty virgin too

Honestly I think for the majority of shavers it makes little difference as they use mostly the middle of the blade while shaving, but for those of us that use the toe and heel around facial hair it is important..

I know many times I send a warning note with the honing letter that the heel is now engaged and to be careful at first

Sitting down at the table and working this J&W Ragg

Exactly what I was talking about, you can see the Heel and Toe were never blended into the whole edge

Yea. Because I use the heel and toe, I am more aware that most are not fully honed.

This morning, I watched a video of a guy honing a razor, not from our fora, and the heel and about 1 inch of the edge from the heel was on the hone about a ½ inch of travel. It literally spent no time on the hone.

In your photo I would hone the toe to the top of the sharpie, about a quarter of the toe radius.

On Sheffield’s I hone the whole edge heel and toe, on some wide ones you do have to lift a bit to get them honed. Red ink helps negates having to pick up a loupe, it will quickly tell you if you are removing material.

I have a lot more control shaving the corners of my mouth, always a problem area for me, using two hand ATG and using the heel than wheeling the toe. And I have 4 hairs some what deep in the nostrils that only a sharp tip can reach. A keen tip sneaks up and pops them off without cutting my nose.

If you cut your nose, it bleads and stings, like the dickens.

Tis the reason to typically hone towards a smile. It covers the whole edge, and removes most frowns. JMO.

ASs you mentioned in your first post, Bob. You can get the same results, by concentrating your honing to only 1/3 of the width of a 3" wide hone, during a rolling X, wiper stroke, and playing more time at the heel n toe, during the stroke.

But what ever your comfortable with, they both work.

Thanks Euclid.

Would you say you hone a rounded toe to about 7:30 or 8 o'clock and the heel to 4:30 or 5 o'clock?

Yes, just enough to round the radius so you have more edge than just the straight part of the edge honed.

As Glen said many razors have as much as an inch of the edge that has never been honed, especially at the toe.

With a muted spike tip you may need to do a little more to get an edge on the toe. It depends on how it was muted, some have a very rounded tips.

To mute a tip, you only need one or two light strokes on a stone and the tip will not cut.

To mute my spikes I just run the toe at about a 45* angle then drag it until the toe at the spin is about to touch the hone. So the point at the toe is dragged in about a 45* arc from start of the stroke to the end. Once on my finishing hone is generally enough. Doesn’t change the look of the razor and protects the crease where my ear meets my face.