Thread: Around the Toe ?

I cleaned up a nice heavy W&B wedge today and honed it to a pretty good edge. At one point I had an even edge bevel all the way along the edge, but lost it somewhere along the way.....hard to get it to go around the corner.

Any tips on how to get that nice even curve that I am after?

Thanks!

If you're talking about what I call a "stubbed" toe where the tip has been noticeably honed back I'm afraid you'll have a fantastic challenge there. Otherwise there are two methods used to create an even bevel all along the edge. The first is the X motion where you draw the blade off the side of the hone as you advance along your stroke. The second (my fave) is a Rolling Hone motion where you gradually transfer the weight of the blade from the heel up through the belly of the blade to the tip as you advance along the hone. Either way, even pressure throughout is paramount.

Hope that answers your question.

X

I'm not sure I get the exact problem...
I suppose you're honing one of those W&B's that are not dead on triangular wedges, but still have a very slight hollow grind to them.
Due to that, they tend to have a wide bevel (and wide hone wear too). If there is the slightest warp in the blade, it would show up in the bevel broadening on one side and getting smaller at the opposite side. Unless very severe (somehow I think that's unlikely with a wedge), I wouldn't be bothered about it. It won't affect the shaveablility of the razor.
On the other hand, it could be possible that you don't follow the smiling curve of the blade enough during your honing stroke, but then you probably would see the bevel becoming smaller at both sides of the edge. The other thread where you posted about this problem, already covers that. http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=18363
I also noticed that it is easier to get unevenness in the bevel, if you use a finer hone for bevel setting. The more strokes you need to do to get the job done, the more small, but repeating differences in you stroke (often "back-stroke" against "forth-stroke" and heel to toe) build up to the unevenness. It is odd, but doing fewer laps on a coarser hone is more forgiving to that. I would not jump under 1K though, unless I was rebuilding an entire bevel.

Finally (sorry for such a long post) the Magic Marker Test is not only excellent for revealing double bevels or rounded edges, it also might tell you a lot about your honing stroke and the way your blade makes contact with the hone. If I'm having troubles to develop a good bevel on a razor, which happens often, the MMT (someone should start abbreviating it) always gives me the answer to what's exactly going on. Some parts of a stubborn (read: slightly distorted) blade can only really make contact with the hone at the point where they are dragged over the edge of the hone. The MMT reveals that and tells you exactly how to fumble with your stroke on that spot as it is dragged over the edge. The marker on those low spots (where the bevel is smaller, because it does not make good contact with the hone) will start to disappear as soon as you get it right.

Again, sorry for a long post, I hope some of my experiences shed a light on your problem,

Good luck,
Bart.

Here's what I've done. Granted, I am still a relative newbie at this, but I read.

I did the MMT to find found what and how it does or does not touch the hone during the process.
I take a 1X3 inch piece of balsa and apply CrOx to it and lay it across the blade from the spine to the edge. I then gently started a washboard pattern with equal number of passes on each side of the blade. This slowly should began to have effect and sharpen the blade, specifically where you are honing. It eventually will pass the HHT and feel right. I then uses a stropping motion with the balsa hone to smooth the blade. Then stropped it and see if it is shave ready.
This seems to have worked for me on those trouble spots without creating unusual damage or stress with a difficult technique like the rock and rolling.

Hope this helps