Thread: Honing NOS suggestions

Attached are two new purchases. Both have not ever been honed. One is a 5/8 Henkels Zwillingerwerks and the other is a 15/16 Herder, ABR, Shon; Solingen.
I am fairly new at honing but have been successful with the traditional methods. I set a bevel with the 4k, and then worked an edge with a 8k then moved to the 16k then to CROX, then to the leather.
I have read a bit about the Double Bevel using tape to protect the spine. I had tried to do it with a chipped razor I had restored by grinding down to clear the compromised section. I was not very successful and thought that angle was too radical since there was already a bit of hone wear already on the spine. I went to a traditional method and it sharpened right up to a nice shave ready state.
Any suggestions about whether to try this or just go with the usual? The idea of not showing any hone wear on the spine is fairly attractive. What are the experiences with this method?
Any suggestions on procedures?

Thanks
Headdoc

I think you'll get mixed views on this. For an NOS razor, I would use 1 piece of tape to protect the spine throughout the honing (maybe take it off at the very end). You can always add hone wear, but you can't put it back! See if other more experienced honers chime it.

Jordan

I agree with Jordan. Personally I don't think spine wear is disfiguring, but if you're not sure how you feel about it and it's a new razor by all means start with tape. Down the road you may decide spine wear's no biggie and at that point you can start honing without tape. As Jordan says, you can't reverse spine wear.

I think the only counter-argument here is that by using tape you're beginning the process of slowly changing the spine-to-edge ratio and hence the angle of the bevel. But I think even those who emphasize the importance of bevel angle will tell you that there's no magic number for the bevel angle but rather an optimal range, and honing an NOS with tape is not going to throw you out of that range in your lifetime.

One thing that's occurred to me with regards to this whole tape-no-tape thing is that spine wear looks fine when it's even. It looks like hell when it isn't. I think it's not a bad approach for apprentice honers to use tape in their first six months or so, while they develop a sure, even, confident, balanced stroke on the hones. I have a couple of razors that made it through my apprentice period OK but I do wish I had used tape on them.

I have got a Herder which is one of my best shavers. Mine was very easy to hone, came almost shave-sharp in NOS condition. If yours is as good you shouldn't have to worry too much about hone wear as it will be sharp in no time.

Originally Posted by Kees

I have got a Herder which is one of my best shavers. Mine was very easy to hone, came almost shave-sharp in NOS condition. If yours is as good you shouldn't have to worry too much about hone wear as it will be sharp in no time.

This is a good point. Some NOS razors have a good bevel but it's not particularly well polished and the shave is rough. This was the case with an NOS vintage Filly I got my hands on, and thirty strokes or so on the escher was all it needed. There was no need to even think about tape.

Often however the factory bevel is off and needs to be reset, and this is when the taping issue is indeed an issue.

Most of the NOS razors I run across are not problematic to hone. I actually like honing them over some of the new razors as the grinds tend to be better and the results are normally excellent. I usually start with a 4K/8K pyramid at 3-3, 1-3, 1-5 and then go to the finishing stone and sometimes a little paste.

Less strokes are better..........

Have fun,

Lynn

I decided not to bother with tape or double bevil.
Here's what I ended up doing. Using the DMT extra extra fine (8K) I lapped the Henkels, in all, about 30 times (I did check periodically for sharpness). It got to the HHT at about this number. I then put about 40 laps on the Chinese water stone and stropped it 50 laps on leather. It was ready.

I then took the Herder to the DMT and this took only about 20 laps before it was sharp ( I mean scary sharp). I then polished it with about 30 laps on the Chinese and stropped it @50laps on the leather.

I shaved with them both today (left side with the Henkels and Right with the Herder). They both required very light touch to the skin to produce almost BBS with the WTG strokes. I lightly did the AGT and that was it- Both sides were absolutely BBS. These are by far my two best shavers (the Herder is slightly sharper). This includes comparing with a Tosuke, 3 different Pipe Razors, 2 different Boker's, F Reynolds, 1 W & B, Carbo Magnetic, a DD special, etc (about 30 in all).

Thanks for the suggestions and advice.
Headdoc