Honing a True Wedge

I recently got a 7/8 W&B that looks like a true wedge. It cleaned up nicely, and the dark brown original horn scales are in good shape. The only thing is, as most sellers tend to do, this was honed up at quite an acute angle.

I honed it (for hours) a few days ago, and using the marker test, had to use 5 layers of electrician's tape on the spine to match the (dull) bevel angle that he had created. It honed up nicely at that point: DMT 1200 to fix the bevel, DMT 8EE, then polished on a yellow coticule. I finished it on a Shapton 16K, which gives me an edge that I like, without having to go to pastes. I did actually give it a few swipes on CrO on a TM paddle strop, and it was clear that the bevel was not touching the paste.

Long story short, I shaved with it today, and it was nice. My problem is how to maintain that edge. Will a hanging leather strop be effective? I'd hate to have it reground unnecessarily, so I'd appreciate any advice.

I'd tape the spine for paddle strapping

Thanks. I wouldn't mind taping it up again to touch up on a hone or strop. I guess my question is more about daily stropping before shaves. The (minimal) slack usually compensates for honing with tape, but would it be effective for something honed with 5 layers?

5 layers????
That seems a bit extreme and I use tape on almost every razor....
The last W&B true wedge I did only needed 1 layer of tape to get the edge to bite into the stone, but as we see over and over. all razors are different. and the true test is if it shaves well. and if that shave is repeatable then go with the flow.....

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Originally Posted by RayG

Thanks. I wouldn't mind taping it up again to touch up on a hone or strop. I guess my question is more about daily stropping before shaves. The (minimal) slack usually compensates for honing with tape, but would it be effective for something honed with 5 layers?

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Sorry man, I don't know if it's going to make decent contact with the hanging strop without rolling the edge or not. I was just reading your bit about the edge not making contact with the paddle strap

If it was my razor though, I'd probably try several layers of scotch tape on the blade for daily stropping. Less friction against that tape than the electrical, I'd think. I'm going to try that to see what the difference feels like

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

5 layers????
That seems a bit extreme and I use tape on almost every razor....
The last W&B true wedge I did only needed 1 layer of tape to get the edge to bite into the stone, but as we see over and over. all razors are different. and the true test is if it shaves well. and if that shave is repeatable then go with the flow.....

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Yeah, the guy really did a job on it. I wish these sellers would just leave things alone instead of getting them "shaving sharp." If I had a 325 DMT, I'd probably take some metal off. I may try sandpaper.

I don't think I would like to tape it up with 5 layers to strop every time I shave. And if I leave the tape on, I am afraid it will rust the metal.

I think I may end up sending this out to be reground eventually.

I'm working on an EBay wedgie myself at the moment. 100 years worth of guys tinkering with the razor has lead to a quite rounded bevel!

http://i5.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/f2/66/eb83_1.JPG
That is the EBay pic.

The route I'm taking is to hit it up with 400 grit sandpaper on glass to reset the bevel.

It's getting there, but I can still see that the bevel is not sharp yet.


Sand....sand...sand....:(

I've got a couple like that.
Look on the bright side - nice new metal for the edge:fim:

I am working on one like that now. I have tried using 2 layers of tape but still the edge does not make contact!:rant:

The multiple layers of tape route was considered but the thought of having to retape before each stropping was unappealing.

My solution is to just keep on honing with the coarse stuff and one layer of tape until the bevel is correct.

Someone had cleaned up this razor really nice but had also rounded the edge quite a bit in the process.

[quote=randydance062449;222120

The multiple layers of tape route was considered but the thought of having to retape before each stropping was unappealing.

My solution is to just keep on honing with the coarse stuff and one layer of tape until the bevel is correct.

quote]

That's exactly what I do as well. I will not use more than one layer of tape just for the sake of speed in the honing process.

Put another check in the "reset" the bevel column.

Just go back down to one (or two if you want) layers of tape and hit the DMT 1200. You may have to retape the spine occasionally as the tape wear down, but it really is the best solution, no regrind necessary.

Oh, and if its a true wedge, you'll have to put the tape in the exact place every time you tape it, since the edge of the tape is what contacts the honing surface on a true wedge (maybe you've already noticed that). But if there is any concavity to the blade you should be fine.

I'd say jettison the tape and hone that thang until it is totally reset. It's a big hunk of metal and can handle some heavy duty honing with low grit stuff to get it in line.

But, to each his own! Taping is certainly an effective way to get a shaving edge, but then you pay for that ease of honing with the difficulties of maintaining that beveled edge. Pay now, or pay later I suppose...

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Originally Posted by randydance062449

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My solution is to just keep on honing with the coarse stuff and one layer of tape until the bevel is correct.
...

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Same here for a full wedge. Once the bevel is right I pull the tape off and finish it up without.

Honestly I think regrinding sounds good. It isn't a bad thing to regrind a razor. It usually ends up better off in my opinion. Otherwise I'd go with the one layer of tape idea to get a good bevel. Five is way too much.

I have a W&B wdge I got rom HeavyDuty...Heavy, I think it has been used enough to warrant going back to a BB and Coticle...how should I approach this? "To tape or not to tape, that is the question....."

Awesome shaver by the way....

hi ray why dont you do it to gradually get it down to 1 layer by rehoning with 4 layers then 3 and so on then it would be a gradual thing and wouldnt take too much time at each step i would strop it slowly leaving a little slack in the strop with 5 layers

This is exactly what i was talking about taping the back of the blade gives problems.i had similar problem and ended up honing the blade until it gets proper edge.will take time but your blade will be how it should be.good luck

This sounds pretty much like what I am experiencing with my wedge. I might go get a 1k stone, although I have been toying with the idea of using the bottom of my norton lapping stone (the flat side) to get rid of a lot of metal quickly. Then move to the 4k norton to tidy the edge up. Anyone ever try this?