Thread: Spine too thick at the shoulder??

Just looked at your photo's.

My blade had the same spine shape. Believe me, it will settle perfectly if you do about 10 to 15 return passes on 1000 grit paper. The fist 5 should be with heavy pressure, then 5 gentle pressure then five blade weight pressure.

But if you don't believe me ( I would be a bit worried if I had a set of seven) maybe send them to a honing specialist who has handled the problem before.

You shouldn't have to roll anything. That is a standard vintage razor. Like the one I had, it looks brand new and unused and unhoned.

One final thing, the honing will put a smile on the blade towards the tip. But if you look, the spine has a smile and you would expect the edge to match it.

Maybe the thickening of the spine is deliberate to effect this matching smile on the blade edge automatically as you hone.

That is very normal. I have seen several razors on which the spine is just a bit thicker than the shoulder.

This is to prevent problems after the razor has been honed several times.
The idea is that you remove some metal fromt he edge to make a razor sharp. But this also means that you remove metal from the spine.

If the spine was exactly as thick as the shoulder, it would get thinner over time. Because no every hongin stroke is equal, you'd get a gradual difference in thickness. If you then hone, the honing angle will vary during the stroke, and it will be impossible to get a really optimal edge. I've seen this before with razors that were honed too harshly.
The additional thickness also prevents the shoulders from touching the hone, thus allowing you to start each honing stroke with the heel on the stone.

By making the spine thicker, the area of the spine that touches the hone is always the same, as is the metal removal. This is definitely NOT something you want to change.
If you remove this extra metal, you will get ugly wear, but you will also mess up the honing angles for good. In short: you will destroy your razor if you do that.
That thickness is there for a good reason. leave it.

Also: the reason your blade is not touching the paper is probably because it rests on the pivot pin, instead of the shoulder.

Thanks Bruno. That makes me feel a lot better - luckily I haven't touched them yet. I'ts still confusing though, since my other razors all have equal spines, my henckels even has the shoulder area on the spine deliberately ground flat with the rest of the spine, almost like that area is fatter due to some manufacturing process and has been ground away to make the blade lay flat, but on these others it's like it's just been left alone..

Also the blade is loose, I took the scales off to start restoring them, so it's not the pivot pin - actually if it was then you must think I'm really some kinda eedeeot

Thanks again.

If I had a Rodgers 7 day set with those beautiful shaped blades, I, because of my hit-and-miss honning skills would send them out to an expert for their first edge. I would then touch-them-up later when needed. I'm sure some honemiester would give you a job-lot price to hone all 7.
good luck M.


Oh! BTW, In the bottom picture you have sent, the whole side of the blade and tang is on the paper, in reality when the razor was being honed, it would be at angle angle heel leading and the blade (only) would be touching the hone and I bet the whole EDGE would be in contact with the hone.
If your unsure leave it to a Miester.
Or you could just send those razors to me where they would be looked after like the Crown Jewels. !

Thanks for the advice. I know the uneveness of the edge is exaggerated a bit by the overall thickness of the tang on the surface, this was just the easiest way to take a pic of it. When laying the blade portion only on a slab of glass as if to hone it, the edge still does what the image above shows, but to a lesser degree. With the heel leading and using a slight rolling x pattern, I'm sure they will sharpen up real nice. Thanks everyone again for all the advice. When these razors are completely restored with the new wenge scales I'm having engraved, they'll be my daily shavers. I'll post again with lots of images....

Nice one Jasper. I really like the shape of the blades.