Thread: One way to hone a E-bay or Damaged blade

Keep in mind before reading, that this is not the only way to skin this cat, but it is the most consistent way I have found…. This is using a Progressive method…

Stones needed: ANY BRANDS…..
A bevel setter approximately 1k
A sharpening stone approximately 4k
A polishing stone approximately 8k
Stones that make life easier or better:
A low grit stone 220-600 grit
A high grit finisher above 10k


First lets take on a Straight edge razor, with damage, frown or uneven wear
First the edge needs to be straight there are a few ways to accomplish this, but the fastest and most accurate way I have found, is what is called the bread knife method,
Take the razor, place it on the lowest grit stone you have, edge straight down on the stone, and try and cut the stone, like you would a loaf of bread (I hold the blade itself, dead center) this totally dulls the edge and squares it up taking out nicks, chips, frowns and sometimes heel and toe wear..
What you end up with is a nice flat straight edge that is absolutely dull…

Now comes the re-set, this is what I have used with the most consistent success….
Use 3 layers of electrical tape on the spine, this concentrates the honing to the edge, use a low grit stone I use a 220 Norton here, you are re-cutting the edges of that square bevel off, it needs to take a lot of metal off fast (any fast cutter would work) Do heel first angled laps, no X stroke here, across the hone you might as well get a nice even bevel started right off…I have my own system here…. I use 10 lap sets on all my honing, after 10 laps I rinse the stone and spin it so I am using the other edge now, and repeat until the edge starts getting sharp…
As soon as you can feel an edge, I switch up to make sure of an even bevel… I do 3 of the heel forward straight laps down the hone, then 2 actual X strokes still heel forward, then 3 straight then 2 X stroke laps continuing with the 10 lap sets until I have a sharp edge… It will feel like a very sharp kitchen knife at this point….

Now comes decision time, remove the 3 layers on tape at this point….. I personally use 1 layer of tape until I finish on the stones but that is your decision…
Move to your 1k stone and establish a true bevel, this will go much faster, and way more even, since you started the work on the low grit cutter…
Again I use a 10 lap set, with the 3 straight and 2 X strokes mix, spin the stone and repeat, until that edge is nice, even, and sharp… At this point the edge is passing the TNT the TPT and it will pop arm hairs at the base of the hair with just a touch….
For stubborn spots that just don’t want to come into line, using circular or Japanese style honing methods, will normally do that for you, just remember to follow that with a 10 lap smoothing set…

Again where you go from here is your choice as you now have an established bevel….
For me I go to a 2k Shapton to finish the bevel setup, and to align the edge to the Shapton stones
It doesn't take many 10 lap sets now to refine the edge and all laps are done using a smoothing X pattern….
Taking this re-fined bevel I head to a 4k Shapton, and sharpen the edge… Again using 10 lap sets with the X pattern
At this time the edge will pop arm hairs above the skin level with out a problem…
Then I move to the 8k Shapton and polish the edge into shaving sharp levels…
From here where you go is only personal preference, but I take it to the 16k Shapton and get it really smooth…..
I don’t touch the edge at all above the 4k level except on arm hair and then very little…. There should be no need for it…
You should now have a shaving sharp edge that you would take to the “user appropriate” strops, again a personal preference here….

Like I said at the beginning there are other ways to get there, but I have worked on this method now for awhile now and it seems very consistant...
For smileys this needs modification on the bread knife method and the type of stoke used on the hones....

A very fine write-up.
I do basically the same, my progression being more DMT-based, however.
For creating a smile, I use the bread knife method, but add some rocking to the saw-like motion.
Of course after that, one needs to set the entire bevel with a rolling stroke, but it's pretty "straight-forward", once you've mastered it with a non-smiling blade.

Glen, your post should go in the Wiki.

Bart.

It very well might Bart, but I figured that it should go here first, then people could add stuff to it ....

I agree with how to do the smilers too, I use a rocking motion as you said and smooth them right up...

i have been so scared to go down to less than 800 grit. i have a blade that i have put so many laps on my 800 and still have indentions. i may just have to brerak down and get me a low grit.

would the DMT 8X 325 do the same thing? i get so confused on the DMTs that it is just frustrating. but i have been thinking of the DMT 325 for a flattening stone for my norton's.

thanks glen and bart.

vgod

Great and helpful post, Glen. Many thanks! I wish I had read this before I spent hours trying to get some really small chips out of a really hard blade by sharpening them out...

This is definite wiki material.

Best,

cass

Yep, that's a good step by step for a basic honing progression. Nice job Glen.

My method is very similar, only I use two layers of tape and hit the DMTs. Start with the 325, do just as many strokes as is necessary to feel the edge meet at one or more points (the bevel is not completely "set" so that I don't over-do-it), then move on to the 1200 to set the bevel the rest of the way, then move on to the 8k for refining that bevel. Finishing stones will take off the DMT 8k scratches, or you could have gone from the DMT1200 to an 8k Norton style hone or a coticule with equally excellent results. The number of strokes for each level is really dependent on the steel of the razor but it's pretty hard to miss the progress you're making on the DMTs, the amount of metal in the water is a good indicator as well.

I use two layers of tape because the DMTs cut fast enough that the third piece is irrelevant and I step down to 1 layer (or no layers) before the 8k.

Worst case scenario; the DMT's take 30 minutes to reset the bevel on a totally junk wedge with serious chips taken out, anything more than that and I'd recommend a regrind for the blade.

Just another .02

Thanks for the DMT info Russel I was hoping that somebody who used them would chime in here....

Thanks Glen. Nice write up! I came to a very similar process through trial and error over the past few months. The type of hones I use are different due to my limited collection but the grits are similar. It's comforting to see that I arrived at a method used by others. The journey to my solution was fun and sometimes frustraiting. I also found that using a pyramid method of alternating from a lpwer grit to a finer grit speeds things up. The finer grit passes flattens the peaks created in the lower grit so when I go back to the lower grit it removes more metal per pass. Circular strokes also cut faster because they are constantly cutting across the peaks. In setting the bevel w/ circular stroles I use a timer on my stove in place of counting strokes reducing concentration while maintaining a balance in metal removed from each side of blade. Thanks again for putting the process into post for all of us.

This has now been put into the Wiki Thanks go to BeBerlin/Robin for doing that for me... I might be pretty good with razors but I suck at computers

This thread will stay open for more discussion on the topic though

I am going to update this here, as I have been getting a few PM's on this system....
I started this about 2 years ago and met with some success but I had been missing a step for the consistency, when I watched the Dovo video the missing step jumped into my brain...
They cut a pre-bevel on that rotating stone and they lift the spine, that was when I added the 3 layers of tape to cut my pre-bevel and that was when this system became very consistant...
You have to realize that you are actually creating a bevel here you are not just honing, you want to get as even a bevel as possible in this step, super light honing strokes will not cut it here, it takes light pressure, and two hands works better than one...I know this goes against all the preconceived ideas of honing, but you are not honing in this step, you are shaping metal....
This is where the low grit 220 or similar stone just really helps, you cut the pre-bevel, then you move to the 1k or similar stone and begin your actual honing.....
To break that down very clearly, in the first step you are not really honing, you are cutting the pre-bevel...

Again this is not for beginners, this is not for a faucet ding, this is re-cutting an edge....