Thread: Help Finishing a Warped TI

After reading the SRP Wiki and numerous search results, I'm still a little stumped here. A friend asked me to refinish a TI he bought, hone it and put new scales on it. I put scales on it, and when I started honing the razor, I noticed the bevel wouldn't set in the middle. After using my loupe and marker test, I noticed the middle of one side of the blade wasn't getting hit. The blade rocked on one side and wouldn't remove the marker line in the middle on the other. I started out without tape, but seeing the amount of honing I was going to have to do, I added a piece of tape to the spine. I'm using a Norton 1k to set the bevel and the Naniwa 3k, 5k, 8k, 12k and CrO3. I am using a rolling x-stroke on the convex side with success; however, I've tried a 45 degree heel forward cant on the concave side but it still won't hit the very middle unless I put a little pressure on the middle of the blade at the edge with my off hand (indicated under loupe and a marker test). I've been able to get the heel and toe to shave well; however, I can't get the middle sharper than what I've been able to do at the 8k level on a bad day. If I torque the concave side to hit the middle then the heel and toe loose their finished sharpness.

My general question is: how do I finish this warped blade?

Is there any other way to finish the middle of the blade without using extra pressure with my off hand?

You can't reprofile the edge to bring the middle in line with the heel and toe, can you?

Attached are some crappy pictures to indicate the uneven bevel wear.



Thanks in advance

The least aggressive way would be to use 2 layers of tape and reset the bevel completely so see what you could get, or you could try to even the spine out if it's not too uneven. I would try 2 layers of tape before trying to go to more drastic measures. If it gets sharp and shaves well, then he'll just have to stick with two layers, but the size of the bevel is more cosmetic and can be overlooked as long as it will hone and shave. Just my $.02

Do yourself a favor, send it out to a pro to be straightened and the bevels set.

I gave up on trying fancy dance moves on warped razors, and now have a set of stones that are convex instead of flat. It takes a very gentle hand, and soft stroke, but it works for me.

Originally Posted by jbtusa

Do yourself a favor, send it out to a pro to be straightened and the bevels set.

I got the bevels set with pressure, I just can't finish it because the middle of the concave side won't touch without a slight bit of pressure and that seems to stall the edge at a level prior to finishing. Believe me, if I can't get this one soon, I already warned him that he may have to send it out to someone else to finish.

Originally Posted by Magpie

I gave up on trying fancy dance moves on warped razors, and now have a set of stones that are convex instead of flat. It takes a very gentle hand, and soft stroke, but it works for me.

Ha, I certainly don't plan on finishing that many warped razors to customize my stones to them...but I can see how that would work for one side.

Start not tape to fix the spine till the bevel starts to contact the hone. Then you can add tape to finish the job.
I find this the most economical way. If the over grind is not big you can use tape and skip the spine fixing part.

Stefan, what do you mean by "over grind?"

Originally Posted by K37

Stefan, what do you mean by "over grind?"

Where you do not have bevel the steel has a dip , it was ground more than the rest of the blade.
Another possibility, that I did not think of initially, is the blade is not straight and the middle does not touch the stone, you can check that by laying on a flat surface.

My first dovo was like this. I honed it on 325 dmt 600 1200. To set the bevel. Its a shame a brand new razor is made like this. But to me if it doesn't shave, its useless.

Originally Posted by mainaman

Where you do not have bevel the steel has a dip , it was ground more than the rest of the blade.
Another possibility, that I did not think of initially, is the blade is not straight and the middle does not touch the stone, you can check that by laying on a flat surface.

The bevel doesn't sit flat when I'm honing on one side...ie. the middle is raised on one side just slightly so I have to apply a little pressure to get it to touch the hone and on the reverse side, I have to roll around that spot to hit the rest of the edge.