Thread: Beginner with a wedge!

Gday all, picked up 2 very nice razors in the mail today, a fancy full hollow solingen silver steel and a Case Red Imp wedge that i have been after for awhile. Have badly wanted to try a wedge grind as im not a fan of noisy full hollows although stillexperimenting to find my niche. So my question is, do wedges cut as well as a concave blade? From reading up here i undetstand they are harder to hone due to the logical fact of removing more steel. But my newb honing first honing attempt to a C12K was far smoother. This blade has supposedly been honed on shapton glass stones and finished on a Naniwa 12k.
Dont want to go honing this blade unnecessarily if im chasing thr mythical silent hair wipe off and i only have a C12k finisher with me as i wont be reunited with my nortons for a month. Any input would be greatly appreciated

Wedges take more time to hone. And it seems based on your test shave that it did the trick. DOes a blade need more than a 12k cnat or naniwa? Maybe, depends on how you feel about it. but a well honed 12k nani or cnat is definitely shave ready. You can take it up a notch with various pastes or hones. Be honest with yourself on your stropping as pasted strops can do more damage than leather and go in small steps with it if you try it 5-7 laps to start. you can always do more. Just don't lean too much on paste. It can help edges that are ready for it. But what you do on the stones carries a lot more weight.

Yes, finding out what your niche razor is important, it took me a good year to realize that while I have a ballpark area, that can shift around. Right now, big blades, hollow ground, are where I'm at.

One area I'm fairly certain I'm not a big fan of, is wedges. I've got a nice W&B wedge, and a Double Duck Satin Wedge. Both professionally honed, shave beautifully, but just not my thing. I really don't hear or feel any feedback, and still am shocked when I'm done a pass that it's wiped everything out, no problem that way!!!

So yea, it's fun to find your go-to razor preference.

As far as honing, from my experience, some have no trouble with the wedges, and some find honing wedges time consuming or difficult, just like everything else, YMMV.

Heavy blades vary in their 'feel' as much as any other grind. My experience w/ the Imps (4) and the Satinwedges (3) is that they were fairly silent, and I like feedback. I've since found that the feedback can likely be brought out from the 'silent' blades w/ some careful treatment w/ diamond spray. Others have posted that they get feedback without such efforts.

The point being that feedback vs silent is not necessarily an attribute of the blade - as much as the honing/finishing.

Should you have the opportunity to try a heavy grind that has some smile to the edge & spine - I think you'll find another difference in feel that I & others find desireable.

'Glad you're getting to try the heavies. I love 'em.

From what I have seen there are what are called wedges in modern terms and then there are true wedges. The modern ones do have a very slight concavity to them and the true wedges have no concavity and are rare. I think, not having a Red Imp, that it is a modern wedge with a slight concavity to the blade. It may need more than one layer of tape when honing to get near the correct bevel angle. A modern wedge should not have an overly wide bevel when compared to a full hollow if that is what you mean by extra steel removal.

Wedges are a different shaving experience than using a singing full hollow but should provide a shave that is equal to a full hollow. From the few modern type wedges I use I would say they are near silent but not totally silent. I would not keep honing chasing a totally silent shave.

It is always fun to try different grinds, sizes, shapes and weights of blades. They are all slightly different but should provide the same shaving ability if all are honed to the same sharpness level. Have fun sampling the different varieties.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

From what I have seen there are what are called wedges in modern terms and then there are true wedges. The modern ones do have a very slight concavity to them and the true wedges have no concavity and are rare. I think, not having a Red Imp, that it is a modern wedge with a slight concavity to the blade. It may need more than one layer of tape when honing to get near the correct bevel angle. A modern wedge should not have an overly wide bevel when compared to a full hollow if that is what you mean by extra steel removal.

Wedges are a different shaving experience than using a singing full hollow but should provide a shave that is equal to a full hollow. From the few modern type wedges I use I would say they are near silent but not totally silent. I would not keep honing chasing a totally silent shave.

It is always fun to try different grinds, sizes, shapes and weights of blades. They are all slightly different but should provide the same shaving ability if all are honed to the same sharpness level. Have fun sampling the different varieties.

Bob

Hi Bob - could you expand more on what you mean by no concavity? Would the blade look like a true V or more like a \| ?

My W&B looks more like \|

The Red Imp 132 "Wedge" hones just as easily as the Red Imp 133 "Hollow"

ASSUMING there is no Spine/Edge issues


This is also true of any "Wedge" the idea that they are hard to hone comes from the 100+ years of honing and spine issues that many of the older Sheffield Heavies have gone through.. Take an NOS Heavy blade without the previous owner(s) honing issues and they hone just as quickly and easily as any new hollow...

"True Wedge" actual razors that the whole face of the blade touches the hone are very rare, I have seen 1 and only 1, that looked to be made that way, everything else has a slight hollow grind in the sides, or has been worn into being a wedge (Don't be confused by wear)

Originally Posted by Phrank

Hi Bob - could you expand more on what you mean by no concavity? Would the blade look like a true V or more like a \| ?

My W&B looks more like \|

Hey Phrank, I think Glen covered that in his post especially the last paragraph. All the wedges I have show a slight amount of light between a straight edge placed from spine to bevel across the width of the blade. To me that indicates a small amount of concavity.

Bob

I love a good wedge. Red imps are typically know to be good, but for me they don't meet the classic wedge persona. When I think wedge I'm thinking 1/4 hollow or less, 13/16 or larger... Of course theres no rule on this, but this is how I gauge what I personally consider a wedge.

Though the IMO may have a fuller grind then the full hollow, I think you would find a difference in the handling between the imp wedge and a 7/8 wedge swayback.

I'm sure the imp will make you appreciate the heavier grind- do t be surprised if your rad switches directions to wedge hunting- it's happened to just about all of is at one time or another... For me I still prefer a wedge.

As Lummus said in his 1922 article, "no razor produced shaves better then an old Sheffield wedge"