Thread: Is this bevel fine?

I may just be paranoid but I recently just purchased a new straight razor (my first brand new razor) and I was just wondering if the bevel is fine to shave with. I got it honed by someone reputable here in Canada. I am extremely inexperienced so again I may just be being paranoid but the bevel doesn't look 100% uniform on the blade, especially on the back side (the side with no writing). The bevel (the shiny part at the end of the blade right?) looks very thick at the heal, and very thin at the toe in terms of width. On the front it doesn't look 100% even as well. Sorry if the pictures aren't great it was hard to take them.

Now is this fine? If it's not fine is it easily fixed? I was reading about frowns, smiles, uneven bevels, and I just wanted to make sure, because again I have very limited experience in straight razor shaving. Thanks.

Almost no razor bevel is 100% uniform, see how it shaves.

It does seem to have a bit of hone wear, who ever honed it didn't use tape (not that they have to)

What Rob said. The true test is the shave test, but hone wear does looks a bit excessive on one side for a new razor from photos.

Bevels are large for a new razor & looks like it was honed with a lot of pressure or honer had to compenate for poor geometry & remove more steel than usual. I can't see any frown in the pics. See how it shaves.

That is a very good example of why tape should be used - it would have avoided the hone wear to a great extent. However, the variable bevel width is probably more to do with the the way the razor was ground - if the grind is not consistent along the blade length you can end up with a wavy bevel.

Yeah they have used no tape resluting in spine ware which as altered the razors geometry creating a much larger bevel, another thing I will say as someone who hones a lot of TI's I always use two layers of tape they tend to respond to this because they do seem to have a larger bevel than any other modern razor I know of, having said that It may shave really well but I couldn't except the bevel looking that way on a new razor personally.

You said reputable? Maybe he is, but a little irresponsible to the new razor grinding the Spine so much on a customers razors. I would not be happy, bevels are a little off on a lot of razors, grind has a lot to do with it. But shaving with it will be fine. I just don't condone all the unnessecary spine wear, it could have been prevented, heck there are a lot of old razors that don't have that much wear. My "Reputable Honer " would not have done that. Tc

I've just bought one of those and the spine was warped. I'm half way through correcting the thing. I'll have it shaving soon but I'm sure the bevel will be wider than ideal when I'm done!

These new TIs are a POS as regards the forging and grind quality.

When having a razor honed the first question to ask is, do you shave with a straight razor? Also ask if they use machines or stones. Machines are not acceptable.

If not find someone else.

Looks machine honed and was riding on the stabilizer, in the first 2 photos. This would have keep the heel off the belt/stone, so he use more pressure on the heel until he ground the stabilizer down and caused all the heavy hone wear and the sharp heel.

That was a rounded heel originally and is now almost square and does have a sharp point that will cut you if you are not careful.





Next time have the heel reshaped and find someone that hones razors. Unfortunately this is common. Honed a new TI for a guy yesterday, who took it to a guy at a local big name sporting goods store, where they hone knives. The guy told him they hone razors all the time on a belt sander and polisher. Fortunately he said, he did not feel right and did not leave the razor with him…

Yes, many new TI do have issues and the bevels do not always come out even, but they can be made to shave well.

Originally Posted by Justino14

I may just be paranoid but I recently just purchased a new straight razor (my first brand new razor) and I was just wondering if the bevel is fine to shave with. I got it honed by someone reputable here in Canada. I am extremely inexperienced so again I may just be being paranoid but the bevel doesn't look 100% uniform on the blade, especially on the back side (the side with no writing). The bevel (the shiny part at the end of the blade right?) looks very thick at the heal, and very thin at the toe in terms of width. On the front it doesn't look 100% even as well. Sorry if the pictures aren't great it was hard to take them.

Now is this fine? If it's not fine is it easily fixed? I was reading about frowns, smiles, uneven bevels, and I just wanted to make sure, because again I have very limited experience in straight razor shaving. Thanks.

Your razor looks like a few I had honed by a place here in Canada also...... Had a hook at heel on 3 razors edges when they were returned to me. And the spines were worn down too. No tape used. Needless to say.... I will not be using them to for blade honing again. The edges all shaved fine.