Thread: the honing gods hate me

I've had a dovo for a while now that I have discovered is warped. not much I can do as far as I can tell. Cant return it. Still I have tried to sharpen it, but between my incompetence and it not co-operating its been unpleasant at best. And so I bought another to practice. It came shave ready but after some months it is no longer so. And so, basically, the bevel is now royally screwed up, as well, it picks up water smoothly on one side but flipping it over it only collects in the middle.

I cant;
a. figure out how that is possible (that it can touch completely on one side but then not on the reverse)
b. find any brilliant way to remedy this, or better yet figure out how I managed to pull that one off.
c. imagine whom or what to sacrifice to lift this blasted curse.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

cheers,
A.

P.S. I am using a Norton 4000 to try to "set the bevel".

Have you looked at the rolling x tutorial in the SRP Wiki ?

The honing gods hate us all in the beginning.

The honing gods still hate me when it comes to new Timor's and Fromm's.......... But............all the thousands of decent razors out there better look out.........

Lynn

Originally Posted by a_macdiarmid

I've had a dovo for a while now that I have discovered is warped. not much I can do as far as I can tell. Cant return it. Still I have tried to sharpen it, but between my incompetence and it not co-operating its been unpleasant at best. And so I bought another to practice. It came shave ready but after some months it is no longer so. And so, basically, the bevel is now royally screwed up, as well, it picks up water smoothly on one side but flipping it over it only collects in the middle.

I cant;
a. figure out how that is possible (that it can touch completely on one side but then not on the reverse)
It's an irregularity in the blade, usually warp. It can also be the result of uneven pressure applied by fingers placed on the blade while honing.
b. find any brilliant way to remedy this, or better yet figure out how I managed to pull that one off.
First look at the blade: does the edge has a smiling curve, or is it straight? The answer tells which honing stroke to use. Here's a wiki article that elaborates on the different options:
Strokes for honing a razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Once you have figured out what stroke you need, place the razor with the problematic face down on the hone, and perform the stroke, but don't flip the razor. Just hone back and forth on that side of the blade, doing the correct motion and its reverse. Watch the wave of water in front of the edge. Proceed till it runs up the edge along its entire length. When it does, inspect the bevel, compare one side against the other. It doesn't matter if there are some differences, as long as the overall width is about the same on both sides. If not, you need to repeat the single sided honing on the side with the smallest bevel pane. As soon as the bead of water runs up the bevel at both sides and the geometry is fine, proceed with the same type of full honing strokes (that means: flipping of the blade included). Aim for minimal pressure.
Perform the TPT regularly. When you feel the bevel is nice and keen, try shaving a few arm hairs. That should go very well.
Only at that point proceed with the rest of your planned honing progression, using the same type of honing stroke.
If the bevel really turns out very uneven, going from rather wide to very narrow and the opposite of that on the other side of the blade, it's best to use a narrower hone. If that Norton is not a combination 4K/8K, you could lap one of its narrow sides and hone on that surface. For razors with severe warp, that really helps.


c. imagine whom or what to sacrifice to lift this blasted curse.
There's no curse. It just takes time to master. Like riding a bike.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

cheers,
A.

P.S. I am using a Norton 4000 to try to "set the bevel".

Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Bart.