Thread: Setting the #@!!$&#! Bevel

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Begging your pardon but that doesn't make sense to me. If you are using a consistent stroke and angle it shouldn't matter which hone you are on IMO. The bevel is set and then then followed on the finer stones IME. If any stone is going to cause a misshapen bevel it would be the 1k. Not that you couldn't mess it up on the 4k but if the stroke and angle are consistent throughout the progression that shouldn't be an issue.

I think that, by pressing on the blade harder, it flattens out and makes full contact with the hone. When the pressure is relaxed, the blade springs back to its slightly warped shape and the contact with the subsequent hones is different.

Originally Posted by gugi

... just relax (blame Xman in another thread for this word) and let it happen.

Originally Posted by xman

Punish the monkey, eh.

I just blame xman for everything. Doesn't make your blade any sharper but you feel a whole lot better!

I'm no fan of forcing the blade in contact with the hone. As you experienced, once you need to back-off on the pressure on the finer hones, you're in trouble.

You are using the X-stroke, are you? Because that is absolutely imperative for dealing with this issue.
Drag the edge without any significant pressure over the bottom of a glass. This will dull the edge just enough to duck all sharpness tests, including the shave armhair test. Make sure of it.
Next soak the Naniwa 1K and start honing. The way to speed up the process is to stay on one side of the blade for awhile. Just hone back and forth, doing "half X's" with slight pressure, but not so much that it flexes the blade. Count the laps. Flip the blade over and repeat on the other side. (lets start with 30 each) Check with the TNT. Part of the heel and or toe should be responding. Repeat the single sided back and forth laps. Check again. Monitor progress. Stay doing this till the entire edge passes the TNT. Only then, finalize bevel stage with about 30 regular X-strokes. I second watching the bead of water as a guide for your stroke.

Should the warp be so severe that the regular X-stroke does not solve the problem, you can lap the narrow side of you Naniwa 1K, as narrow hones can follow a warp better than wide hones. In that case, you need equally narrow hones for the rest of the progression. You can hone on the side of a Norton 4K/8K combo stone, and consider it a 4K hone. But if you're without a narrow 8K hone, you would have run into a dead end. So I would try dealing with it in the normal fashion first.

Bart.

Bart:

Many thanks for your message. The Naniwas come laminated permanently to a plastic base which prevents using the narrow edge, so as you say, it is regular x-stroke (or a new set of hones) for me.

Regards,

Mike

Originally Posted by TheViolentVicar

I think that, by pressing on the blade harder, it flattens out and makes full contact with the hone. When the pressure is relaxed, the blade springs back to its slightly warped shape and the contact with the subsequent hones is different.

If that is the amount of pressure you were applying I would say that is way too much. Take a look at the rolling x or the x with the blade at a 45 degree angle.... or a combination of the two. Maybe send it out to a honemiester?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

If that is the amount of pressure you were applying I would say that is way too much. Take a look at the rolling x or the x with the blade at a 45 degree angle.... or a combination of the two. Maybe send it out to a honemiester?

Quite agree. I was getting p*ssed off and got a result that way that clued me in to another way to look at the problem, but I certainly know I was pushing too hard.

As an update, I mentioned my old Cerena razor, which I have had for many moons. It had a nick in the blade of about 1mm in diamater, right on the shaving edge. I spent about 2.5 hours on it, mostly on the 1K, and it's honed up just dandy. I've not shaved with it yet, but it's popping hairs left right and centre (or, rather, heel, toe and centre). I think therefore that the problem with the other blade is definitely some odd geometry, and I am reassured that I have successfully absorbed some portion of what you all have told me in this forum.

I'll report back with progress on the warped blade in due course. Ongoing comments very much appreciated.

I think a warped blade is probably the toughest things you're ever going to have to handle getting a razor to shave. Many people just toss them.