the "of course...." moment.

so after months of shaving I spent a good 2 hours realy slowly and carefuly touching up my edge on a chinese 12k. It was beautiful. it was like shaving right after I got it. and of course I was relaxing and enjoying a wonderful shave when my hand shook and I embeded the blade right into my thumbnail. luckily it was well above the level of the flesh, effectively clipping my nail, but now I can acttualy see the deflection in the cutting edge. 2 hours gone. and now I need to reset a bevel.

I love trials by fire. what was your best/worst "Of course..." moment?

Before you reset the bevel you might try and strop it out.
Try 100 to 150 on the linen side and the same on leather. Try that acouple of times to see if there is improvement. If there is improvement I would continue on until it was to my satisfaction. If no improvement drop back to an 8k or 4k . Again, if there is improvement continue on. If none then drop back to a 1k and reset your bevel.

I got a shave ready used Wapi in the mail and was impatient to check out my new razor. I live in a large community around Clemson University where I am a student. I opened up the package and promptly dumped my shave ready Wapi on the asphalt next to the community post office. I had paid an extra $15 over the NOS Wapi for a used one shave ready. Brutal.

Your fingernail ruined the BEVEL on your razor?
Really? I've trimmed my fingernails with a razor just for kicks and it didn't even need stropping afterwards.

there is a reason this is in the newbie forums. I can SEE the deflection of the cutting edge. if my facial hair can rough up the edge, I would imagine that going edge first into the side of my fingernail hard enough to visually deform the edge would require more than just a touch up

I'd recommend following the stropping advice. If that doesn't work, hit it with a high grit stone then a finisher.

I'm with JMS; it may well strop out. The edges, though they are fragile, are more resiliant than most would think. Worst comes to worst, you'll waste a little time on your strop. If stropping doesn't work, do your best to assess the damage before you drop all the way down to a 1k or other bevel setter. While rehoning from scratch won't really hurt anything, it may be a waste of time and metal.

+1 to JMS

Try to save it the edge.

oh excellent. I really don't have the time right now to do all that work. I am glad I am not as bad off as I thought. sorry if I came across as snippy. its been a long week