Thread: Norton Waterstone Starter Kit

Originally Posted by spinsheet

I do have an interesting issue with one razor. The ink is removing evenly on the upstroke but on the downstroke it seems to be coming off quicker in the middle leaving ink on the heal and toe. I'm not having this issue with other razors so I doubt that it's my technique, not even sure how a poor technique would do that anyway. Any thoughts as to what is happening there?

I do have one razor which I believe is slightly bent. On the upstroke the ink comes off the heal and toe first, not in the middle. One the downstroke just the opposite, it comes off the middle and not the heal and toe. Can I assume that this blade is bent?

Just some general points that are often overlooked.. The spine is a major factor in what happens at the edge. If you have breadknifed a razor due to a frown the spine also reflects that frown. If you then hone that razor with tape you make a smaller bevel but it still wants to match the previous shape as you have not changed the spine only the edge. You may be better off creating more spine wear but correcting the spine by honing without tape.

The whole razor or only edge area may also be warped or ground unevenly. Depending on the degree you may be able to compensate by rocking or rolling the razor to make contact. It will not correct the geometry but you may get a shaver for your trouble. Sometimes a razor may need a regrind due to wear or poor honing.
You may find some extra help here: Honing: Troubleshooting Guide - Straight Razor Place Wiki

I just shaved with the breadknifed razor and I must say that it's finally a success. Took about a week and LOTS of honing but it got there. I'm waiting on my go to razor to come back from its professional honing so I have a good baseline to judge my work against. But nevertheless, I got a good comfortable shave with the razor today so I'm happy. I finally took something that literally would not cut paper and made it shavable, and comfortably shavable at that.

And just to clarify, I've been talking back and forth between two razors in this thread, one that I breadknifed and one that seems to be slightly bent because of the wear that it was showing after honing. The breadknifed razor was wearing evenly, it just needed LOTS of honing to get right. The warped razor? Yeah, I gave up on that one, it's simply not a nice enough razor to worry about and even practicing on it won't tell me much.

Anyway, my RAD has kicked in full time. I really need to beat the wife to the mailbox for the next week or so or it's going to get ugly in this house. Damn you eBay...

Congrats on the success. Good luck with the mailbox.

My congratulations also! Glad to hear you worked it out.

Besides Ebay, have you looked in our own classifieds? Nice stuff there, though it usually doesn't need honing.

Best wishes

I have looked in our own classified and found some great deals there. I do want to practice my honing however, so the butterknives from eBay are perfect

Actually, I'm rather enjoying getting rather tarnished and non-shavable razors from eBay and making them into something. Looking forward to getting my razor back from a professional honing to see how I stack up against the pros. Should be rather informative. I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone's help.