Under-honing one side

I have this razor that I just can't get sharp--a 6/8 that I'm hoping to post in the FS forum pretty soon. I spent about two hours on it the other night, going up and down the grit scale from 1K to 8K and getting really frustrated. The edge looked great at 60X--nice and straight, nice polished bevel, no wire.

Then I noticed something under the microscope: One side of the bevel was nicely formed, and the other side had a lighter strip of metal running all the way down the edge, maybe 1/3 of the bevel wide.

Then I realized that the razor would pass the HHT off the 4K if I angled the edge at an odd angle. (Normally I hold the blade a 90 angle to the hair.)

My theory is that one side of the bevel is getting honed all the way to the edge, while for some reason the other side isn't. So I have a regular bevel on one side and a "double bevel" on the other. My efforts to keep the strokes even between the two sides meant I wasn't making much progress toward correcting this. The edge was forming on the side where I wasn't making full contact.

Tonight I'll try honing only on one side until I even things out. I'll bet that'll fix it.

The moral to this story: Check both sides under the microscope, not just one.

Josh

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

The edge was forming on the side where I wasn't making full contact.

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This description sounds like rather than under honing that side you've been over honing the other. When you get back to it after evening out the bevel, let up on the pressure greatly on that side.

X

X,

Touche--could be either. I suspect that at some point I did some circular honing on one side with too much pressure and then neglected to repeat it on the other side to keep things even.

I've had this problem before with a razor where it just won't get sharp for anything, then suddenly, it's sharp and I have no idea why. I'm thinking this is one of the causes. :shrug:

Josh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

I've had this problem before with a razor where it just won't get sharp for anything, then suddenly, it's sharp and I have no idea why. I'm thinking this is one of the causes. :shrug:

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The magic marker check usually makes this jump out at you. I don't leave the low grits until the razor passes the magic marker test.

You know, I probably should make the magic marker test a regular part of my honing routine. Right now I only use it when I can't figure out why part of the blade won't get sharp, and even then it's usually only after a few hours of honing... :) No real reason, just doesn't occur to me. :shrug:

Josh

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Originally Posted by mparker762

The magic marker check usually makes this jump out at you. I don't leave the low grits until the razor passes the magic marker test.

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Magic marker test? I've never heard of that before, could you explain it or post a link if you've got one handy? I suppose I could search the forums, but I swear I've never seen a thread with that in the title :)

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Originally Posted by Quatsch

Magic marker test? I've never heard of that before, could you explain it or post a link if you've got one handy? I suppose I could search the forums, but I swear I've never seen a thread with that in the title :)

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Draw along each side of the edge with a magic marker, so its black (or whatever the colour of your marker is). Then do your honing stroke and see if the mark has come off. Bits that are still black are areas that you haven't honed. It's a useful way to see if your honing is even or not. I'm bad at colouring in, so I get marker on the blade too, but it comes off with some alcohol on a cotton wool ball or swab.

James

The magnification will tell you stuff that you would never find out otherwise. You're right in that both sides need to be examined all the way from the heel to the toe.

Josh,

Take a moment to study the spine on each side. The side with the double bevel may have an indentation lip on it from pressure inside the hollow during honing. Either from you or maybe even from the century before.