Thread: Help, uneven bevel.

I can't seem to get this bevel to even out, I was wondering if anyone had any advice? Taping the spine definitely let me get a bevel across most of the edge, but its still not even. I did not want to do too much damage before evening it out. I attached two pictures (one of each side) where you can see the wear along the spine does not match the wear along the edge.

I would try a different stroke than a straight lap. X stroke, or 45 degree heel leading. Vary it until you can get the whole edge honed. Either that of keep honing it flatter until you have contact across the whole bevel. That would take a long time and waste a lot of steel though.

Sorry, i forgot to mention that i've mostly been trying a "rolling x," by applying pressure to the toe and heel as I make my stroke across the hone. So continue to do that?

Did you put marker on the edge and try your stroke ? A magic marker ...... sharpie .... will let you see what your stroke is doing by what ink is removed with a round trip or two across the hones. Because these things are frequently not ground in perfect symmetry sometimes the bevels will be uneven from one side to the other , even on the same side from one end to the other.

That is acceptable, and probably too much to bother trying to correct even if you could. I watch my water going up the belly of the blade. If it goes up on one side and not the other I hone the side opposite (where it won't go up) until it goes up on both sides.

As far as the width of the bevel on either side, if it isn't symmetrical I don't worry about it. YMMV.

yeah, i've used the marker. it pretty much matches the hone pattern, i.e., wears quickly in the middle and not much on the heel and toe.

Hi James, Its entirely possible the photo doesn't show true, but it looks like there's a slight curvature/smile to the spine - and almost none to the bevel. Often guys apply pressure to the middle of the edge in an attempt to get the heel & toe bevel set. You mention using a rolling x - which makes sense, but it looks like there's some material that has to come off at the heel & toe to connect a smooth arc that mirrors that of the spine. If you sight down the top of the spine and its actually straight - disregard this.

This is interesting as that I just ran in to this problem last week myself. What I had to do was lay the edge of the blade on a flat surface so that I could see the smile, then I used an old stone to grind off the both the heal and toe of the blade till it was flat all the way a crossed the blade. I then just started over rebuilding the edge until it was sharp. I used mine tonight to shave and I must say it has turned out to be one of my better shavers.

Originally Posted by scotishcavalir

This is interesting as that I just ran in to this problem last week myself. What I had to do was lay the edge of the blade on a flat surface so that I could see the smile, then I used an old stone to grind off the both the heal and toe of the blade till it was flat all the way a crossed the blade. I then just started over rebuilding the edge until it was sharp. I used mine tonight to shave and I must say it has turned out to be one of my better shavers.

IMO that's because your bevel is really set and that's the first step in the whole process. After the 4k its just polishing. I used to hone them flat until I found different strokes that would find the edge. Don't be afraid to experiment a little, youd be surprised how an uneven edge can somehow be honed on a flat stone.

Originally Posted by pinklather

it looks like there's some material that has to come off at the heel & toe to connect a smooth arc that mirrors that of the spine.

I'm at work right now, but I'll look when I get home. I believe there is a slight smile for the spine. When you say some material needs to come off the heel & toe, do you mean on the spine or on the edge? I did some rolling X strokes, progressing up from the 1K, but when I got up to the 8K, it was apparent that I did not do enough work on the 1K on at least one side of the razor.

There is definitely a slight smile to the spine. I think someone tried to hone it as if there were no smile, thus giving the uneven wear. Is there a best way to restore the smile to the edge/bevel?