Thread: Turning a Frown upside down... When to stop??

I recently finished with a razor that, when I initially attempted honing, didn't notice it had as much of a Frown as it did... I was so excited to give it a try as it was a replacement for a razor I'd regretfully sold in the past. After initially trying to shave (.. attempting to confirm what I was feeling..) I looked closer and found that about the middle 1/3 of the blade was nowhere near where it needed to be.

I re-started and got the bevel set (I used Norton 1k/4/8k then Thuringian then finished on Naniwa 12k) and when I was getting it to catch hair really well on both sides I stopped and took a closer look and one side of the blade had a bevel that was more pronounced than the other side right in the area where the Frown was occurring. So, that is my question... If the bevel is set well but a little off on one side compared to the other is it preferable that you just finish the razor and call it good or keep at it until the bevels are as equal as possible?

In this case I went ahead and finished the razor and it shaves absolutely beautifully! I figured if there were particular reasons to get that geometry absolutely as close as possible I could always start again at a later date. But, I wanted to initially avoid removing more metal if it was not completely necessary.

I was using the 1k and it took quite a bit of time but, for the same reasons as above, I was reluctant to drop down to the 220 as, for me at least right now, I prefer to take whatever time needed and sneak in there rather than go aggressive and find I made a mistake that is really hard to recover from.

Thanks in advance for any and all information!

Shawn
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Originally Posted by Prahston

SNIP

In this case I went ahead and finished the razor and it shaves absolutely beautifully!

SNIP
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There in lies your answer.

Some razors I have honed have lopsided hollows (like a kamisori but on a western razor) and they just appear this way but shave fine.

You might study the hollows and try to figure out if what you are seeing is a product of the razor's geometry and not the honing.

If it is your honing, I'd just correct it with future honing when warranted.

Thanks! I wanted to make sure I wasn't heading down a road that would cause me problems later on. I figured if the shave results were there then I was good to go but just had that 'tingling' feeling that I better double check.

One thing I've noticed for sure... I'm about to turn 45 and it is no longer a question of "Yeah, I've got glasses/bifocals for reading." but I need to wear them when I'm working with razors; especially when I'm assessing honing pre/post and when buying on eBay/Wherever... Had one of those "What the?!" moments the other day when opening a box and went right to the computer to double check that what I was seeing was in the pics/description... Yep... That was when I remember I started bidding on that one on my phone and without glasses. Ouch!

Shawn
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Hey Shawn. Sounds a bit like you're describing a warped spine rather than a frown.

If the edge itself is straight or slightly smiling you should have no probs with varying bevel width as long as the 2 sides meet.

@onimaru55... Thanks! That was an interesting point... But, I just laid 'er down on the back of my DMT and no big things going on with the spine in either direction. She was definitely frowning after I had that first go with honing... Once I saw the middle third not having the same results as to either side I laid her blade down on a flat plastic box and, sure enough, there was a frown in there. I think it was a combination of being super excited about getting 'that' razor back and not using glasses that lead to this problem as I'm pretty sure if I would have taken more time and set the razor down to check like I typically do I would have seen it. But, I was fantasizing about shaving in my mind while I was honing so to speak.

I also went back through my rotation to some older razors done by other folks on the Forum here and found that many of the bevels were not exactly 'equal' comparing one side to the other... I think I may have flipped into hyper-critical mode once I found that initial error and then all I could see were errors. It is most certainly at least some variation in my technique but no more so than the other razors I've honed or the ones I compared honed by others.

So, looks like I'm headed down the right road... Just had a bit of a freak-out once I made that initial error and that is typically what happens when I rush stuff or get so excited I'm more emotionally invested than objective and analytical.

It is interesting to look at razors I have recently honed vs razors I honed a year ago. It reinforces my belief that our ability to spot imperfection grows much faster than our ability to correct it

Shawn. Are we talking about the same thing ? You can't determine a frown by lying a blade on a flat surface.
Take a look at the pics here for a definition of frowns.
Purchasing straight razors - Straight Razor Place Wiki

@ Onimaru55... Yep. Definitely talking about the same thing... I may be describing it either incorrectly or differently than you are expecting, however. The first and third pictures in your link are exactly how I set the razor down to see the Frown... With the blade down as if I were going to slice through the surface the blade was resting on. So, to check for the Frown, I did not lay the razor down as if I were setting it down to walk away but just like in those pics from your Link... Edge down. ?? When you mentioned the spine geometry I laid the razor down flat with the front blade face facing up and took a look at how straight it was, flipped it over so the back blade face was upward and double checked then turned it so that I had to hold the spine flat (... Edge pointing to the ceiling..) on the DMT to check that and they all looked fine as far as the spine goes. And, after honing, I haven't set the Edge straight on anything to check as I can see that it no longer has the Frown and she is shaving great... I didn't want to risk the Edge just to see how much of a Smile was there.

It could very well be my description or directions that are making it confusing... But, I think I have it better above... "Front Blade Face" Up would be alligator/croc mouth or "V" open to bite at the left... "Back Blade Face" Up is just the opposite with alligator/croc mouth or "V" open to bite at the right... "Edge Down" is as if I were going to slice through something with the Spine pointing up to the ceiling... "Spine Down" is just the opposite with the Edge pointing to the ceiling.

Thanks!

Shawn
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We're on the same page.