Thread: Suggestions for honing a smiling W&B with uneven wear

This razor is my nemesis (W&B for barber's use w/ barber's notch, smiling blade and uneven hone wear). I have now successfully honed a few razors that were in decent condition and am getting at least a decent shave from them. One of these was a slightly smiling blade with uneven bevels and uneven hone wear near the toe and it shaves like a dream (at least as far as this newbie is concerned).

For some reason, I just cannot get an edge on this W&B. There is significantly more hone wear near the toe than the heel. I have watched Glenn's videos on honing a smiling blade and watched all the videos I could on the rolling x-stoke to see if I could get it done. At this point I don't want to ruin the razor further so I'm asking for tips/advice.

I know its hard to give advice w/o seeing at least pictures of the razor, but I'm at work and it's at home, so those will have to come later.

Any help from the honing gurus (or tips from others learning) are appreciated.

And, yes, I could send it out to have it professionally honed, but I really want to learn to be able to deal with these issues myself.

Honing Gymnastics:

The movements required to move the bevel of a razor evenly and equally across the surface of a hone repeatedly


Sometimes that might be likened to a simple somersault, and other times it might be closer to a double backflip... That is just the nature of the beast, that heel forward swooping stroke is the easiest I have found to accomplish that objective...

Can I ask if you are using tape? I know some people don't like it, but it could alleviate some one of the factors (uneven hone wear). Best of luck and I'll be watching to see how you do. I haven't had the chance to hone a smiling blade yet.

sounds like a perfect canidate to be sent to a pro

I am not using tape. I don't really see how using it vs not using it could help address the issues with the blade. Maybe I'm missing something?

I will try to walk through how I understand it. I hope someone will jump in and correct me if I am wrong.

The bevel angle is determined by the spine of the razor and the edge of the razor laying on the stone.
If the spine of the razor has uneven and/or excessive "hone" wear this can cause a change in the angle(s) of the bevel over the length of the edge of the razor.
This change in angle(s) will make it more difficult to establish/maintain a crisp bevel.
By placing a layer of tape (or more if feel needed), you partially mute the uneven and/or excessive hone wear by "adding" to the bevel width.

I don't know the exact mechanics of how the tape helps, I just know there is a long history of it being succesfull. I think the added thickness and the slight resiliance of the tape as is is compressed is how it helps.

While this would not fix all of your issues, it may take care of one of them, which in turn may make the rest more easily overcome.

My two cents, someone please speak up if I am taking out of my *ss.

Ok. I get what you're saying but I think my issue is that, if the uneven wear had already resulted in a smile at the toe of the blade, wouldn't adding tape there prevent the edge from making contact with the stone?

I guess I really don't know much about this honing thing after all.

You are not alone my friend. But it should be an entertaining journey.

Have you checked the razor for a slight bend in the tang or a bit of a wrapped blade? If it has any of those two things that just adds a little gymnastics to the swooping X stroke.

Bob

I haven't examined it that closely, but it does not appear to be warped.