Thread: Bevel set on a WH Morley Cloverbrand

Gday All!
Have started my first restore of an ebay special i have. Picked up a few WH Morley's cheap with the idea of restoring 2 of them myself.
Did a shocking job unpinning the walnut? scales as the pins were below flush but i'm reasonably confident the scales will be going back on, they sanded up a lot nicer than i expected. BUT after getting a half decent satin finish on here (thanks to gssixgun and others for their past posts) iv been honing this thing like crazy trying to set the bevel. It looks good a nice even flat bevel, have been at it a couple of hours now after adjusting my technique from slight pressure on blade instead to spine. Am using 2 pieces of tape as there is a lot of hone wear. There was a slight frown with i removed using 45 degree honing strokes until the blade was flat again. And have been using a 220/1000k norton. With maybe 30 strokes on the 220 to start it off. I have heard that Morleys are hard to hone due to very hard steel but surely not impossible for a newb's first hone? Will try get some pics up shortly.

PS So far i can barely lop arm hairs using force

Pics will help, but honestly it sounds like you are on the right track just possibly not far enough down that piece of track

The only bad thing here I read is this part "have been at it a couple of hours now" 1/2 hour to 1 hour MAX, then walk away and find something else to do... Once you go over that amount of time you are doing nothing good to the razor, take a break and clear your head, and let the hands relax... Took me a long time to learn that fact, don't make the same mistake I did, learn from mine

Here is a Live Vid from one of the Spokane meets, I am setting a bevel after doing chip repair using an angled breadknife approach like you did, there might be some help/tricks for you in that vid...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...tml#post664201


No apologies for the sound and staging on the vid, we were at a Meet having fun, ya just gotta deal with it

Cheers, took a break. Went back to it and just out of curiosity did 30 laps on the 4k then the pyramid recommended for harder steels (more laps on the 8k). Stropped and had a couple passes as a shave test. Took stubble off but not well. A lot of the tree topping arm hair tests and HHT tests don't seem to work for me even on 2 proper honed shave ready blades but i did notice after the 30 on the 4k it would lop hairs of the top of my hand all along the blade. Will give it a crack tomorrow but should i continue a bevel set on the 1k or 4k? And also what difference do the Morley's steel make in honing. A couple of posts here declare them a very hard/long honing steel so should i be throwing a few more laps in through the entire progression? Thanks

I think the luck of the Irish may be eluding me with these Cloverbrand Morleys! Have spent time on and off with this razor but just cannot get it sharp. Had success today with a brand new Muhle that came with a factory edge in a kit i originally bought before finding out it wasn't shave ready. Took maybe 20 minutes to properly set the bevel 1000k and then run through a pyramid (4/8k), strop, and shave test with BBS ATG on the sideburns, so was very stoked with that result!

Forget what you know and listen to the razor on the stone! Works most every time. We get an idea in our heads about a brand and have difficulties from there on with it. Morleys are neither the hardest or the softest good shaving blades.

Consider the grind... If the razor is very flexible (Very thin) you would need to hone with little pressure at all because all that is happening is widening the bevel due to the blade flexing and the edge itself only seldom contacting the stone when pressure is removed.
~Richard

Can't forget what i dont know! But cheers. The upside is now after getting the Muhle shave ready sharp i have an idea of what it feels like on the hone. Took the tape off as had 2.5 layers trying to compensate for hone wear and that managed to get it a bit sharper but still nowhere near the ballpark. I understand it's a tough one to answer but how long would setting a bevel after honing a frown out generally take?

Depends on how much steel you removed and how flat the edge was once straight. Then do 45 degree circles or strokes until the bevels come togeather on the 220. Then knock off the corner of the 45 degree bevel and reset the bevel on the 1K.

It really should not take you all that long once the bevels come togeather. Stay on the 1K until the bevel is sharp and will cut your arm hair.

Thanks for the vid gssixgun finally got on my laptop and checked it, was slightly infuriating see you see a bevel with such ease!:-) After a LOT of effort yesterday i finally got a similar Morley tree topping hairs everywhere but the toe off a 1k, gave it a rest as productivity was waning though. This Morley also had a slight frown which i removed using same techqnique although the spine has a slight smile i only maaged an even flat bevel.
Am curious though, are the vintage blades harder to hone than new? Setting the bevel and getting the Muhle (factory solingen bevel) shave ready took a tenth of the time to get results.