Thread: New to this

Ok, time for a quick update. I almost immediately noticed that I was having a problem with getting even hone wear on the blade. I tried one layer of tape, two layers still same problem. I'm thinking it's everything from my hones not being flat, me not staying flat during the stroke, you name it. So to rectify the concern over the flatness of the hones I got a DMT325. Now I know they're flat.

I began to get frustrated so I put it up for several days. Almost a week. Tonight I decided I'd try messing with it again. I put some sharpie on the bevel and go to my 1k. I get it all worn off and feel like I've made some progress. I figured I'd give it a try on the 4/8k stone. Well I start to notice a pattern in the water displacement on this stone because it's a lot easier to see with the white and yellow. Sure enough the water is removed from the parts of the blade where I'm getting the hone wear and don't appear to be removed from the places where I'm not getting the wear. Finally I start to wonder is this blade even straight??? Upon inspection one side has decent wear in the middle and the other side has decent wear on the toe and heel. ok now I'm really aggravated I grab my DMT (not to level the blade, though I want to!!!) and lay it flat on my bar counter top. I know it's flat. I lay the blade on it supporting the scales and what do I see when looking along where the blade is SUPPOSED to be making contact with the plate???? LIGHT!! Passing between the toe and the heel and none in the middle. Check and make sure that I'm holding it even and I can feel it rock like a see saw. Flip it around and the rocking is gone but now there's light in the middle.

Ok, long post to ask this... Can this be fixed without a grinding wheel, and if so how?

This goes to show how walking away and having a breathe can help Yes, it can be fixed by adjusting the way you hone. You have to adapt to the blade that you're honing..a rolling x stroke may be what you need to make full contact of the blade to the hone and get where you need to be. The most important thing to think about is what do I need to do to get the whole blade to make contact and adjust as necessary...make sense?

I have had a few of these. Depending on how bad it is it may or may not be rectifiable. Is the blade edge warped as well? same as the spine? I ask because I actually saw one last week where the edge was warped opposite of the spine!
Anyhow, you can try to hone it as it is, using almost a rocking type stroke on the one side, and honing the other along the edge of your stones.
If the edge is flat but the spine is not you can try filling the gaps on the spine with tape, in the middle on one side, and on the toe and heel on the other.
Hope this helps.

I kinda thought that the rolling x stroke might work on the side needing the toe and heel, but I'm trying to figure out how to get to the middle of the blade. Using the edge of the hone might work.

I believe the entire blade is warped in the same shape as the spine. So differing layers of tape might work also. I will look at both options and report back later. I'm not going to mess with it today I don't think, still kinda aggravated at myself for not realizing what was going on earlier.