Thread: Wanting small bevels

I have gone through a few edge restorations now and am looking at getting better. How do I achieve those small bevels? Is it purely the spine wear or the grind? Tape? I would appreciate a few lessons on how to keep those bevels small.
Thanks

I'm no honing expert, but I believe it's not something that is within the honer's control, for the most part. I may be wrong on this, but I believe it has to do with the factors that you mentioned...grind, hone wear on both the spine and edge, although tape can play a small factor. I think that tape plays a factor in getting a good bevel when there is excessive hone wear on a razor, so the two factors are certainly relatable.

The razor is going to dictate that,
Tape will make them a bit smaller and some correction can be done but,
trying to make a razor be something it is not will not work in the long run and you will create issues.
If you want to nail honing stop fighting the razor it will tell you what it needs not the other way around.

p.s. I speak from experience on that one

Edit: unless you are going to regrind the razor

Thanks guys, I have been letting the razors dictate anyway..... I am lazy. But in other words, I just need to order a new custom !

A line is determined by two points. In that same manner, a plane is determined by two lines. The spine represents one line and the edge represents another. The bevel is the result of the steel that is removed down to the level of the plane defined by the final edge and spine. Its width is entirely dependent upon the blade's geometry and the only way to make it more narrow is to use tape to raise the spine. This will have the effect of shifting the defined plane away from the center line of the blade and less steel will need to be removed above the plane and the bevel will be more narrow.

1. Tape
2. Minimal pressure.

I've been experimenting over the past few days with using small bulldog clips over the spine and then a layer of tape over them to save grinding away at the soft metal. It came about after I received a near wedge that had been so abused that the spine geometry was ruined. In desperation, I ground away until it was a true wedge and had a flat spine at last. Not wanting to use a large number of layers of tape, I tried the bulldog clips since they would raise the spine and were easy to apply - the results have so far been positive but I'm hoping to experiment further before I advocate its use to anybody else.

With this said, the angle of the bulldog clips leads to a small bevel and don't see it wouldn't work with different grinds.

Originally Posted by Christel

I've been experimenting over the past few days with using small bulldog clips over the spine and then a layer of tape over them to save grinding away at the soft metal. It came about after I received a near wedge that had been so abused that the spine geometry was ruined. In desperation, I ground away until it was a true wedge and had a flat spine at last. Not wanting to use a large number of layers of tape, I tried the bulldog clips since they would raise the spine and were easy to apply - the results have so far been positive but I'm hoping to experiment further before I advocate its use to anybody else.

With this said, the angle of the bulldog clips leads to a small bevel and don't see it wouldn't work with different grinds.

What does the finished angle of the bevel work out to be utilizing the clips?

Originally Posted by pfries

What does the finished angle of the bevel work out to be utilizing the clips?

I've used the bulldog clip method a long time ago when I was first learning to sharpen kitchen knives and they give a bevel angle of 20-25 degrees. That angle is OK for Western kitchen knives (though I do tend to grind them lower than that these days), I'm certainly no razor honing expert but wouldn't that angle be far too steep for a razor ? Just from eying my razor laid on the hone the angle looks more like 5-10 degrees ?

Originally Posted by mike1011

I've used the bulldog clip method a long time ago when I was first learning to sharpen kitchen knives and they give a bevel angle of 20-25 degrees. That angle is OK for Western kitchen knives (though I do tend to grind them lower than that these days), I'm certainly no razor honing expert but wouldn't that angle be far too steep for a razor ? Just from eying my razor laid on the hone the angle looks more like 5-10 degrees ?

I would agree the angle is a bit much,
although 5-10 is low 15-20 and 17 on average and there are several write ups and posts with measurements available if you choose to search.
I will be interested in hearing about the results.