Thread: honing issue

Almost every correctly honed razor I've ever seen has at least a slight smile.

As others have said, do the magic marker test to get a visual of what is really happening. find a video on "rolling x-stroke", that will be the best way to proceed with this edge

Originally Posted by jte87

Ok. How do I save it?

Maybe even some tips here by gssixgun:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ml#post1280594

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

This is a video by Lynn about using the rolling x stroke. There are also some excellent animations in the Wiki here of all possible strokes you will need. The more pronounced the smile the more pronounced the roll IMLE (the L is for limited.). I find that more often than not I use a slight roll in almost every razor I hone. I don't know if that's just my bad technique, but it works and I get pretty consistent, even bevels.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Maybe even some tips here by gssixgun:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ml#post1280594

I had not seen these before, but they are dog eared now to watch very soon! Thanks!

Wait, wait, wait. We are talking advanced honing techniques (geometry modifications) for someone who is learning to hone. First off, the first step in learning to hone is finding a honing mentor...at the least make a razor meet as a mentor would have lead you down the right path & not down the path of razor destruction.

Just because our razors are called straight razors, as you can see in the photo above, many of our razors (my preference) have a smile to them. Smiles & a straight edge (as designed) are good, frowns are bad. VERY few of us breadknife a razor as it takes SOOOO long to establish a proper bevel & that's when a razor was designed to be a straight edge. My method is to freehand, spine off the stone, like we do a pocket knife to obtain proper edge geometry. This is what I would do to your current razor to obtain the original edge geometry, which would have a slight smile just like the spine. This method works well as it isn't too hard to obtain a proper bevel once you are done with the heavy work. Then I tape the spine and set the bevel...takes time as you will wear through several pieces of tape & that's with slurry.

What bugs me is how one side can be perfectly flat while the other is not.

Originally Posted by jte87

What bugs me is how one side can be perfectly flat while the other is not.

I've run into more imperfection in razors, old and new, than a razor that was perfectly ground. Is all part of the learning curve.

So, the answer is either rolling x strokes to work around it or drastically altering the geometry of the razor?

Originally Posted by jte87

It had a "smile", but I got that out. It was on a 5000 grit super stone. It's the coarsest stone I have besides the arkies and the DMT cards. I lapped the stone with a blue dmt card, which is the coarse one. I did have take on it until I noticed one side had a high spot.

Originally Posted by jte87

So, the answer is either rolling x strokes to work around it or drastically altering the geometry of the razor?

It had proper geometry, but "you got that out". A rolling x stroke is a mainstay for most honers. You will have the entire edge contacting the stone if done properly...you can check that by the marker test as mentioned above. Find a honing mentor, you will be saving yourself a LOT of headaches and frustrations.

Originally Posted by jte87

What bugs me is how one side can be perfectly flat while the other is not.

If one side isn't flat the other isn't either but with some pressure you can slightly flex it and force stone adherence. Of course it must be very slightly bent.
at this address in the last post you can find some geometrical analysis on why old razors smile.
Ilrasoio.com • Leggi argomento - L'affilatura secondo me

yes it's in Italian but maybe google can help