Thread: "Waves" on my bevel.....

Hello gentlemen.

I just started honing a J.H. Potter that I got. It's my second try after trying to hone a non-straight blade, which failed and after it I waited for a razor that's, well, straight...

I started setting the bevel, and after a few dozens of light strokes I looked at my new bevel under the light, and I saw the image below (which I hope you can also see)...

Is that normal?
I stopped, because someone recently posted a W&B honing that went wrong, and it looked just like this (only much worse).
I guess if I tried to imagine what bevel-setting will look like, it would be like this...
How should I proceed?

Wrong forum... sorry....
can anyone put me in the right place....?

I ruined two razors when I learned how to hone. I knew it would happen, though, so I began with crappy blades and learned on them. Early attempts at honing are a matter of making mistakes and learning from them. I'd recommend you put that one aside and start trying to hone with the same dogs I ruined in my early attempts.

If you are using light pressure, it's probably the grind of the razor causing that and not honing technique. It's just thicker where the bevel is wider.

If your bevel is set, proceed with finer stones, ending each stone with some light pressure strokes. If you're still in question, use the last stone with a layer of electrical tape to be sure it's working the very edge of the razor.

Some razors are just ugly and have wide bevels, and some have variable bevels and some have wide and variable bevels because they have a thick grind AND an uneven grind. But they can still shave nicely if honed well.

Haim, Greetings.

The guys tell you right about not using a nice blade for your learning mistakes. God knows I brutalized a few.

If I could, I'd suggest holding off on learning to hone for a bit. Unless you have some experience of a number of people's edges to compare to, you won't know what you're aiming for with your methods.

If you're like me, the excitement was too much - and I tried to learn to shave and to hone at the same time. Lets say I bled alot. You're probably more skilled than I was.

The regret for me was that it held back my shaving skills. My edges were shaveable, but quite harsh. I know you have skilled guys there in Israel - maybe look up the screen name 'Manah' here.

Quite often, guys will hone for free, just to get more experience. I've done (and still do) that. The photos you posted could be a couple of things - your honing, or a wavy blade. Try the magic marker test - paint the bevel w/ some felt-tipped marker and take 2 stokes on a stone with NO pressure. A wavy blade will have sections that don't remove the marker until you do alot of grinding for the bevel set - and the result looks like what you posted. I would say that's not a blade to learn to hone with. Something full hollow, without warp or wave, no smile (and certainly no frown) in the cutting edge. For the sake of your sanity, and to speed up your learning, it would be worth it to buy a sound but ugly blade (so its low-cost) that has these attributes - that you can practice on and get to know what 'normal' honing feels like. Then, maybe try a smiling blade and master an arcing stroke that smoothly reaches all parts of the bevel in the stroke. (another recommendation from Glen I'm grateful for)

Now about this specific blade - it sounds like it will always be more work to hone well - your're working around the warp (if that's what it is). It can be made to shave well, but will just take more work.

Its a huge thrill to get your first shaveable edges. Best of luck as your learn.

Seems as already mentioned that the grinding is not well done or the spine has not the correct or the same thickness thruout the lenght of the blade....

In general a bevel can vary in its appearence depending in which condition the Razor is...often on older Wedges its impossible to get a bevel with the same size (thickness) throughout the lenght of the blade, sometimes wavy bevels occur....as long as the bevel is completely set its just an optical failure what some people do not like...some have no problems with it...

What’s the other side look like? The spine wear looks wider in the photo directly above the middle. It may have some warp to the blade.

What did the spine and bevel look like when you started?

What are you honing on?

Originally Posted by Haim

Wrong forum... sorry....
can anyone put me in the right place....?

Moved to Honing forum

Originally Posted by pinklather

Haim, Greetings.

The guys tell you right about not using a nice blade for your learning mistakes. God knows I brutalized a few.

If I could, I'd suggest holding off on learning to hone for a bit. Unless you have some experience of a number of people's edges to compare to, you won't know what you're aiming for with your methods.

If you're like me, the excitement was too much - and I tried to learn to shave and to hone at the same time. Lets say I bled alot. You're probably more skilled than I was.

The regret for me was that it held back my shaving skills. My edges were shaveable, but quite harsh. I know you have skilled guys there in Israel - maybe look up the screen name 'Manah' here.

Quite often, guys will hone for free, just to get more experience. I've done (and still do) that. The photos you posted could be a couple of things - your honing, or a wavy blade. Try the magic marker test - paint the bevel w/ some felt-tipped marker and take 2 stokes on a stone with NO pressure. A wavy blade will have sections that don't remove the marker until you do alot of grinding for the bevel set - and the result looks like what you posted. I would say that's not a blade to learn to hone with. Something full hollow, without warp or wave, no smile (and certainly no frown) in the cutting edge. For the sake of your sanity, and to speed up your learning, it would be worth it to buy a sound but ugly blade (so its low-cost) that has these attributes - that you can practice on and get to know what 'normal' honing feels like. Then, maybe try a smiling blade and master an arcing stroke that smoothly reaches all parts of the bevel in the stroke. (another recommendation from Glen I'm grateful for)

Now about this specific blade - it sounds like it will always be more work to hone well - your're working around the warp (if that's what it is). It can be made to shave well, but will just take more work.

Its a huge thrill to get your first shaveable edges. Best of luck as your learn.

I doubt that I'm better in this than you... Just exited and wanting to learn more and more... :]
Thanks for the advice! I have a comparison from two razors which came shave ready (and now are not). Nonetheless, I might get a nasty looking "damaged sight unseen" straight from whipped dog, in order to have another comparison and to have something to make rookey-mistakes on in due time :]

Originally Posted by Euclid440

What’s the other side look like? The spine wear looks wider in the photo directly above the middle. It may have some warp to the blade.

What did the spine and bevel look like when you started?

What are you honing on?

The other side has a very mild wave on it (towards the toe), and the heel has a very thin edge. (picture below)
When I started I didn't see an edge. I think it had this exact shape, because with the strokes I did there is no way I could remove this much metal..
The spine on the other side has a weird pattern of hone ware which I hope you can see...
I also found out that the spine is a bit a-symmetrical.... picture below...
I used 1k king stone.

Any bend looks like it's at the tang, and given the opposite side is that even, I'd lean in it just being varying thickness in the grind. Regardless of what it is, I'd do the last step of your process with tape with a bevel that big if you're new to honing. It'll stack the deck in your favor as long as the bevel was fully set.

I see a thin strip on the side that looks "good", is that the original edge?