Thread: Razor won't take an edge.

You don't need a high powered microscope. Radio shack sell a nice little dandy of a scope for less than 15 bucks.

oh I knoooow everytime I go to a local radio shack they don't have it in stock, then I end up forgetting all about ordering one until i'm honing again. Its a terrible cycle.
I want to REALLY see chips though, on a computer screen. I have a cheapie USB chinese scope but its impossible to set it up correctly.

Try finding the radio shack scope online it may be easier. I would love to see this blade and help to solve your problem. What stone are you finishing on and are you sure you have a correct bevel to start with.

One of the things that I find with restored blades it that the edge damage goes below the surface and shows up as chips as you hone. As soon as you get chips, kill the edge lightly and start over. A loupe is an important tool for me when it comes to honing. They are pretty inexpensive and are everywhere. I am currently using a 30x

Originally Posted by SuperFresh642

square one, 1200 grit, set bevel. Grips fingernail, sticky feeling across thumb. Move on to norton 4000/8000. Same result as before, still tugging. Progress to 12,000, strop canvas then leather. No go.

At a loss at this point. Return to 12,000 naniwa. Then 150 on lops on canvas followed by 200 on leather. Still tugging.

At this point I'm at a loss. I'm not going to send out a restore unless it has a scarry sharp edge.

For the record I use Lynn's circle honing method. Just before this razor I had honed a Boker, George Wosterholm and a Wade & Butcher. All the razors were done on the same day, but I'm only having the problem with the Frederick Reynolds.

My theory at this point is either there is a huge burr on the blade that keeps rolling over, or there's some issue with the hear treating.

Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated.

-Andrew.

Lynn's circles or straight back and forth laps make no never mind as far as a keen edge goes, circles only shorten the time it takes to set the bevel.

If the bevel is properly set on a 1K hone, you should be able to shave with it... perhaps not comfortably, but it should be shaving.

If you are having problems with getting the edge up to snuff and you think it needs more time on X hone, drop at least one more grit size down... it needs more honing than you think, and don't ask me how I know that....<sigh>

20 to 30 laps on plain leather should be all that is needed for stropping..... I *never* use linen on a freshly honed razor, I just wipe the blade dry with a cotton terry towel, then 20 to 30 laps on my best leather strop and that's it. Stropping on linen is fine *after* a shave, to make sure the edge is completely dry, but I find linen to do more damage than good when dealing with a freshly honed edge.

As this is a Frederick Reynolds and thus a vintage razor, we can assume the heat treatment is fine (assuming no incorrect power sanding was done during restoration) or the razor would have never made it to this century, having been tossed on the refuse pile decades ago, by some previous owner. If the razor was power sanded, it is possible for the temper to have been lost... If any part of the edge turned blue during sanding with a power sander... it's toast.

Good magnification will let you see if there is chipping or pitting in the edge... Sometimes steel gets downright punky with pits and can look fine to the naked eye, but when you look closely with a 30x loupe... you can see the problems. I had one such razor and the bevel was nice and shiny, but when I looked with a loupe, the bevel looked like crumbling feta cheese! Fortunately, I got past the pitting and the edge came around, but only after removing all the bad steel.

A large burr on a razor is visible to the naked eye in bright light. Unless you really used a lot of pressure, it's highly unlikely to have happened. Faint burrs will fold over after a few strokes in shaving, the razor starts off nice and sharp and within a few strokes of shaving it becomes dull and hard to shave with.

Full hollow blades can sometimes be a bit cantankerous, too much pressure or torque on the hones can cause the blade to flex... this results in the edge coming off the hone, making the bevel wider and never honing the actual edge. I've only had this problem with one razor which was a full bellied hollow and I had to use butterfly light strokes or it would not come around. This happened to be a Boker and I don't think the old F.R. razors are that thin... but if you are used to more wedge like blades, a full hollow could be difficult to deal with and in particular if it has had a lot of sanding done to it.

It's hard to troubleshoot your problem without seeing the razor.... the above are just some thoughts I had about problems I have run into.

Regards

Christian

Guys, the OP has not been online here since July 14, 2016 - the date of his last post.

Actually it was July 2014, but glytch sort of took up the banner with a similar question.

Cool well... I guess you guys answered my semi question/observation which was:
some straights just aren't very good shavers/don't take quite the edge that they should. These couple razors get very sharp, to the point of some tree topping and such, they just won't get that last little bit sharp to where it makes ya happy. The shave comes out a bit rough. Tried honing them start to finish probably a dozen times with all my hones, however when I bust out some of my other razors, there are no problems what so ever. They get darn sharp. These blades just won't come around.

One of the razors is a brand name that I am not allowed to mention on here, so I see no reason why that particular razor could just be bad. The other one is a old pitted out vintage restore. I had it shaving once well many honings back, but the edge never stood up very long. 2 shaves and it was ready for a full refresh. The Dovo half hollow is kinda the same thing, you can sometimes get it there, but the edge dies immediately down to an un comfortable shave. Maybe I am just really picky?

Razors are not all the same. Their grind, steel, heat treat, and tempering all affect how well they shave, no matter the quality of the honing.

I have two 4/8 vintage straights that I recently bought from one of the bigger vendors. I like their restore work but not a fan of their "shave ready" edges. Normally a few quick passes on the coticule gets me the edge I am used to with all of my straights. But no matter what I do I cannot get a good edge on one of them. The other is just fine, easy to hone. I am definately a beginner, I just wanted to disclose that. I use a Belgium Blue and Coticule only for my straights. I bevel set on the blue and hone on the coticule.This is the first time I am thinking I need a lower grit stone for setting a bevel. I have been shaving with straights for about 5 years and have never needed to send a blade out for professional honing so I think I am doing pretty good.I also bought a dull vintage on Ebay and honed it to perfection. I also DE shave, so I know how a good shave is with the proper edge. I am using a 20x loupe and it looks just fine down the whole edge, no pits or chips. After I write this I am going to try again with the idea that maybe the blade is flexing.