Thread: Baffled, Stumped, Dumbfounded

I honed a Japanese Western Grind razor today and still on the 1K Chosera I had to walk away because something didn't feel right and the bevel was not setting as there was uneven sharpness up and down the blade (one of the short type Westerns) Later in the afternoon I went back and began again with every stroke known to man and maybe some new ones like the toe leading heel flipper. Finally the bevel looked good and popped hair along the short length of the blade. Then up through the progression as per usual followed by the celebration shave which went very well after stropping. After that I got around to looking at the honewear (no tape) and it was grossly uneven which translates as ugly to me. Again the bevel is close to perfect, both sides but the hone wear (a new/used razor due to some minor pitting) is making me crazy. The razor was on the low end of the sellers products on Ebay. I thought tomorrow I might measure the width of the spine to see if it is uniform.
Is there anything else that might cause this? I'll shave with an ugly razor but I won't enjoy it, kind of a shallow thing to admit.
Like Groucho Marx once said, 'I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me,' I am feeling like I don't want any more razors that I can actually afford. Not knowing the full extant of my ignorance I do accept that this might very well be my error.

What kind of grind? The hone wear on near wedges can look pretty ugly even though it isn't really heavy.

Cheers, Steve

Just send all your ugly ones to me.

I will enjoy them just fine.

It is a near wedge. I checked the width of the spine with some digital calipers (that had a dead battery) but was able to confirm that the width of the spine is not uniform. This makes sense to me as I thought the bevels wear should be reflected in the hone wear. Still, I'm not entirely sure I get what is happening.

Originally Posted by Steve56

What kind of grind? The hone wear on near wedges can look pretty ugly even though it isn't really heavy.

Cheers, Steve

The bevel that you think is perfect, is not. What you see on the spine reflects this. You admitted that you used every stroke known to man to achieve a good shave. A problem with the spine from the beginning, has lead to your confusion. No big deal, we all will get a razor that tosses us a curve. The great thing here is you adapted by your use of learned strokes to achieve a good shave.

Well, I did say close to perfect meaning that if you look at the bevel, both sides it looks uniform in width. The close part comes from a bad habit I am trying to control of lifting the heel of the razor off the stone at the very end of a rolling X stroke and losing the right angle of a square point. So if the spine is wonky and you keep trying to get the blade to lay flat and move water and it finally does but now you have uneven hone wear, didn't you "fix" the spine" so to speak? Hold the phone...just remembered I checked the spine with calipers after honing, ugh. You can have an imperfect bevel that looks good, shaves good but is not perfect....I guess that is sort of comforting. One of these days I should actually meet a real human for some honing tips, I probably have a multitude of bad habits but somehow produce some nice edges.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

The bevel that you think is perfect, is not. What you see on the spine reflects this. You admitted that you used every stroke known to man to achieve a good shave. A problem with the spine from the beginning, has lead to your confusion. No big deal, we all will get a razor that tosses us a curve. The great thing here is you adapted by your use of learned strokes to achieve a good shave.

Originally Posted by WW243

Well, I did say close to perfect meaning that if you look at the bevel, both sides it looks uniform in width. The close part comes from a bad habit I am trying to control of lifting the heel of the razor off the stone at the very end of a rolling X stroke and losing the right angle of a square point. So if the spine is wonky and you keep trying to get the blade to lay flat and move water and it finally does but now you have uneven hone wear, didn't you "fix" the spine" so to speak?

No, you didn't fix the spine,,,,,,,, for what it's worth, I'm no expert, just interpreting your situation with the knowledge that I have learned here.
You fixed the edge,,,,,,,

For sake of discussion, lets stick with the word perfect & get rid of "close to".

For me, a bevel cannot be perfect unless the spine is perfect; for I believe that perfection in a bevel, is conceived at the spine.

We learn to tape, lift, apply pressure, withhold pressure, this stroke, that stroke,,,,,,all to compensate for less than perfect spines.

You got one in this razor & the visual it gave you at the end, clearly shows this.

,,,,,and the spine remains flawed.

Originally Posted by WW243

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, One of these days I should actually meet a real human for some honing tips, I probably have a multitude of bad habits but somehow produce some nice edges.

You seem to be doing great & that's not luck,,,, you solved the riddle to this particular razor,,,,,, that's the challange in this "honing arena" we put ourselves in. Getting a comfortable shave out of a problem razor like you did, is learned skill, not a roll of the dice.

Aaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.
One last question Hirlau, is there any to determine a perfect spine before actually putting money down or putting razor to hone?

Originally Posted by Hirlau

We learn to tape, lift, apply pressure, withhold pressure, this stroke, that stroke,,,,,,all to compensate for less than perfect spines.

You got one in this razor & the visual it gave you at the end, clearly shows this.

,,,,,and the spine remains flawed.