Help Bevel Setting Heel and Toe

So I have this Clauss razor and I'm having a heck of a time setting the bevel at the heel and toe. When I started it had a small chip in the blade which I removed with my norton 220 with one layer of tape. I'm now trying to set the bevel with my Norton 1K. The middle is set and passing the TNT. But the last 1/4" at the toe and the last 3/8" at the heel are just not getting there. I am still using one layer of tape. The blade and spine are flat with no light showing through when laying flat.

Attachment 185318Attachment 185319

I go with the Sharpie test to see if I am hitting the entire bevel even. If black left on edge, go to the rolling stroke to hit entire blade. repeat and adjust the arc in the roll to hit the entire bevel. Swoop stroke check with sharpie test. It doesnt lie. look at the spine and bevel match up and try to mimic that in your stroke. Speed kills at this stage . slow and steady feeling the contact along the stroke.

I believe that razor has a slight sway back and thus a slight smile. You may want to look at this series by Glen. You are not dealing with a wedge so some of it does not apply but it should give you some pointer on the heal leading and then swoop stroke that is very effective on smiles.
gssixgun Honing a Smiling Wedge part 1.wmv - YouTube

Maybe its late and I'm seeing things but it looks like that blade has a little grin to it.

How much of the edge did you remove?

Was the edge smiling to begin with?

Is the stabilizer hitting the stone?

Are you using magnification?

Look at the edge straight down are the bevels meeting all the way from Heel to Toe?

Photos are not clear enough to enlarge and make out detail.


First Try 2 layers of tape, ink the stabilizer and the edge and see if you can hone to the edge.

If not, look at this thread.

Probably something like a rolling X stroke would be your best bet.

And, just for a bit of levity, listen to this song - it always runs through my head when I hone a razor like this:
Heel & Toe Polka - YouTube

James.

yes, slight smile

How much of the edge did you remove? About 1/16"

Was the edge smiling to begin with? Yes

Is the stabilizer hitting the stone? No

Are you using magnification? Yes

Look at the edge straight down are the bevels meeting all the way from Heel to Toe? No. Hope this makes sense: it appears I am using more pressure on my push stroke than my pull stroke.

As for the heel , it looks like your bevel is up on the shoulder. Hate to tell ya what that means. The hone wear on the spine looks like it was lifted as it comes of the hone during an x stroke. Slight smile or not more concentrated effort is needed on both ends. This is just what I see in the pics. Could be waaaay off base :<0)

Hi everyone, thanks for the response. I'm a VERY novice honer. I've heard so often just use light pressure that I think I'm barely touching the edge to the stone, haha. Watched the videos on honing a smile. Pretty much went back and put more pressure on the heel and toe while honing and things went much better. I'll know better with tomorrow mornings shave!
Thanks again everyone.

I second James suggestion, try a rolling x stroke. I often find it is the solution to such a problem.

Some good advice already given on different honing strokes, x-strokes, rolling x-strokes, etc..

One thing to always look for is the geometry of the spine. If the spine is straight then usually the edge is also straight initially. However, a slight smile on the edge of a straight spine razor isn't a bad thing, but a straight edge on a razor with a smiling spine usually is a bad thing.

Your razor has a spine with a smile built in and the edge would have mirrored that smile. So when you hone out chips or just regular maintenance you want to use a stroke that will maintain that spine/edge relationship keeping in mind to work the whole edge evenly. Straight up and back strokes will give the result you have of flattening the center of the blade and will eventually lead to a frown.

Hope this made sense.

Howard :)