Thread: Here's where i'm at.

So here's the story my friend put a decent chip in the blade of his razor, I had to bread knife it across a DMT coarse. It got the chip out but I only had a yellow coticule at the time. I found out this coticule is a fast cutter but not coarse enough to reset a serious bevel. It is useful for a bevel that is almost there, not a serious repair. After about 5 hours of using heavy slurry and well over 1000 strokes I finally gave up on it. I ordered a 440/1000 grit water stone off of amazon.ca. I can't be more happy no more messing around with my coticule until the later stages. So now the tip and the middle of the blade are shaving arm hair easily but the heel is having troubles. I do not want to progress to the next steps until the heel catches up with the rest of the blade. I want the bevel to be completely set before I progress. Does anyone have any tips? It would be much appreciated. I don't know whether to keep giving it strokes or drop down to the 440... I highly don't want to have to drop down unless I have to. Thanks guys.

Look up rolling x-stroke if you aren't already using it. You could also try doing some circles with the emphasis on the heel area. Depending on hone wear, you could try more than one layer of tape. I would try the 440 if you just can't get it with the 1000

Originally Posted by rodb

Look up rolling x-stroke if you aren't already using it. You could also try doing some circles with the emphasis on the heel area. Depending on hone wear, you could try more than one layer of tape. I would try the 440 if you just can't get it with the 1000

I have been using a lot of circles Rob, I am not using tape since it's not an expensive razor, it Is so close it feels sharp just not as sharp as the rest... as for the rolling x. I'd like to learn my stones a little better before I try that. I am fairly new at honing although I can get nice edges from using the Unicot method on a coticule. I have never really had to set a bevel like this. Could it be I am not used to the amount of strokes. On a razor that has been bread knifed what is the normal amount of strokes to fix this if you've ever had to bread knife a razor.

Try adding more pressure also, sometimes you have press fairly hard (maybe 2x as much as normal) when setting a bevel. When you have to breadknife an edge you have to remove a lot of metal so it will take longer

Also try some tape as it might improve the angle of the bevel and make it contact the hone better

Originally Posted by rodb

Try adding more pressure also, sometimes you have press fairly hard (maybe 2x as much as normal) when setting a bevel. When you have to breadknife an edge you have to remove a lot of metal so it will take longer

You can say that again. Its taken about 2 hours to get to where I'm at now. If I wasn't wondering what was taking so long and what was happening with my heel I wouldn't have made this thread.

Lol!!! Sometimes I just have to walk away from a problem blade for a day or so and come back with a fresh attitude.

It may help if you post a photo close up of the blade.

Bob