hitting the toe, dammit

I'm setting the bevel on an ebay special with a gentle smile, more of a smirk. A very subtle rock 'n roll on the 1k seems to be doing the trick.

Except the toe. There's a pretty big curve in the last 1/4 or 1/8 of the edge leading to the toe. It's a spike point, only the spike point is curved if you see what I mean. Maybe someone had to remove a chip there or something. Anyway at the curved toe I don't seem to be doing anything very effective with the hone. I can see the rounding of the bevel from the sandpaper there with my naked eye. Gentle rock n roll won't do it; unless I practically lift the razor I'm not really going to hit that toe...

I've moved on to the 4k and I'm getting HHT all along the blade except for that blasted curved toe.

Maybe I'll have to leave the toe for when I'm a better honer...

Yeah, those stubbed toes are a b:cench! I can never get them.

X

Dylan,

This is the type of razor that is very well suited to a narrow hone. If you have a solid 1K, try using the side, which is basically a 1" hone.

Barring that, you might try a somewhat risky move: Tip the tang of the razor upward until only the toe and the spine are touching. Then focus your honing on that small section, doing maybe 5 or 10 back-and-forth strokes per side. Use your other hand to keep things stable.

That's a tough blade geometry to deal with. The narrow hones are working best for me on these.

Josh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

This is the type of razor that is very well suited to a narrow hone. If you have a solid 1K, try using the side, which is basically a 1" hone.

Barring that, you might try a somewhat risky move: Tip the tang of the razor upward until only the toe and the spine are touching. Then focus your honing on that small section, doing maybe 5 or 10 back-and-forth strokes per side. Use your other hand to keep things stable.

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I was just daydreaming about that solid 1K. No, I've got the 1/4 combo...

As the trouble spot is only about 1/8-1/4 of an inch, I wonder if I could:

a) turn the hone on its side anyway, and just use the 1/2" of 4K white and kind of pick at the toe, keeping the spine touching as you say; or

b) call it a day. Hell, some folks even blunt their spike toes on purpose to avoid accidents...

I have two razors that had hairline cracks in the toe. Joe Chandler not only got both out without deepening either but he also managed to hone the resulting stubbed toes up perfectly. Almost like a little makeshift barber's notch.

We can't all be Joe Chandler.