Thread: Honing my custom french point razor issue

Originally Posted by drmccubx

I appreciate your help. The blade is almost an 8/8. Maybe slightly larger so that makes sense what your saying that if toe to spine is 8/8 and heel to spine more,then the bevil will be uneven. That as well as honing it correctly. Ex. Rolling x stroke as sugested. Make sense?

I'm not really following the above post, but I am interested in the topic.

I've never honed a French Point, but I have made several razors. It always appeared to me that cutting the spine short as in a French point was a bad idea from a honing ease and grinding ease perspective, since the spine is the guide for honing and grinding. If I were to make one, I think I would shorten the spine as late in the process as possible so that I would have the guide for most of the grinding. Since your edge and spine are straight you should be able to establish a bevel on flat hones and then use the bevel reveal to straighten out your grind if necessary.

cant say I know what a "bevel reveal is" ? But I understand the rest . it seems simple enough to always keep the thickest point of the spine on the hone. And to do that , make a sweeping x stroke . so we will see. I like all the input though . thanks for it

Originally Posted by drmccubx

so the steps I can see are this . Now that I am at the computer I can type more. phone text is slow.
1. grind off the bevel completely . Maybe just run it along sand paper till its gone and everything is even . which may make the blade 8/8 perfect from heel to toe thus making it easier to hone ? then , any additional measurements I need to make . I do have a micrometer . I suppose I could measure spine width from one end to the other , making sure it is the same all the way down the spine. it should be 1/4 inch as that is what I started with for steel , but it may be slightly less . thus, a flat surface to make honing more accurate along the edge ? then measure from spine to blade all the way down with my micrometer as well to see that it is in fact 8/8 all the way down the blade ? All of which will ensure an even bevel . Then and only then start a new bevel with correct rolling x and sweeping x strokes ?
sound like a plan ? I am new to this so I am sure there have been countless posts on this through the years. So cool there is a place to find out all this info . very grateful .

I feel you are overthinking this

Hone the bevel,, make VERY SMALL adjustments to your honing, dull the edge on the corner of your stone, Re-hone and set the bevel, repeat SLOWLY until the bevel is to your liking and move on It will only get so perfect, once the bevel is fully set and as even as possible move on...

This may or may not happen it one sitting,,, I just finished a Vintage razor over the weekend that took 6 bevel set attempts to get right over 3 days time, don't try and grind the crap outta the razor all at once, learn now to walk away and take your time..

Originally Posted by drmccubx

cant say I know what a "bevel reveal is" ?

The reveal is the part that your seeing as uneven.

If the spine is straight and even and the edge is parallel to it. The uneven bevel area would show that there is an uneven grind on the hollows, hence my use of the term "reveal" .

Nice looking razor by the way.

I agree with Glen on the overthinking part. I would not grind off the bevel you have. You are most of the way to where you need to be now.

If it were me. I would tape the edge that you have now, hold it flat on a flat hone and see if the spine is contacting the hone evenly using a marker on the spine. If you have even contact on both sides of the spine then you know that the spine is parallel to your existing edge.

yes, I have been guilty of over thinking things in the past. Part of my nature, especially when I get fixated on something new. And in this case , a really cool, imho , thing. So, thank you so much for clarification ! Dull edge first ? I will tape edge and check spine flatness first to make sure it is in fact flat . How dull to make edge ? Eliminate bevel ? Or just make dull a little. I know it's 0.008 thick steel along the edge . But it sounds like by resetting the bevel in multiple sessions , which will make the razor bevel "self adjust" .

Originally Posted by drmccubx

yes, I have been guilty of over thinking things in the past. Part of my nature, especially when I get fixated on something new. And in this case , a really cool, imho , thing. So, thank you so much for clarification ! Dull edge first ? I will tape edge and check spine flatness first to make sure it is in fact flat . How dull to make edge ? Eliminate bevel ? Or just make dull a little. I know it's 0.008 thick steel along the edge . But it sounds like by resetting the bevel in multiple sessions , which will make the razor bevel "self adjust" .

I agree about the "really cool" part. Razor geometry is much more cerebral than it would appear to an outsider.

You said that you know the blade is .008" along the edge. The fact that the bevel is wider at the toe in that third picture "reveals" to me that the blade is thicker in this area. The other possibility is that the razor is warped. In the warped case, the bevel reveal on the opposite side of the toe would be narrow almost to the point of non-existence. There is nothing really horrible about uneven bevel reveals other than aesthetics and the fact that IMO they make honing a little more difficult just because there is more steel to remove in the wider areas

Originally Posted by drmccubx

How dull to make edge ? Eliminate bevel ? Or just make dull a little.

I don't want to put words in Glen's mouth, but, to me, the idea of dulling the edge is so that you can verify that you are getting to the very apex on a subsequent bevel reset. I lightly dull on granite, just enough so that the edge fails the TNT.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I feel you are overthinking this

Hone the bevel,, make VERY SMALL adjustments to your honing, dull the edge on the corner of your stone, Re-hone and set the bevel, repeat SLOWLY until the bevel is to your liking and move on It will only get so perfect, once the bevel is fully set and as even as possible move on...

This may or may not happen it one sitting,,, I just finished a Vintage razor over the weekend that took 6 bevel set attempts to get right over 3 days time, don't try and grind the crap outta the razor all at once, learn now to walk away and take your time..

As Glen said, 'Learn to walk away". I wish I had more than once. Instead of walking away I would get bull headed and say "I'm going to get this SOB sharp or else". Well, the 'or else' won more than once and I ended up ruining more than one razor. I've learned since that nothing can be rushed when it comes to straight razors, fast equals 'Whoooops!

I will post pics in a while. worked on it again. bevel on one side is nice and even , the other side tip of razor has large bevel and the other end has next to nothing . warped blade ? maybe put it on the 400 grit for the end , thin it out. the tip is at .009 and the heel is .007 . I did a check on my gauge . I mean obviously to much metal in contact with the hone makes a large bevel. simple. But still haven't measured spine to edge down the blade to see if it is even all the way . may have something to do with the issue ? . Ok so here they are , you will see one side even , one side not . You will see the one side that is not even clearly. the heel of that side is so so sharp . the tip of the razor down about an inch is not shave ready , the rest is very shave ready . It looks to me , at least in the pictures that the tip of the blade from spine to edge is wider than the rest of the blade to spine but i will need to use my measuring device to check .