Thread: Fixing an uneven bevel

Hello,
I have a relatively new Boker that has an uneven bevel. I did send it back to the vendor for a rehone but it came back with the same uneven bevel. I do have a nice set of Arkansas stones ('washita', soft, hard, translucent) but am pretty inexperienced with honing and would not have a clue how to fix the bevel.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I would like to tackle this myself as I love working with the stones.
Thank you,
Paul

Pics would help greatly with advice. First thing I think of is the thickness of the blade at the top of the bevel. Stone won't fix that. Could be from pressure more or less in certain spots. I take back my first remark. Tape will sometimes help an uneven bevel by making the bevel smaller hence lowering it to a more even blade thickness closer to the edge. Usually on a blade with a less hollow grind.

See, I am going by pictures in my mind and may be waaaay off what is really going on :<0)

As stated above, without pictures it is hard to say, but the uneven bevel (on a new razor) is likely an artefact of grinding (i.e. the razor is unevenly ground).

Short of having it reground (which will have associated cost and may not even be possible) there may not be much that can be done about it.

Assuming that the quality of the edge (and the shave) is not comproimised, and it’s just a cosmetic thing, any attempt to even up the bevel by honing may result in sacrificing edge “sharpness” for aesthetics.

One way to achieve this would be to use several layers of tape on the spine, this makes the bevel angle steeper and the bevel width narrower along the length of the blade, making the unevenness less noticeable. The increased bevel angle may make the edge feel less sharp as the larger angle requires more force to slice through the same hair.

It doesn’t take much for the grind of a razor to be out and the bevels to end up uneven (particularly on blades with heavier grinds, it’s one of the (many) reasons that beautiful custom made razors with very small even bevels are priced well above the machine made razors

Let me know if this helps. Maybe the difference is miner?

There are two questions to be answered here: first, will the cosmetics bother you so much that you won't enjoy using the razor? In that case you should try to return it; secondly, how does it shave?

I have a Silver Steel myself with a slightly uneven bevel - perhaps about the same as yours - and it is a terrific shaver. I have not bothered with "fixing" it if that tells you anything. If it ever needs to be honed again I'll correct it but it's not worth it to me now. The extra hollow blades seem to be more prone to this than full hollow ones but unless it is extremely uneven - so much so that you cannot get a good shaving edge - it will be purely a cosmetic issue.

If it bothers you too much and you cannot return it, you can send it to one of the pro's for evaluation and possible correction. This will not cost much compared to the cost of that otherwise fine razor.


rs,
Tack

Thanks Tack,
No, the cosmetic thing does not bother me. I was more concerned in maintaining the blade myself. The blade shaves ok to me. I've had two other vintage blades honed by the same vendor and they shave more cleanly, more keen. Looked at these through a microscope and they looked perfect. Even the razor I've maintained myself (inexperienced) shaves about like this one. Just got it back from a second honing and it shaves the same.
Probably more than anything I'm inexperienced in straight razor shaving and made an assumption that a brand new razor would have an even bevel. I'll keep at it.
Paul

If it doesn't affect the shave, I would leave it alone. I for on a have mild OCD so if I were to notice the issue I wouldn't be able to tolerate it.
It may be due to the grind. One wheel removed more than the other shifting the centerline.
If it functions, call it character.

A perfectly even bevel on a mass produced razor rarely occurs especially if the spine is straight and the edge has a bit of a smile.