Thread: honing old wedge blade without making a large edge

I'm not sure if anyone knows for certain how the true wedges were initially honed. Possibly there was some sort of guide that slipped on or a series of slack strops with varying grit pastes, low to high. I usually use up to four layers of tape and heavy pressure and coarse stones to set the initial bevel and it will take a bit of time

Originally Posted by rodb

I'm not sure if anyone knows for certain how the true wedges were initially honed. Possibly there was some sort of guide that slipped on or a series of slack strops with varying grit pastes, low to high. I usually use up to four layers of tape and heavy pressure and coarse stones to set the initial bevel and it will take a bit of time

There are no true wedge blades in any kind of production numbers. Every shaving blade was ground on a wheel therefore, it was hollow to an extent and honing was exactly the same then as it is now, you lay the spine and the edge on a hone. If the grind is accurate you end up with an even bevel. If the grind is uneven, you end up with a bevel of variable width. The amount of steel in between the spine and bevel is irrelevant in terms of the bevel width - so long as it is hollow ground.

I've had a few that were nearly ruler flat bevel to spine with 1/4" - 1/2" of bevel if I didn't use tape and the spine didn't look all that worn. These were pre 1840 razors

Originally Posted by UKRob

There are no true wedge blades in any kind of production numbers. .

Originally Posted by rodb

I'm not sure if anyone knows for certain how the true wedges were initially honed. Possibly there was some sort of guide that slipped on or a series of slack strops with varying grit pastes, low to high. I usually use up to four layers of tape and heavy pressure and coarse stones to set the initial bevel and it will take a bit of time

Or they freehanded it. It is doable, I have set a few preliminary bevels on Ebay specials freehand. With a bit of practice one could undoubtedly hone a razor so that it will shave comfortably. Muscle memory is a beautiful thing.

But they probably tried everything at one point.

Keep in mind

The difficulty is honing the old heavy grinds has nothing to do with them being an old heavy grind..

If you hone enough of them you will come across a few NOS ones, and learn that they hone EXACTLY like a Full Hollow.. They they have this sweet tiny even bevel and are easy as any other razor to set

The problem with these old razors is the honing that was done to them over the last 100+ years.

You have to correct the geometry if you want to get them back where they were in the past.

Nobody honed them in the old days by lifting the spine they didn't need to, unless they wrecked the spine to start

Just like all the other stories about how they were honed "Back in the Day" simply hone an NOS one and it all makes sense.. Easy as pie

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Keep in mind

The difficulty is honing the old heavy grinds has nothing to do with them being an old heavy grind..

If you hone enough of them you will come across a few NOS ones, and learn that they hone EXACTLY like a Full Hollow.. They they have this sweet tiny even bevel and are easy as any other razor to set

The problem with these old razors is the honing that was done to them over the last 100+ years.

You have to correct the geometry if you want to get them back where they were in the past.

Nobody honed them in the old days by lifting the spine they didn't need to, unless they wrecked the spine to start

Just like all the other stories about how they were honed "Back in the Day" simply hone an NOS one and it all makes sense.. Easy as pie

I can attest to this. I sent a 1 inch W&B wedge and a 5/8 W&B 'half hollow' to Glen (gssixgun) for honing. When he sent them back 'shave ready' the wedge's bevel was not any larger than the hollow's.

I recently honed a wedge and the bevel also looks very large towards the center. I'm not sure if this is due more to my error or the wear on the blade. I'm not very experienced, so I'm just looking at is as part of the learning process.