Thread: Update on Complete Re-Hone (With new questions!)

hmm, ill let the more experienced honers jump in. it was perfect to start with, but needs some work now. if you want to get it straight all the way, you need to keep going until the heel and toe meet. otherwise, use a rolling x stroke to get a uniform bevel from heel to toe.

Anyway, its not the end of the world. Just spend some time getting looking at various razors on this site to get a feel for their variation. And always take your time when you are thinking of making corrective moves toward the shape of a blade. What you do can't be undone. But at least you didn't make this mistake with something new at new prices. Like you stated, a learning experience.

So in order to get this back to shave ready can I just keep honing on a flat surface until everything eventually falls into place or do I need to start with the rolling X's? I'll try anything twice but would rather avoid maneuvers that require experience.

Every decent blade has at least a very slight smile, they are supposed to be that way. Frowns on the other hand are really a pain to hone (if even possible). You have to fix a frown by elevating the spine off the stone by at least 30 degrees and hone until the frown is gone, then read up on the "rolling x-stroke", that is the best way to hone. Also there is a lot of hone wear now, use 2 layers of tape on the spine when you hone

Originally Posted by PalmedAce

So in order to get this back to shave ready can I just keep honing on a flat surface until everything eventually falls into place or do I need to start with the rolling X's? I'll try anything twice but would rather avoid maneuvers that require experience.

You're in need of a strategic move here. You've ground the blade unevenly in the center. I don't want to recommend that you continue until you get more expert advice. What I'm concerned with is that if the toe and the heel do not get the same amount of treatment, you will find yourself with a frown very shortly. The rolling x stroke is probably a good idea but I'd let some more expert advice flow in before you go any further. If the bevel was set in the center and not the tip and heel, it might be different. But you have the opposite happening. And that means that more steel has to be removed in the center. Stefan, Glen? You guys out there?

Well I would hardly consider myself an expert. Here is what I see in your pictures, you are not hitting the heal or the toe of the razor and what has had steel removed appears to be with far too much pressure. I think you need to pick on persons videos on honing straight razors and follow only that persons technique until you can get consistent edges. In my journey I used gssixgun's videos. you need to use a heal leading stoke with a swoop at the end. I recommend that you do some experimental strokes to get your pressure correct. If you slurry one of your hones, and you are probably best with a fine one as the idea of the exercise is to see your pressure not sharpen your razor. So with a light slurry do an X stroke using as little pressure as you can. Keep going lighter until you get a fine and even amount of slurry left behind. That is the point in which your pressure is too light. Once you can see too light add just enough pressure that you have a nice even stroke with all of the slurry cleared behind the blade. That is how much pressure you should be using to start with. Pressure can be your friend or your enemy, so until you gain a little bit more experience stay away from it. Once you have your pressure figured out, go to your 1K hone, with tape on the spine, and get a nice even stroke that covers the whole edge. The marker test is perfect for this exercise. Once that is done post again.