Thread: Advice needed on new razor

I have enough faith in Aust razors to speculate that anything wrong with that razor is due to honing not grinding. Spine looks unworn so just tape it and hone it or send it to someone else who can. A straight spine and slightly smiling edge is not that uncommon.

Because if the smiling edge you will have to use a rolling X stroke.

So, been playing around with this razor for a bit (a lot) and the main issue is it has a significant warp near the heel (starts about a quarter of the way from the heel). This is why someone ground it so heavy on one side. I started out on my soft arkie; it is the coarsest stone I have and well, you know, slow. After quite a while and checking with ink I realized I was removing metal but the contact was not changing much (initially progress but soon hit a point, the beginning of the warp, when it stopped progressing). I then went to two layers of tape and same thing but just with a narrower bevel.
Here are some pics with two layers of tape:
Attachment 224095
Attachment 224096.

The blade itself doesn't have a smile but the heel was ground off somewhat and gives it that smile look on that end.

Might need to get me some additional arrows in my quiver, but even then with a warp like this? Might be beyond me but I'll continue to play with it. Wasn't all that thrilled with the overall razor anyway (but I won't tell my brother that).
Thanks for reading and any advice is welcome.
Paul

Can't see your pictures!

Can't see pics either. Struggle to think warp is original given Aust reputation. Any evidence razor been dropped or similar?

Paul, pics won’t load, use the photo loader, 3rd icon from the right on the upper toolbar.

Some better photos of the spine and heel would help.

Let me see if this works.

My 5/8 Aust has a warp. It's not bad but it does need a little bit of a smile to keep the bevels even and in contact with the hone while using a rolling x. I pretty much use a rolling x for when the convex side is down then a 45* stroke straight down the hone on the concave side. The concave side will show you large bevels at toe and heel. The convex side will show you a larger bevel in the middle, all you need to do is modify your strokes to create even bevels. I prefer to do some Japanese strokes with the concave side down, this gives me a guide for when I flip the razor over. I then put a finger on the toe and then the heal and do Japanese strokes to even up the bevels to the middle. I just go back and forth counting strokes to keep the bevels even height wise. Sooner or later it will get there. When it looks good remove your tape get out your sharpie and use whatever strokes match your new even bevels. I'm sure there are faster ways to do it but given the way that razor looks it shouldn't take anything drastic to get them even all the way across and from side to side. Just remember the most important thing is that you set the bevel everything after that is aesthetics.

I'm glad you made a post, when I finally figured it out I ground at least a 1/16" off my RA.


on another note if you want a straight edge you'll need to bend it until the edge is straight. Don't do this you will almost inevitably snap it. No amount of grinding the spine will straighten a warped edge. As was seen recently in another thread a guy ground the hell out of a really nice razor trying to fix a problem that didn't exist in spine. This is problem that needs to be fixed by modifying your stroke not grinding a spine or bending a razor. As you hone more razors it is likely you will have many more that are warped then straight. In my own collection I have about 85% warped blades that are at least a little warped, i.e. Enough to have to use some amount of rolling x stroke.

Some additional picts of the blade cleaned up of ink and tape glue. Any spine wear you now see is from me.

Thanks Jfk, this is really helpful!

Originally Posted by jfk742

My 5/8 Aust has a warp. It's not bad but it does need a little bit of a smile to keep the bevels even and in contact with the hone while using a rolling x. I pretty much use a rolling x for when the convex side is down then a 45* stroke straight down the hone on the concave side. The concave side will show you large bevels at toe and heel. The convex side will show you a larger bevel in the middle, all you need to do is modify your strokes to create even bevels. I prefer to do some Japanese strokes with the concave side down, this gives me a guide for when I flip the razor over. I then put a finger on the toe and then the heal and do Japanese strokes to even up the bevels to the middle. I just go back and forth counting strokes to keep the bevels even height wise. Sooner or later it will get there. When it looks good remove your tape get out your sharpie and use whatever strokes match your new even bevels. I'm sure there are faster ways to do it but given the way that razor looks it shouldn't take anything drastic to get them even all the way across and from side to side. Just remember the most important thing is that you set the bevel everything after that is aesthetics.

I'm glad you made a post, when I finally figured it out I ground at least a 1/16" off my RA.


on another note if you want a straight edge you'll need to bend it until the edge is straight. Don't do this you will almost inevitably snap it. No amount of grinding the spine will straighten a warped edge. As was seen recently in another thread a guy ground the hell out of a really nice razor trying to fix a problem that didn't exist in spine. This is problem that needs to be fixed by modifying your stroke not grinding a spine or bending a razor. As you hone more razors it is likely you will have many more that are warped then straight. In my own collection I have about 85% warped blades that are at least a little warped, i.e. Enough to have to use some amount of rolling x stroke.

Paul, looking at the spine and heel pics, spine looks good with very little wear. If it is warped, I don’t think it is much, not more than normal.

I do see some wear on the stabilizer and shoulder which could account for the extra wear on the heel.

Often if an inexperienced honer rides up on the shoulder, the heel edge comes off the stone, so they add more pressure with the shoulder acting as a fulcrum and the geometry at the heel is thrown off. The extra pressure grinds the heel also causing a sharp point.

Just tape and ink as you are and make sure you are honing to the edge at the heel. You also may want to round out the point that is starting, before you hone it, that point will cut you eventually. Use a heel forward X stroke to clear the shoulder and hone the heel.

The bevel will be a bit wide at the heel but will shave fine.