Thread: Advice needed on new razor

Hello Gents,
My brother bought me a Ralf Aust razor for my birthday (yeah, he's ok). This was an ebay purchase and when it got in I was on vacation. He looked it over and thought it looked great. When I received it I was of course grateful but I was disappointed in the bevel grind (see pic). I was also not crazy about the scale construction but they are pretty.
I looked over the edge and the bevels do meet but as you can see by the pics the grind is uneven and the edge doesn't sit flat on the stone on one side:

Notice the wide, deep grind on the heel on one side.
Based on what you see, how would you approach this? I was hoping not to start this razor using tape.
Let me know what you think?
Thanks,
Paul

You are most likely going to have to go the tape route to fix the bevil... I would start with two pieces and try to even out the edge, then remove the extra tape and bone normally.
That's still a great gift!!

That razor is crazy messed up. Send it to a pro.

Pro. Tape won't sort uneven spine wear.

Originally Posted by Ernie1980

You are most likely going to have to go the tape route to fix the bevil... I would start with two pieces and try to even out the edge, then remove the extra tape and bone normally.
That's still a great gift!!

Thanks Ernie,
I was going to start with a Hard Arkansas but maybe it would be better to drop it down a stone, which for me would be the Washita. No reason to go as far down as a Soft Arkansas right?

Originally Posted by dmnc

Pro. Tape won't sort uneven spine wear.

I was hoping the spine was ok and they just messed up the initial bevel set. Wanting to do the work myself for the fun of it; got to get my money out of these rocks!
Thanks,
Paul

Welcome to the world of ebay specials. If you are wanna fix that one with an Arkie it will take you a very long time. This razor needs its bevel reset.
Here's a link to the relevant helpfile: Bevel-setting in theory and practice - Straight Razor Place Library
Read and digest and we'll answer any questions if you do have one or more.

Struggling to see with my phone and pics. Was assuming if the bevel was funked up that badly then spine would be too. I'd go all the way back to 1000 grit and carefully set bevel using sharpie test etc. If you can hone I don't see the benefit to tape as you'll slowly be ruining the intended geometry of the razor.

Yep, even if you drop back to a soft Arkie, you'll be there a while trying to sort that out. Not impossible if you've got time to spare.

From the two photos you provided it looks like a couple of things going on. First the razor has a straight spine and a slightly smiling edge profile, second it looks like the razor probably has a bit of a warp, both common challenges.

If it were on my bench I would first check to see how warped it is, take it back to 1K and rework the bevel using rolling "X" stokes.
If the warp is pronounced the honer may have to use a 45 degree angle stroke to work the concave side and a rolling "X" on the other. Fairly simple honing gymnastics should get this edge up and shaving but it needs to go back to bevel set for correction, then hone with the appropriate progression using strokes that will keep the edge on the stone.