Thread: Adventures in barber's hone-land

If you look at the pictures and see how your bevel runs into your heel. In part your heel is keeping your blade off the hone at the back and you are not able to get nice even stroke. It will also develop a heel hook or possibly a partial frown form trying to hone with it like that. It needs to be reshaped. There are many methods. A cheap hardware store DMT will work well, but if you are going to spend money you may as well get one big enough to use for lapping as well. http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...ing-heels.html This thread explains it fairly well.

Hard to say. I don't really count passes when setting the bevel. I just go at it until the bevel is set. Each bevel will have it's own needs.

Originally Posted by RezDog

If you look at the pictures and see how your bevel runs into your heel. In part your heel is keeping your blade off the hone at the back and you are not able to get nice even stroke. It will also develop a heel hook or possibly a partial frown form trying to hone with it like that. It needs to be reshaped. There are many methods. A cheap hardware store DMT will work well, but if you are going to spend money you may as well get one big enough to use for lapping as well. http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...ing-heels.html This thread explains it fairly well.

Thanks for the link RezDog. I'll take a look in a few.

I have somewhere around 12 razors; would you suggest I move on to a different razor to learn honing rather than fiddle with reshaping the heel?

I have a Bengall, among others, that may be in better shape.

So lots of issues with the blade and edge first clean the blade with WD40 and 000 steel wool or all that rust and grit will end up on your strop and eventually affect the edge.

The toe is crooked and so much of the edge has been removed the heel is way too high and you are honing on the stabilizer, that is keeping the heel off the stone and why your bevel tapers from toe to heel and you have multiple bevels.

Take some measurements on blade width and develop a plan on what to do with the edge, do you want it straight? The spine look like it has bit of a curve on it and the edge may have had a slight smile.

If so, with a sharpie mark the blade, so you can see what it will look like, then if you like what you see, reshape the heel and grind the edge even and straight. There are tons of threads on bread knifing an edge, the library is a good place to start. Do develop a plan before you jump in and start grinding…

Then lap your 4/8k with 220 / 320 wet & dry or a diamond plate and bevel the edges.

It also appears you barber hone may not be as fine as you think.

No, don’t use the Harbor Freight diamond plate, they are too rough and the diamonds are too inconsistent.

Chef Knives to Go has a nice dual grit 400/1k diamond plate that is great for blade correction and lapping, for about $30. A 325 DMT will run about $50.

What you have is not a garden variety honing, this is a repair and once repaired, then it can be honed. If you approach it as a honing that a few pyramids will fix, you will continue to make it worst.

Whether to repair this blade and make it shave ready, depends on if you want to learn to make repairs and hone difficult razors. It can all be fixed, just depends on how much time you want to invest.

[QUOTE=Euclid440;1592416]So lots of issues with the blade and edge first clean the blade with WD40 and 000 steel wool or all that rust and grit will end up on your strop and eventually affect the edge.

The toe is crooked and so much of the edge has been removed the heel is way too high and you are honing on the stabilizer, that is keeping the heel off the stone and why your bevel tapers from toe to heel and you have multiple bevels.

Take some measurements on blade width and develop a plan on what to do with the edge, do you want it straight? The spine look like it has bit of a curve on it and the edge may have had a slight smile.

If so, with a sharpie mark the blade, so you can see what it will look like, then if you like what you see, reshape the heel and grind the edge even and straight. There are tons of threads on bread knifing an edge, the library is a good place to start. Do develop a plan before you jump in and start grinding…

Then lap your 4/8k with 220 / 320 wet & dry or a diamond plate and bevel the edges.

[QUOTE]

Duly noted. I'll clean up the blade.

If I use the sandpaper for lapping should I do so with or without water?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

It also appears you barber hone may not be as fine as you think.

Is that because you can see the striations on the blade? Are you thinking higher or lower grit than the 8k Norton?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

No, don’t use the Harbor Freight diamond plate, they are too rough and the diamonds are too inconsistent.

Chef Knives to Go has a nice dual grit 400/1k diamond plate that is great for blade correction and lapping, for about $30. A 325 DMT will run about $50.

What you have is not a garden variety honing, this is a repair and once repaired, then it can be honed. If you approach it as a honing that a few pyramids will fix, you will continue to make it worst.

Whether to repair this blade and make it shave ready, depends on if you want to learn to make repairs and hone difficult razors. It can all be fixed, just depends on how much time you want to invest.

RE the razor...I honestly would prefer to set it aside and focus on learning to hone. I have enough other razors that this can take a back seat until I get myself straightened out in that regard.

I'll pull out my box and post some pics here: maybe you guys can point out which one I should start with.

You want to wet sand if you use sand paper

Yes wet, get a large cookie sheet from the dollar store, lay your Wet & Dry on the sheet and set it on the ground on a flat piece of concrete, Garage floor works. Flood the sheet with water and the paper will stick to the sheet.

Then mark the stone with a grid with a lumber pencil, rub the stone on the Wet & Dry until the grid is removed, spin the stone and remove another grid. Rinse the paper with clean water as needed.

Then bevel the edges.

Yea, looks much lower than 8K, but photos can be tricky. You can get a nice edge from a Norton 8K.

Saving this one for later, might be a good idea.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Yes wet, get a large cookie sheet from the dollar store, lay your Wet & Dry on the sheet and set it on the ground on a flat piece of concrete, Garage floor works. Flood the sheet with water and the paper will stick to the sheet.

Then mark the stone with a grid with a lumber pencil, rub the stone on the Wet & Dry until the grid is removed, spin the stone and remove another grid. Rinse the paper with clean water as needed.

Then bevel the edges.

Yea, looks much lower than 8K, but photos can be tricky. You can get a nice edge from a Norton 8K.

Saving this one for later, might be a good idea.

Yesterday I set about with my wet & dry and did as you instructed; do I just assume the hone is now flat, or is there a way to measure / tell? I mean the second time the grid basically came off in an even fashion, if that makes sense.

I decided to go ahead and move on to a different razor. I can't tell its brand because there are no markings anywhere on the razor, or if there were they have been worn off. I'll get a pic up here today or tomorrow.

I also ended up watching one of Lynn's videos as a guide on bevel setting and honing.

This razor is unquestionably the sharpest that I have ever had, though that may not mean much give the state of my other razor(s).

When tested on my arm the hairs literally pop off in front of the blade; and when I run it over the skin through arm hair it cuts the hair consistently.

I shaved right off of the 8k and in addition to be comfortable, I found that I didn't have to go back over spots hardly at all.

It did pull ever so slightly - but nowhere near what I was getting with the previous razor. Could that be indicative of:

(a) partially / poorly set bevel,
(b) partially / poorly finished blade (needs more time on 8k),
(c) unstropped blade (should have taken it to the linen/leather before shaving)
(d) any / all of the above?

I didn't even use the Apart at all on this. Although I did take a brillo pad to the Apart, thinking it might be dirty (I haven't cleaned it in a while) and in addition to cleaning it the sheen on the surface seems to have come off. I don't think I scrubbed it too hard but maybe I did :/ As it now stands, it feels more coarse than that 4k and less fine than the 8k. So maybe it's a 6k equivalent or so? Or at those grits is it too hard to tell and it's all in my head?

Slight pulling at the 8k level to me says it probably needs more time on the 8k, or failing that - a tiny bit more time on the hone below to polish up some of the deeper scratches. Then again, it may just need some stropping.

I wouldn't judge where the Barber hone is by feel alone. Hone a razor on your 8k, look at it under magnification. Then do a few strokes on your Apart and see if the edge improved. Also - I would imagine if you don't want to lap barber hones, abrasive cleaning pads are also on the do NOT use list. Circles back to removing binding material and potentially exposing too much of the cutting material. I would stick to soap, water, and paper towels if anything.