Thread: Bought a New Vintage -- Now what?

OK, I bought a 9/16, square tip, W. H. Morley and Sons for 30 bucks off of eBay and it arrived today. It looked good, with no visible rust or pitting. Upon examination, that proved to be true -- pretty little razor. The ad said, ambiguously, that it was "well-honed and passed the hanging hair test." Then that was followed by" "needs to be honed". Of those two statements the last one was far more accurate. It failed both the TNT and TPT tests and the hanging hair was like throwing a rope over a power line. So, after cleaning the blade with some alcohol (just in case) I put it on the 12k for about 20 passes, then another 20 on canvas/crox, 30 on canvas, 50 on the strop.

At that point it passed both the TNT and the TPT. It shaved arm hair pretty easily, although I hardly have any from testing my knives. I did a test shave of a bit of my face and it sounded like it was cutting hair, though not much had grown back from this morning, and wasn't uncomfortable. That thin little 9/16 blade is very easy to maneuver, btw.

Next, I looked at the blade under 60 and 120 power lenses. So here's the deal... I can see striations that indicate that whatever the seller used to polish the blade run all the way down the face of the blade and over the bevel (I'm assuming that's why it was dull.) So, asking the experts is my next step. The 20 passes on 12k didn't do much to remove them, so how far does everyone think I should drop back? Incrementally to 8k to see if it improves, then to 4k if it doesn't? Should I drop all the way back to 1k, set the bevel and move up?

You can kind of see the striations on the blade here:

Sounds like the bevel is set so if the stria is bothering you I would go to 4k and work up from there paying attention to what you see. 8k and 12 k are finishers and if the stria is deep they won't do much to remove it. If they were deeper than 1k I don't think you would be raving about the shave :<0)

This is just going by what you say and the picture in MY mind.

The true test is the shave and no matter what you have sharpened before the straight is a different animal. Doesn't matter what it looks like it's how it works on your face that counts.

Yeah if scratches on the belly of the blade extend into the bevel, it certainly is not proper honed. To me, scratches like that indicate the need for a completely new bevel set.

Looks like it may just be stains from a polishing wheel and then honed...only test is the shave test as they say....

If your join date is an indication of your level of experience perhaps you should send it out for a pro honing. Also the thumb nail test is an edge descriptive test used to show the condition of the bevel during the bevel set. Once that one has been performed your razor will no longer be shave ready, even if it was before the test.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/class...wcat.php?cat=4

Originally Posted by RezDog

If your join date is an indication of your level of experience perhaps you should send it out for a pro honing. Also the thumb nail test is an edge descriptive test used to show the condition of the bevel during the bevel set. Once that one has been performed your razor will no longer be shave ready, even if it was before the test.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/class...wcat.php?cat=4

Well, that would kind of defeat my entire purpose for buying a cheap razor off of eBay. If I just wanted a professionally honed razor I would buy one from SRD like I have done and will continue to do, or perhaps one of the really nice razors that pop up here in the classifieds section. The primary reason that I bought this thing was to learn how to properly hone a razor. One doesn't learn how to shave by going to a barber, nor learn how to play golf by watching it on TV. The only way to learn any skill is by actually doing it.

However, considering my join date, I'll refrain from asking further questions. Thanks for the advice.

No, don't stop asking questions. That would be a mistake.

Personally I don't base honing decisions on a scope. I base them on how it shaves. If the bevel needs redoing often times you can see that right away without mag. You start honing with the highest grit and work down. If you are getting no where that's a hint the bevel needs being redone.

I know many upon acquiring a new vintage piece automatically redo the bevel.

“So here's the deal... I can see striations that indicate that whatever the seller used to polish the blade run all the way down the face of the blade and over the bevel”


Does that stria run all the way to the edge, and does the 12k stria reach the edge?

If the 12k is not removing the deep bevel stria, you will have to drop down in grit, how far depends on the depth of the stria.

Don’t get offended by suggestions of have the razor pro honed, if you are new to Straight Shaving, honing in addition, can be overwhelming. But sounds like you have some experience and proper tools, so go for it.

The trick for most that make the knife to razor transition is learning new some new tools and realizing that sharp is not enough, the edge must be smooth.

Here are a couple of good recent threads by a newish honer, where he has taken a lot of great micrographs of the bevel and edge and documented his whole honing process. There is a lot of good information and photos of what to look for.

Ask your questions, that’s why we’re here.

Second try at Honing, and Is this Microchipping.

First, I would suggest that you tape the spine with a good quality electrical tape. 3M is good and has very little adhesive on the shiny side to contaminate your hone.
Then I would try an 8000 grit hone if you have it.
Try 20 passes or so and look at the bevel with magnification. At that point you should be able to decide if you need to go back to a coarser grit.
If it were me, and it looked like 100 passes or so would restore the edge, I would do that rather than go back to a coarser grit.
Don't be offended by advice to seek a pro for the first honing. That is advice seen here frequently for new members.

Yes, the stria reached all the way to the edge. Further, using the TPT, it felt sharper in one direction than the other, which I believed might be an indication that the edge was slightly canted from the center line. I also noted this yesterday when I have tested, it seemed to feel sharper on one side of my fact that the other.

Therefore, I decided to just reset the bevel. I worked on the 1k stone for a bit, alternating 20-40 circles followed by slightly heal forward strokes and X-strokes and now it feels the same in both directions and will shave hair off my arm for the entire length of the blade. Further, under magnification, the old stria are gone and now there are 1k stria that I created. To the eye the bevel appears to be the same width throughout the length of the blade and from side to side. Looking edge on under magnification, the edge appears to be the same width down the entire length. I was also able to remove a microchip that I noticed near the point before I began. At one point during the process the blade seemed less sharp towards the heel end so I applied a little pressure on that end and now the keenness (as measured by my thumb) appears to be the same down the whole length of the blade. There are no microchips and the bevel is much more distinct under light than it was before I started. This process took maybe 20 minutes, since I had to go through several iterations before I was satisfied, both from a tactile as well as a magnified visual perspective.

Currently, I am soaking the Norton 4k/8k and after lunch I will flatten those stones and move to the 4k, then the 8k, then the 12k then the crox, etc. -- if all goes well. Otherwise, I'll just drop back to whatever I think is required and repeat until I have it where it shaves well or the razor turns into a fine 1/8 square point and get another one off of eBay and start from scratch.

I think the suggestion that automatically setting a new bevel on random eBay acquired vintage razors is probably an excellent rule of thumb.