Thread: Just 1 hone for everything?

How do you feed your HAD with only one hone? I'm finding that I'm experiencing symptoms of all maner of AD's since starting this...

J.

Last weekend I was honing a 5/8 smiling W&B that was really warped.
I also tried using my 1.5" wide coticule. It has rounded edges and is lapped perfectly flat.

But if a razor is really warped, the fact that the hone is narrow doesn't do you any good. If you try to keep the razor flat on the hone, you will still grind the edge of the blade across the edges of the stone, despite the fact that the hone is narrow.

My last attempt will be to hone it on the rounded edge of a norton without any pressure. Just move the blade in an X motion over the rounded edge itself without making any other contact.
If that doesn't work, nothing will without seriously altering the shape of the blade, and a) it's a hollow so no luck in working with the bevel shape to compensate, and b) it's not mine anyway.

Bruno,

I've only come across one razor so far that my 1.5"-wide coticule couldn't handle, and that blade is a mess in about six different ways.

Using the edge of the Norton works, but it's tricky. I was usually able to do well up to the 4K level. Finishing was a real bear, though.

The narrow coticule makes it easier for me because it cuts slower. Fine barber hones also work well for this. I like holding the hone in my hand when I'm working a warped blade, so you can make minute adjustments to the angle with ease.

But you are the master when it comes to warps--I remember bigspendur's challenge.

Josh

Yep, I also work with narrow hones holding in one hand - there is just no way for me to control the contact well enough on a 1" hone if I have it on a table or something

I haven't had a case where I need to use the edge only - I am thinking this would be one very serious warp

Cheers
Ivo

Originally Posted by izlat

I haven't had a case where I need to use the edge only - I am thinking this would be one very serious warp

If I lay it on the the stone with the round side and roll until the toe is touching the stone, then the heel is > 3 or 4 mm removed from the stone.
The other side lays flat on the stone, with the middle barely touching.

As a razor it is pretty useless. Even if I can get it to shave decently, maintaining it will be a bitch. But it will be interesting to see if I can pull it off or not.

Originally Posted by Bruno

If I lay it on the the stone with the round side and roll until the toe is touching the stone, then the heel is > 3 or 4 mm removed from the stone.

> 3 or 4 mm

guess you could just string it and use as a bow

More power to you Bruno!
Ivo

I've got a wedge somewhere that has to be lifted around 2 or 3mm at the heel to get the toe. It's almost like a hand forged knife in that the blade seems to taper a little at the end as well as curving up a bit. The heel curves up a little as well but doesn't have the taper so it's not so bad.

I quite liked the heft in my hand but I dropped it about 2ft onto a wooden floor one day when I was cleaning it while I had the scales off which took a little chip out of the edge at the toe.
I had to grind this out which has made it a bit worse but it still shaves and the toe can be used for tidying up around facial hair.

The fact that you have to lift the heel to get to the toe is not a problem, as long as you have to do the same for both sides of the razor.
Honing such a razor is not too difficult.

The real problem is when you have to do this for one side, and the other side lays flat on the stone with only the heel and toe touching, and the middle not or barely touching.

First you have to figure out how you can hone the entire length of the blade without scraping any other part of the blade across the edge of the stone.
Second you have to be careful not to make mistakes, because 1 bad pass will undo half an hour of work or more.
And third, you have to make very light passes because the weight of the razor rests only on a small area of the blade. More than very light pressure and you will chip the edge. This also means you have to do more passes than usual, increasing the chances of a bad pass.

Yup Bruno!

In my experience having a 1" hone has been very helpful (but I have never dealt with big warps)

Cheers
Ivo