Thread: Should I try to tackle this (very difficult, IMHO) challenge?

Time for the 2K test shave?

No test shave yet. You now need to move up to higher grit hone, with your 5 layers of tape.
Climbing time. I would go to 5k hone now. If you have a 4K or 6K it will work.
It is looking good.

Originally Posted by ultrasoundguy2003

No test shave yet. You now need to move up to higher grit hone, with your 5 layers of tape.
Climbing time. I would go to 5k hone now. If you have a 4K or 6K it will work.
It is looking good.

Wondering if I should, though. Was expecting a harsh, but reasonably cutting shave (granted, I've never tried shaving off a 2K or lower - always got up to at least 4K/8K). I'm concerned that I don't have a good bevel set, and if not, don't want to spend time polishing it.

I was mostly wanting you to check and see if the razor would shave at that angle. With normal geometry you should be able to shave as soon as the bevel is set. It is not a pleasant shave but it should mow whiskers. It should feel course and harsh on your skin, but still do what a shaving edge should do. Now I am curious if it is your honing or the angle that is not allowing it to shave. I would think some more 2K work before any thing else.

Did you strop on leather, before the shave?

Strop on linen, 20-30 laps, joint the edge and re-set on the 2k. I would be more concerned with the steel than the angle. The steel at the toe and heel does look different than the middle. It could be that more metal has been removed from the middle.

Stropping on linen will straighten the edge and remove any burrs, it will also stress the edge and if weak, may give you a hint of failure.

I strop on Chrome Oxide canvas after 1k, then joint and re-set the edge, I also strop on Canvas before the finish stone.

On problem edges where the steel looks different across the edge, I joint frequently until I get uniform steel across the edge. Do you need to, maybe not, but any time you put into setting and perfecting the bevel, is time well spent, because if the edge fails after polishing you just have to come back and reset or fight it all the way… and then start over.

Last night I honed an old Wade Butcher, with a crumbly heel and steel that look much like yours at the edge, only worst. I ended up lightly bread-knifing on a 1k diamond plate and reshaping the heel to get to good steel after fighting it for a while on a hard Nubatama 1k.

We touched on this earlier, but perhaps a little elaboration may help you.

You don’t have to make full blade width strokes every time. Often, especially when making repairs, which are what you are doing, concentration honing is helpful in focusing on a specific area, heel or toe.

Just do back and forth strokes on the same area of the bevel to make the correction, whatever it takes. You may end up with a faceted edge but that can easily be blended with a smooth X stroke.

So spend some time on the heel and toe until you get a good strong edge there, then blend.

If you hone the heel and toe the middle will follow.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

We touched on this earlier, but perhaps a little elaboration may help you.

You don’t have to make full blade width strokes ever time. Often, especially when making repairs, which are what you are doing, concentration honing is helpful in focusing on a specific area, heel or toe.

Just do back and forth strokes on the same area of the bevel to make the correction, whatever it takes. You may end up with a faceted edge but that can easily be blended with a smooth X stroke.

So spend some time on the heel and toe until you get a good strong edge there, then blend.

If you hone the heel and toe the middle will follow.

Ok, will give a shot at working just on the heel and toe. Any suggestion on the stroke to use? Straight perpendicular, heel leading or trailing?

Should I drop down to the 1k?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Did you strop on leather, before the shave?

Strop on linen, 20-30 laps, joint the edge and re-set on the 2k. I would be more concerned with the steel than the angle. The steel at the toe and heel does look different than the middle. It could be that more metal has been removed from the middle.

Stropping on linen will straighten the edge and remove any burrs, it will also stress the edge and if weak, may give you a hint of failure.

I strop on Chrome Oxide canvas after 1k, then joint and re-set the edge, I also strop on Canvas before the finish stone.

On problem edges where the steel looks different across the edge, I joint frequently until I get uniform steel across the edge. Do you need to, maybe not, but any time you put into setting and perfecting the bevel, is time well spent, because if the edge fails after polishing you just have to come back and reset or fight it all the way… and then start over.

Last night I honed an old Wade Butcher, with a crumbly heel and steel that look much like yours at the edge, only worst. I ended up lightly bread-knifing on a 1k diamond plate and reshaping the heel to get to good steel after fighting it for a while on a hard Nubatama 1k.

I didn't strop at all. Was expecting a harsh shave, but it wasn't. It's tough to photograph the edge near the toe, as the edge curves up at the end, and that whole bevel surface has a compound angle going on.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I was mostly wanting you to check and see if the razor would shave at that angle. With normal geometry you should be able to shave as soon as the bevel is set. It is not a pleasant shave but it should mow whiskers. It should feel course and harsh on your skin, but still do what a shaving edge should do. Now I am curious if it is your honing or the angle that is not allowing it to shave. I would think some more 2K work before any thing else.

Yeah, my expectation was that it would be a harsh shave, but I found that there was no irritation, but it was not cutting hairs much at all.

Granted, it's been a year since I shave with this razor (my only near wedge), and even then, I only used it about 20 times, so I'm not sure if I need to alter my shaving technique either.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Time for the 2K test shave?

Just for grins, I tried a test shave this morning...

Pulling some, but NOT cutting hairs hardly at all. I'm wondering if that bevel is not quite meeting or if there is some issue with the angle on the edge (or I wasn't using a steep enough angle when shaving)?

Think I should stay on the 2K more and see if that edge meets better?