Thread: Pitted W&B for Honing

I am getting some Naniwa hones and found this in the wild.

It has some pitting near the edge and a bow but I think I may be able to do something with it.

What you ask? Not sure yet but my confidence since visiting Lynn has me thinking it may shave me one day.....

Yep. From those pix, it looks like that one has plenty of potential.

Clean it well with some WD40 and 000 steel wool, Get between the scales with a folded paper towel and more WD40 and a wooden coffee stir stick, with the end clipped off.

Then sand the blade with 600 wet & dry and a cork. From there you will know how much work you have on your hands and how much pitting you are willing to leave, or drop down in grit and spend some time sanding. The blade is thin and won’t take too much sanding.

Does not look that bad, and none of the pitting looks like it reaches the edge, but put it on a 1k and see if you have a pit free bevel, before you invest a lot of work on it.

start with a bevel set, once that is accomplished you can move forward with either cleaning up the blade or a full honing progression. You will never know until you set the bevel though. It doesn't look that bad, I think it can be done, just keep going until you have clean steel throughout the bevel.

Bevel it is, once the hones come in the mail. Thanks for the help....

Have a great day...

I would sharpen her up and leave her nasty looking. They look better that way to me, then again, I think Willie Nelson's guitar is beautiful.

Since this will be my second honed razor, first without help....

I will be using a Naniwa 1K to set the bevel.

Will the bow come out naturally?

Should I not worry about it at all?

Should I lead with the toe or put pressure to try and even it?

I bought primarily to practice honing but if the pitting doesn't hit the edge so I have clean steel she may be a keeper.....

You want to maintain that smile. A smile on a razor is like a smile on your wife, you never want it to go away. Watch gssixgun videos on honing a smiling wedge for a demonstration of a good technique.

Originally Posted by gflight

Since this will be my second honed razor, first without help....

I will be using a Naniwa 1K to set the bevel.

Will the bow come out naturally?

Should I not worry about it at all?

Should I lead with the toe or put pressure to try and even it?

I bought primarily to practice honing but if the pitting doesn't hit the edge so I have clean steel she may be a keeper.....

The 1K Nani is as good a bevel setter as any.

The smile (bow) will come out if you use enough straight up and down strokes. Personally, a little bit of a smile is not such a bad thing. To keep it I would use a scything X stroke.

Even if the pitting hits the edge you can still, most likely, hone past it to good steel. It may take a while longer on the bevel setter is all.

Bob

Well, first clean it, after doing a couple laps, to see if the edge will take an edge.

If you leave all that rust and tarnish on the blade, you will impregnate your strop with that rust. Rust is abrasive and once you get it on leather, you can never remove it completely.

If you clean it after, you hone, you will ruin the edge.

Measure the smile, to find out, if it is even from heel to toe, that will determine how you will hone it. It looks like the heel is narrower than the toe. Here is a post on shaping the smile so it is even. (Make Me Smile)

You want to shape it first, then hone it, though you can do it by honing, but is really an advanced honing technique not recommended for a new honer.

You can easily remove the smile by bread knifing it, but as said, I too would leave it. I am not seeing a curve in the spine.