Thread: new razor will not hone

Guci, don't feel too bad about this and don't beat yourself up. It's obvious that you are eager to learn, but you need a mentor to guide you. They can prevent you from hours of frustration, and more importantly, wasting money on razors. I have some skills in metal working, but before I attempted to hone a razor, I'd watched MANY hours of videos, and read all I could here on SRP. I'd already learned to straight shave too. Honing should be the final skill you learn with the straight razor.

I've honed my own razors for over 40 years. In all that time I've had one razor that was a problem. After inking the spine and edge I made a couple of test passes on my bevel setter and realized it was beyond my capabilities. I held my head up and sent it to a pro. It came back to me with a perfect edge. Please take Glen's kind offer.......there's absolutely no shame in having a pro do it.

Originally Posted by JOB15

I say practice on new razors, the vintage ones are special

That's why I recommended worn razors.

Originally Posted by Kees

That's why I recommended worn razors.

Some of my best shavers are severely worn..
Worn out blades have soul and character.

But I hear what your saying

So, to answer your questions, the stabilizer is keeping the edge, at the heel half of the razor, off the stone, (looks like you were also on the tang), you are not using tape to protect the spine and using way too much pressure, grinding the spine lowering the bevel angle and not allowing the bevels to meet. (Look at John’s post #6 and photo)

The goal of razor honing is to not raise a burr, unlike knife honing. The heel now needs to be repaired/reshaped due to excessive grinding.

The first 3 post in the Honing Forum are packed full of honing information.

Kind of late in the game, but I'm moving this thread from 'hones' to honing forum.

Please put the the hones down and try and find someone local who knows how to hone razors (not knives, very different process) to help you. You've honed that to the point it looks like a 100 year old barber worn razor. It should take less than 10 mins to set a bevel on a new razor with a Chosera 1k unless there are very serious geometry or steel issues with the razor.

Take up Glenn's offer to try and hone that razor

Originally Posted by Euclid440

So, to answer your questions, the stabilizer is keeping the edge, at the heel half of the razor, off the stone, (looks like you were also on the tang)

Seems only part of the problem as the heel end of the spine has more honewear than the toe end.

At this point one may also wonder about the current condition of the hone as well.

Originally Posted by guci31

yes its new

I would probably stop while you have some razor left.