Thread: warped blade: correct or compensate?

There are quite a few members in the Toronto area so it might be a good idea to see if you can get some one on one time with one of them on honing.

Bob

Originally Posted by RezDog

The more of an adjusted stroke that I am using often leads to using less width on the hone. It is not always true but more often then not. To help you stay narrower in your strokes you can draw a line down your hone with a pencil and try to keep your stroke within that line. It is not fool proof but it can help to keep your eye and mind conscious about your stroke. I do not know who said it when but that little tidbit has been floating around the forum for some time. It is way easier than cutting your hone in half lengthwise and provides the same result.

And make sure the working edge of your hones are smoothly chamfered.
The pencil line trick is a little "gem" (pun intended)
Your brain wants to succeed so it eventually will if you focus on your goal. A bit like shooting an arrow with less than perfect gear. The brain/body will compensate.

Originally Posted by RezDog

The more of an adjusted stroke that I am using often leads to using less width on the hone. It is not always true but more often then not. To help you stay narrower in your strokes you can draw a line down your hone with a pencil and try to keep your stroke within that line. It is not fool proof but it can help to keep your eye and mind conscious about your stroke. I do not know who said it when but that little tidbit has been floating around the forum for some time. It is way easier than cutting your hone in half lengthwise and provides the same result.

Thanks RezDog.. any videos or diagrams demonstrating this. having a hard time imagining doing a rolling x with just half of the hone. Thanks!

The concept is pretty simple. Draw a line lengthwise down your hone, with a pencil, down the middle or two inches from the side you hone from. For me that is the left side, as I am left handed, for others it is the right side. Now pretend that is how wide your hone is, keeping your stroke between the line and the edge of the hone. I have ever seen it in a video. It is very effective, yet so very simple.

Originally Posted by RezDog

The concept is pretty simple. Draw a line lengthwise down your hone, with a pencil, down the middle or two inches from the side you hone from. For me that is the left side, as I am left handed, for others it is the right side. Now pretend that is how wide your hone is, keeping your stroke between the line and the edge of the hone. I have ever seen it in a video. It is very effective, yet so very simple.

so the stroke will be heal first near the edge and the toe canted back near the mid line ? do i keep the heal on the hone, or take it off for an x stroke ?

Originally Posted by RezDog

The concept is pretty simple. Draw a line lengthwise down your hone, with a pencil, down the middle or two inches from the side you hone from. For me that is the left side, as I am left handed, for others it is the right side. Now pretend that is how wide your hone is, keeping your stroke between the line and the edge of the hone. I have ever seen it in a video. It is very effective, yet so very simple.

Thanks my Northern Friend, as it sounds soooo Familiar!

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...than-mile.html

Sorry, heel leading for sure, half way or so down the hone the toe starts to leading swoops forward. The the heel leading with the toe swooping through is shown fairly well in this video series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEtb9k3APYM&t=7s

Now comes the part that I cannot exactly tell you. mark the edge with a magic marker. As you move your stroke down the honey are trying to keep the bevel in contact with the hone, but it needn't be the whole bevel all at once, but even contact for the entire bevel. Your stroke rolls that contact point starting at the heel and is slowly moves the contact down the edge to the toe as the stroke runs down the length of the hone, like a slow swoop. Stop and check your marker. I like to get a milky slurry on the hone, because it makes the water easier to see and I believe makes for quicker honing. As you are going down the hone you should see a little wave of slurry water moving in front of the point of contact where your bevel is touching the hone. If you get the stroke nice and even, and as your bevel begins to form you will also get a nice even removal of the marker. You will have to apply the marker every three strokes or so until you have the motion of the stroke for that razor down pat. Challenging razors all wind up with a stroke a little different from each other, that's what makes them challenging razors. Watching the water and using the marker test will help you figure out the right stroke. Rubbing alcohol will take off any excess marker when you are done. It gets tricky because the edge are not always straight either and that may trick you into thinking that your stroke is not correct so it does the a little trial and error at times. Go slow, tape the spine and if you feel as though you are not getting it, reach out to one of the member in your area. One on one can make a ton of lights go on and aha moments accelerate.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Sorry, heel leading for sure, half way or so down the hone the toe starts to leading swoops forward. The the heel leading with the toe swooping through is shown fairly well in this video series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEtb9k3APYM&t=7s

Now comes the part that I cannot exactly tell you. mark the edge with a magic marker. As you move your stroke down the honey are trying to keep the bevel in contact with the hone, but it needn't be the whole bevel all at once, but even contact for the entire bevel. Your stroke rolls that contact point starting at the heel and is slowly moves the contact down the edge to the toe as the stroke runs down the length of the hone, like a slow swoop. Stop and check your marker. I like to get a milky slurry on the hone, because it makes the water easier to see and I believe makes for quicker honing. As you are going down the hone you should see a little wave of slurry water moving in front of the point of contact where your bevel is touching the hone. If you get the stroke nice and even, and as your bevel begins to form you will also get a nice even removal of the marker. You will have to apply the marker every three strokes or so until you have the motion of the stroke for that razor down pat. Challenging razors all wind up with a stroke a little different from each other, that's what makes them challenging razors. Watching the water and using the marker test will help you figure out the right stroke. Rubbing alcohol will take off any excess marker when you are done. It gets tricky because the edge are not always straight either and that may trick you into thinking that your stroke is not correct so it does the a little trial and error at times. Go slow, tape the spine and if you feel as though you are not getting it, reach out to one of the member in your area. One on one can make a ton of lights go on and aha moments accelerate.

Thanks RezDog! very helpful

I watched the 'Dr Matt' video and thought that it was telling that he made no comments when checking the smiling blade, as an honest discussion of honing a smile makes the rest of the video irrelevant. A smile can never lie flat on a plane unless it is severely warped and in that case it can only lie flat on one side. Using a similar technique (as honing a smile) works equally well to hone a warped blade. And IMO the same technique is superior for honing non warped blades as well.

It is a solution, to a not existent problem. Very few vintage razors are perfectly flat, very few, but does not mean, they cannot be honed.

Depending on the amount of warp, you may have to hone each side differently than the other. Sometimes on the Convex side you must drop the heel off the stone, to get the middle of the bevel.

Honing vintage razors is all about reading the razor and edge, then adjusting technique to allot for imperfections. A little bit of sharpie ink will show you what is working and where you need to adjust.