Thread: warped blade: correct or compensate?

Hi All,
i've been using and honeing straight razors for about 2 years now. I would say that my skill level is on the newbie-side of intermediate. I have 4 blades (dovo, TI, gold $, and a vintage robson) and my honing setup consists of a dmt 120 for lapping, norton 1k, 4k, 8k, naniwa 12k superstone, and zulu grey natural stone finisher.

2 of my razors hone and shave brilliantly; 2 are acceptable shavers and tricky to hone... they certainly pass the hht and other tests of bevel setting and sharpness... but they are not as great as my other two. These two razors (TI and gold $) have a slight wrap. i would ink the cutting edge and find that i was not cutting steal on heal/toe of one side of the blade. I tried to solve this problem by adding one or two layers of tape and doing rolling x's.

Yesterday, i stumbled upon this youtube video by @drmatt357

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP4cP-aY-Wk&t=912s

the video recommends checking the flatness of the razor using a granite or glass surface and seeing if the blade wobbles. Sure enough, the difficult razors were obviously not flat - i can tap the corners of the blade and get the razor to wabble. Not surprised because the ink test showed that the blade was not true flat.

In the video, drmatt357 recommends honing the warped blade down on a stone or dmt plate. This represents a departure from the typical advice i generally got. Normally folks deal with warped blades by compensating for the warp using rolling x-strokes.

so - after this long winded intro; here is the question...
when we have a warped razor, is it better to simply correct the warp by removing metal from spine edge until its flat, or is it better to simply live with the warp and compensate for it using the rolling x.

I like the simplicity of the 'grinding it flat' solution, but i am worried that by doing so, i would somehow alter the geometry of the edge (i.e. go from straight edge to a smiling or frowning edge).

Obviously, the grinding correction will introduce spine wear, but that is something that i don't care about with these razors.

Thanks for your thoughts and advice.

I don't like to remove lots of metal so I would at least try to compensate with a rolling x-stroke, unless it's REALLY bad this always seems to work

How about you wear away cheap tape rather then good steel

I swear some of the stuff I read on here makes me sad for razors

Put 1 layer of tape on the spine.. do the exact same "Spine Leveling Technique" as you would with the steel, the tape will wear in the high spots and say in the low..
After you finish "leveling" the spine the apply a (one) new layer of tape OVER the leveled tape, this gives you as much of a level spine as wearing away the steel does..

Or just learn to hone around a warped blade

ps: This also gives you an idea if you will even have enough steel on the spine to level it out

Most of my razors are in pretty nice condition. There are some that have some slight warps. I have never felt the need to straighten out any of my razors. I compensate for the warp with my technique. I suppose if you had a whole box of $4 razors it might not matter. I have no $4 razors. People can do as they like. I know a gut that straightens his out and then regrinds the wear so the razors are straight and all the signs of the process have been removed. If you were completely on top of your game you could take that route too, but is is a lot of work.

Thanks for your thoughts! so you are disagreeing with the advice on the youtube video... its helpful to know - because its hard to know whats good advice or not when you are 'new'.

so curious - how would you go about honing a warped razor without spine correction. when setting the bevel, a lot of the circular bevel setting moves will not work on the high / low spots. Would you recommend doing rolling x's to set the bevel and repeat all the way through the stone progression?

thanks!

No expert at honing either but I do hate removing more metal than necessary. That being the case I just one layer of tape and go with rolling X strokes to get the job done. I do not wear the tape down on the high spots and then add another layer which would work too. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Maybe just work on the areas you are not getting a bit on their own and then ink the edge and try some rolling X strokes to see if you have brought those spots into line with the rest of the edge. It takes a bit of playing around.

Bob

People tend to try and pigeon hole strokes even going so far as to make up names for them

Honing Gymnastics = Adapting the honing stroke to fit the razor, the bevel needs to stay in even and equal contact with the hone during the stroke.. By watching that little ripple of Water or Oil "The Wave" you can ride that straight to a perfect edge every time.. That also adjusts for pressure automatically by using just enough pressure to ride the wave..

Basically adjust the honing stroke to keep even and equal contact, try shifting to a more heel forward stroke on some of these wonky blades to make it easier

If circles are not working try using the Back and Forth Japanese Honing strokes instead as they are easier to watch the contact point on the bevel..

I prefer not to call techniques right or wrong any longer, as there is always somebody that thinks it works great, I however prefer not to wear away precious razor steel unless it is REALLY needed

I haven't watched the video, but I've honed plenty of razors that had a slightly warp in the spine, or smiling razors. The rolling X is the way to deal with these. A bit of marker to see what stroke works, and rolling x will sharpen the razor, and won't ruin it.

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.

I think it depends on your sharpening skill and understanding of blade geometry.

My humble opinion on honing is that you should remove the minimum amount of metal to get a corect edge and a great shave.
Some people may argue but unless you can hone a warped edge, avoid buying them....if it's new send it back...if it's a vintage blade send it to someone who can hone it if you care about the blade.

Learning to hone proper and cover most of the problems takes years and learning to hone a warped blade on you newly bought WB or TI or what expensive razor is not the best idea....you will end up overhoning the poor blade and in the end you will not like it anymore...so you started with a blade that you didn't like how it shaved and you ended up with a blade you don't like how it looks...and you're not likeing the blade the whole way

Practice and learn honing on cheap blades.