Thread: Bread knifing

I watched a vid of one of the members (gssixgun). I understand he knows a lot, doing a bread knifing on a razor because of rust or pitting in the beveled edge. A comment was made that the razor might not shave again. ???
If its been repaired, bevel set again then honed out shouldnt it shave? The edge is not made of different metal is it? Why or how could this happen? Not doing this at this time, im just trying to understand it so i can repair a razor in the future. And if your listening glen please answer. I think its glen. Old memorys. And btw, i havent watched all the vid yet. Still in this damn truck!

The steel may be corrupt.

One cause can be a cell rotted blade. The metal is so soft you can ripple the bevel with your fingernail.


When restoring razors, it is a prudent move to test the metal before spending hours sanding or buffing.

^^^^ He is right

You have to get to CLEAN, EVEN, SOLID steel to create a good bevel, not all razors can get there

Clarification point here too:

As you grind away the width of a SR from say 6/8 toward 5/8 you are also changing the feel of the blade, the higher you go toward the spine the thicker the steel is going to be.. At a certain point that razor will no longer perform as designed, how far you want to go is a choice you have to make yourself with the razor you have in hand...

I think Im understanding. The cell rot you just dont know untill you get a straight edge and do some testing of the strength.on the metal. And i can see about changing a razor by an 1/8 or more would change the angoe of the bevel. Thats just math of angles. But if only changing lets say.1/16 shouldnt change the angle too much would it?

Like i say, im just trying to learn and understand. I like to learn as much as possible before atempting things.

Angle of the bevel is only part of the equation, that is adjustable

The actual thickness of the steel changes as you go toward the spine, and that isn't taking into account what are called Bellied Hollows, or Double grinds those change even faster.. These changes effect how the razor feels on the face, but I am getting deeper into the technical stuff here

Clean, Even, Solid, steel for a bevel set is the first step to a shave ready edge, if you can't get that, then the razor is a Wall Hanger

Or if a guy from Texas gets it, a wind chime!