Thread: A tape-free experience

A frown always should be corrected if you want to produce a decent edge on your razor.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Paul, in the last pic you can see the uneven edge at the heel, caused by the stabilizer.

You must reshape the heel and move the corner forward of the stabilizer. It only takes a few strokes on a diamond plate or a Washita should do it, use the side.

It also looks like a frown where that rust pit is. Actually, the edge looks S shaped, narrow at the heel, wide mid-way above the pit Green Arrow and narrow below the pit, green arrow.

Put the edge on a flat surface and look at it for straightness.

Take a measurement at the narrowest point and mark a straight line from that point with a sharpie. A few high angle strokes should bring it back into line

Then just round off the hook, (red circle) to where the frown is and straighten the edge with a couple high angle laps.

Or if you want, send it to me and I’ll fix it for you.


Attachment 253268

Thank you Marty! I actually did exactly what you suggested about the hook before reading your post. Great minds....

I just checked and the edge is not straight; particularly near the toe. When you say high angle, do you mean spine off the hone? Or multiple layers of tape.

Thank you for offering the fix. I'm going work on that edge. The concern I have, the more I look at this razor, is the pitting along the spine and other areas. This would be outside my pay scale. Any thoughts on the condition?

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Utopian

A frown always should be corrected if you want to produce a decent edge on your razor.

I'm going to address the frown. Hope to shoot past 'decent' and attain 'Good'!!

Thank you

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I don't know what that razor looked like when you first got it, but it is now a poster child for why taping the spine is advisable for beginning honing.

I'm pleased to say I did not do that to the spine.
Whew!

Thanks

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Are you sure you have chips & not a raggedy burr ?

You can't because the stabiliser will still lift the heel & put more pressure on the toe.

You could quite easily knock that hook back on a DMT.

Pretty sure these are chips but I will admit I would not know what a raggedy burr looks like. There are probably about 3, 4 chips and they are within an area about a third of the blade. And again, tiny at this point.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Paulbuck

Pretty sure these are chips but I will admit I would not know what a raggedy burr looks like. There are probably about 3, 4 chips and they are within an area about a third of the blade. And again, tiny at this point.

Thanks

Always hard for us to guess what people mean without a micro pic but a burr will always disappear via a light pass on glass whereas chips won't.

Yes, you should correct the edge and make it straight.

Much of the excessive spine wear is caused from honing on the stabilizer. To compensate for the stabilizer keeping the heel portion of the edge off the stone, more (excessive) pressure was used, it also caused the frown.

Straighten the edge either by bread knifing on the side of a stone or on a diamond plate or high angle honing.

High angle honing can be anything from 90 degrees to the stone or spine ¼ inch off the stone with your finger as a guide.

For that one I, would use a course stone and start by marking a straight edge with a sharpie with a measurement from the narrowest part of the blade. Measure from the spine to the belly of the frown.

Look at the (Make Me Smile) post for one way to do it, this post is on making an even smile edge, but the principals and technique are the same.

The width the razor at 90 degrees to the stone, tilt it 10-15 degrees in the direction of travel and drag the razor up and down the stone, removing a bit of material at a time. Keep an eye on your progress and the line you marked, stop just short of the line and the bottom belly of the frown.

Correct the heel, and move the end of the edge well forward of the stabilizer, now you can hone the razor with the spine about a ¼ inch off the stone and cut the corner of the edge. Then just hone normally with tape to set the bevel. Once set fully, decide if you want to continue with tape and re-set the bevel.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Always hard for us to guess what people mean without a micro pic but a burr will always disappear via a light pass on glass whereas chips won't.

According to the science of sharp blog photos, some of which I consider to be suspect, a burr can be created by a pass on glass. I have my doubts about the pressure used in the photos, but I thought I'd throw it out here.

I would suspect that a light pass on the corner of a hone would be better for removing a burr while a pass on glass would just deform it rather than remove it.

Originally Posted by Utopian

According to the science of sharp blog photos, some of which I consider to be suspect, a burr can be created by a pass on glass. I have my doubts about the pressure used in the photos, but I thought I'd throw it out here.

I would suspect that a light pass on the corner of a hone would be better for removing a burr while a pass on glass would just deform it rather than remove it.

I'm inclined to agree with that notion. Which is why I use a hone to remove burrs, I just don't think glass has the abrasive quality required to remove a burr so much as nudge it around. The again, I can also see where a deformed burr might be more readily removed with normal honing during the bevel reset.

Originally Posted by Marshal

The again, I can also see where a deformed burr might be more readily removed with normal honing during the bevel reset.

Yup .