Thread: This razor is driving me crazy- won't shave!

I have been doing really well as I learn to hone been at it several months now successfully putting on good shaving edges.

I have been practicing on eBay razors and have been doing well with challenges presented (uneven hone wear, toe wear, slight smile, etc.) all have responded to my honing efforts except this one:

George Worthington (Cleveland Ohio) "True Blue"

Progression:

Shapton Pro:
1.5k, 5k, 8k, Droescher Thuringian

Used 30x/60x loupe and 120x handheld microscope to check the edge after each stone- looked as good to me as any I have done so far.

Tried the following:

Tape 1, 2, 3 pieces did not shave after any of these. Went back to no tape just in case I had overdone it on the angle and inadvertently turned it into a pocket knife. No dice.

Did the sharpie test- reaching bevel and spine and bevel both passed this test.

Shaved arm hair after bevel set BUT did not treetop hair after refinement and stropping.

Below are some pictures of the razor and bevel- is it the grind? Tried to capture the bevel it is a mirror.

What am I missing?

Your transition from 1k to the next stone is not done right, assuming the bevel is indeed set right. I would guess you have not torqued the blade enough to hit the edge.

Do I go back to the 5k and torque? It did shave arm hair after bevel set.

Originally Posted by Sdm84

Do I go back to the 5k and torque? It did shave arm hair after bevel set.

it looks like you are not getting the edge, the amount of torque should be less than on the 1k of course.

Are you regularly changing the tape, especially near the end of the bevel setting?

If you went from 3 layers of tape to no tape, I wonder if you have fully set bevels that fully meet to form the edge. The sharpie test only gives you a rough idea but will not reveal a very fine unfinished strip of bevel.

Originally Posted by mainaman

it looks like you are not getting the edge, the amount of torque should be less than on the 1k of course.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Are you regularly changing the tape, especially near the end of the bevel setting?

If you went from 3 layers of tape to no tape, I wonder if you have fully set bevels that fully meet to form the edge. The sharpie test only gives you a rough idea but will not reveal a very fine unfinished strip of bevel.

I will go back to 5k and try again. Thank you for helping me learn and work through this.

If you have gotten other razors to shaving sharp, then with patience you can get this one there too.

You bevel was probably not fully set.

A sharpie test will tell you if you are honing to the edge, but it will not tell you if the bevels are meeting.

Slow down and approach the honing systematically, change one thing at a time. First clean the razor, when you strop that razor you will be pasting all the dirt, tarnish and rust onto your finish strop.

Clean with WD40 and 000 steel wool, then polish the blade and scales with a good metal polish. Then put one layer of tape on the spine, ink the bevel and do a couple laps on the 1k. Look at the bevel, with magnification 60X, especially the edge and see if you are honing at the edge.

Look straight down on the edge, with magnification 60x. if you see any shiny reflections, the bevels are not meeting. More than likely, this is your problem.

If it is, do circles in set of 20 until the bevels meet and you no longer see reflection when looking straight down on the edge. Once meeting, do X strokes until you have an even stria pattern. Then move up through the progression.

Here is a post with photos of bevels and edges so you know what to look for. Second try at Honing.

Post 42, page 9, shows an edge where the bevels are partially meeting, post, 51, page 11, shows an edge where the bevels are fully meeting.

Make sure to watch you tape and replace at the slightest hint of burn through.

I just went through a similar problem with my Arkansas stones and a Morley & Sons razor. Basically it boiled down to not changing the tape often enough. It wasn't burning through, but it was getting thin enough to lift the very edge away from the hones. I'd wager more than half my strokes across 3 honing sessions were more toward the shoulder than the very edge, resulting in 2 failed honing sessions before I finally nailed it down.

@marsal @euclid440 @Utopian

SUCCESS!! Wow what a learning experience! Taking all of the suggestions from everyone who posted help I went back and cleaned up the blade, put 1 piece of tape on (changing often) and went back to work on the 1.5k to re-set the bevel.

I brewed some coffee, put on some music, and settled in for as long as it would take to get this done. I noticed as I was re-setting the bevel that although the sharpie test was passed, with the blade cleaned up and a mirror bevel already it was really easy to see that I was not getting all the way down to the edge under 60x loupe. There was mirror under the 1.5k striations!

@mainaman I torqued the blade to the stone and noticed that it took a lot of effort to get the heel to contact the stone- strange. I did circles in 20x increments and examined the bevel to see if it would meet. It did not- I now know what it means to see a reflection looking straight down the bevel under magnification and lighting. More circles. Got the bevel set.

I looked at the striations- they were beautiful in some parts of the blade and not in others. Then it dawned on me that the striations were OPPOSITE on the other side! Meaning where the striations were good on one side, they were not good on the other. Hmmmm....

I slowed my stroke down and really paid attention to the water in front of the blade and the feedback. I FELT that the blade was not contacting the stone (or rather it was intermittent) and SAW that the water was slipping under the blade sometimes- wow!!

On a hunch I put the blade on a dead flat piece of dental glass that I use for lapping film and BAM!!! I could immediately see that the blade was slightly TWISTED AND IT WAS SO WARPED IT WAS BASICALLY BANANA SHAPED!!!!!

Bingo! Back to the bevel stone and adjusted my stroke by feel- fun stroke almost like a swing on the downstroke whee!!!! But on the upstroke? Wow it was really hard to get the concave blade shape to contact the stone- required me to do some contortions to get good contact. I stayed with the 1.5k shapton pro until the striations looked FANTASTIC all the way from heel to toe and BAM AGAIN!!! The blade was wiping hair off my arm at skin level.

On to the 5k- torqued the blade down and immediately saw where the shape of the blade was problematic. Again, very slow and paying attention to feedback and water pattern I used my weird strokes to hone. Under magnification (it was very difficult to see the 5k striations under the loupe so switched to 120x handheld microscope) I made SURE that all of the 1.5k striations were polished out.

On to the 8k- same slow, methodical procedure. My confidence grew as I got more attuned to what the stone and blade was telling me (It was shouting at me before but I didn't "hear" it...if that makes any sense at all) but now it was so intuitive how to proceed. Everything looked great under magnification all the way up and down the blade.

I reached for my Droescher- but then I thought because of the shape of the blade it would be hard to hand hone a 2" wide hone like the Droescher. I decided to use my celebrated water hone which is about 1" wide hand held so that I could really control the contact to the bevel. That stone is seriously like a stick of butter to hone on but I could FEEL THE RESISTANCE almost like leather draw in BOTH HANDS to guide me and let me know that the blade was making contact SO COOL!!!

After stropping the blade was tree-topping arm hair very impressively so I prepped and shaved. BOY OH BOY did it shave! It was like wiping off the hair with a windshield wiper! What a difference- very silky smooth even ATG. A three pass shave left me in as good a shape as I have ever had from a razor.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for your input! I am no longer being driven crazy and have learned much from "True Blue"- I feel like I have reached a milestone and this will make me a better honer with ALL of my razors. As a matter of fact makes me want to rehone everything knowing what I now know about striations, feedback, and watching the water pattern ahead of the bevel.

Before cleanup:

After elbow grease steel wool wd40 and mother's polish:

Bevel: