Thread: Honing a Wedge!

Got some time on the stones today and sense I've been holding off on this I figure it was time to give it a try. Honing a Full Wedge Blade. I used 4 layers of tape to get some angle on the edge. After a lot of time I worked my way thru the stones and when finished I found that I should have spent some more time on the bevel. The front half the blade is tree topping arm hair but the back is not. Oh Well, Back to the drawing board on this one.

So, At what time do you feel is best to start dropping the layers of tape? Wasn't sure I should at all but I'm just not sure. I do know if I loose layers of tape my bevel is going to get wider and I don't want to be honing the face of the blade so no tape is out of the question. Ha.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Got some time on the stones today and sense I've been holding off on this I figure it was time to give it a try. Honing a Full Wedge Blade. I used 4 layers of tape to get some angle on the edge. After a lot of time I worked my way thru the stones and when finished I found that I should have spent some more time on the bevel. The front half the blade is tree topping arm hair but the back is not. Oh Well, Back to the drawing board on this one.

So, At what time do you feel is best to start dropping the layers of tape? Wasn't sure I should at all but I'm just not sure. I do know if I loose layers of tape my bevel is going to get wider and I don't want to be honing the face of the blade so no tape is out of the question. Ha.

On 'Near Full Wedges' I usually use 3 layers All The Way Through. However I have at times dropped down to two but rarely.

And as you're quickly finding out. Those heavy grinds take A LOT LONGER to set the bevel as there's so much more steel to work with. At least in my opinion.

OMG I have had one wedge home up. The others I'm fighting. StI'll lacking in skills here. Best of luck and I'll follow your jourmey.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Got some time on the stones today and sense I've been holding off on this I figure it was time to give it a try. Honing a Full Wedge Blade. I used 4 layers of tape to get some angle on the edge.
.....

Full wedges are interesting.

A magic marker to ink the surface can help a lot and let you see if the hone and the edge are engaged.

It is not silly to check the spine thickness to the width of the blade and make sure it has not devolved
to an impossible to hone angle.

I might add a layer of tape as I progress through a stack of hones.
So set the bevel with one layer or none and then add a layer of tape
each time the grit is reduced. A marker should let you see the changes.

A modern 1K hone can remove a lot of metal quickly so the marker trick can help ensure
that your hone is doing what you expect.

Some of the old full wedge blades were more knife than anything and many were sharpened
by lifting the spine about the thickness of a dime. The well ground spine doing double duty as the honing
guide razors so improved the shave that a lot of full wedge blades were reground.

If nothing else use a marker so you can see what your hone is doing with ease.

In another thread the challenge is to shave off the bevel setter. That thread is interesting...

Well in my mind, if you have one part of the blade sharp and the other no, them there is likely something lacking or inconsistent in your stroke. That nifty Californian is right about the magic marker. It is a sure fired way to assess your stroke. The othe possibility is that the blade has recently had a lot of work and half of it was more blunt than the other half and be sure to look it over well with your loupe.

Photos would help. Most all wedges have suffered along the way, so layers of tape will compensate hone wear.
Most have a smile too, so rolling x stroke is the way to go. If the back part of your blade is not there, concentrate on that part to set the bevel with rolling x strokes. Those old wedges can be a PITA to get shave ready, but well worth the effort.

is it necessary to use more than one layer of tape (that is if you normally tape) unless there is a lot of hone wear?

Originally Posted by Grazor

Those old wedges can be a PITA to get shave ready, but well worth the effort.

You are so right Graeme. I've honed a dozen or so wedges and none were easy. Most of the ones I've dealt with needed 2 layers of tape at least to make the stone contact the edge, rather than a shoulder near the edge. The technique I've used involves using a diamond hone (an Ezylap 600) to cut a new bevel, followed by a lot of work with a 1000 grit stone to reduce the deep cuts from the diamond hone. I haven't found it necessary to go beyond 3 layers of tape but like I said, my sample size is small and your mileage may vary. Gssixgun gives some pretty good advice on how to deal with these old blades and it's worth listening to what he says.

In my humble opinion, the wedges I've seen had been honed either by freehand techniques that involved lifting the spine off the hone, or by belt honing. I speculate that they used jeweller's rouge as the polishing medium on the belts. This is just a guess and I'm ready to be shot down by people who know more about this subject.

I've measured and found that acording to the chart I found here once before, spine thickness with 3 layers of tape and blade length from the thickest part of the spine to the edge its a 19.5 degree angle.
I hadn't thought about this. Thanks for pointing it out. If I was to hone the edge encluding the full length of the face of the razor, no tape, It would be 16.5 degrees.
This is a Wade and Butcher and the spine dont have a sway back and the edge is pretty straight too. I had to do a lot of cleanup on it some yes, the edge took a beating and was most likely more blunt on the heal when I started. I laid a steal ruler on the face and its almost straight line all the way down except a sliver of light coming thru but I think thats from me getting the rust off. So Full Wedge as far as I can tell. BTW, That is a lot of pitting still on it. but didn't want to take away any more of the blade.
PICs...


If I was to go with one layer of tape which would get me closer the the right angle, id have one hell of a big bevel. ha.

The size of the bevel is mostly cosmetic, but it also means there in an increased amount of steel to remove. I think you would be best with two layers by the sounds of it. Sometimes when you start with a razor that has had a rough life and a bunch of resent work there is subsurface damage that you cannot see that takes a little while to get past and you may have to lightly kill the edge on your finger nail a couple of time before you get to that nice shaving edge you are looking for. I rarely ever take an old wedge to a finished edge in one honing session. Most of the time I will work at it a little and then put it away for another day. I find if I limit how much time I spend on a blade in a session, it allows me to put more care into it with multiple sessions.