Thread: Uneven sharpness

I just finished honing my Towa flatback. The hair pops towards the middle and towards the heel but violins at the toe. I do not want to go all the way back to the 1K to address this. I might put some extra pressure on the toe on the 6K and move up to the 8 and 12K focusing on the toe only. I am not sure why this happened because I thought I was being careful while setting the bevel on the 1K.

I would suggest forgetting about the HHT for now. Proof in the pudding is the shave itself

Ink the bevel and do a few laps on the 12k this will show you if your honing all along the edge. You need to do X strokes. If your honing has not been reaching the full edge back to the 1k you go.

my experience says that you will waste a lot of time trying to fix those dull spots on the higher grit stones. As they say 99% of the honing is done at the bevel set. i took some time to learn from our honemeister Lynn at a meet up. I was amazed at how little time is needed on the higher grit stones (i'm talking like 25 or less strokes) if the bevel is properly set.

Check to see if the spine is straight on both sides. Make sure you are not lifting the blade when you get to the tip. Finally make sure your hone is flat.

If all is good you may need to apply a little pressure to the tip to maintain proper contact.

Do a test shave as suggested, you may be surprised. If all else fails go back and set the bevel and start over, I have found out that the mid work and finishing is just as important as the bevel but if the bevel is not solid the rest is a waste of time.

Post a pic of the razor, both sides, as close as you can get.

Do you have magnification?

Have you stropped it?

Thanks gents for your useful advice. The razor shaves pretty well and I am pleased with how it turned out. On my next hone I will set the bevel on the 1K and keep on going on the 1K until it passes the HHT. I'm not sure if that's possible but I will try.

this happens to me on narrower hones, and i've started to realize it's because i'm lifting the toe juuuuuust slightly on my strokes towards myself. maybe not the same issue, but it sounds like similar symptoms. food for thought.
this only happens on maybe <=1" hones though

If you are having difficulty keeping the blade flat on a narrow hone, then honing at a 45 degree angle effectively widens the honing surface for you.

Originally Posted by Utopian

If you are having difficulty keeping the blade flat on a narrow hone, then honing at a 45 degree angle effectively widens the honing surface for you.

Yep, definitely started doing that shortly after i figured out what i was doing wrong as well as just paying more attention. no longer an issue