Thread: Edge doesn't last long.

Much obliged, thank you. I have been struggling with being able to tell when the bevel was set, so that's another possibility.

I find the use of a loupe to be pretty helpful when honing. I use a 30X that a friend sent me. Here is a thread about what to look for and what you are looking at when honing.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ggestions.html
Honing is not rocket science, but it does take a little practise to get good result on reliable blades. Keep practising and asking questions or attend a meet and you will get there. Meets are great places for learning.

Originally Posted by BobH

The only thing I can think of is to make sure your bevel is truly set before going up the hone progression. If it is not quite 100% set it may not shave too terribly badly but will fall off very quickly.

Bob

Originally Posted by Grenage

I have been struggling with being able to tell when the bevel was set, so that's another possibility.

Early in my straight razor experience, I had a razor acting the way you are describing. I could touch up the edge with 8k and 12k hones and get a few good shaves but the edge would not last. I figured that the bevel MUST be set, else how would I get those few good shaves. That part still does not make sense to me. Anyway I finally went back and really re set the bevel and had no more problems.

Cheers! I do have a loupe, and while the edges look ok, I am never able to see if the bevels 'meet'. if I look lengthways the sides just disappear into nothingness.

Perhaps I will just have to have another crack and start again on the 1k.

Originally Posted by Grenage

Cheers! I do have a loupe, and while the edges look ok, I am never able to see if the bevels 'meet'. if I look lengthways the sides just disappear into nothingness.

Perhaps I will just have to have another crack and start again on the 1k.

I have a bright overhead light source in the form of a goose neck table lamp that I hold the blade under to check the edge with my loupe. I check both sides of the apex, not the bevels, to see if there is any reflected light and if there is it is back to the bevel setter. When it looks good to me then I see if it easily cuts arm hair the entire length of the blade before I go up the progression.

I don't think it is a good idea to just do the same thing over again as you might wind up in the same situation with even less steel on the razor for no gain.

Bob

Ah that's a good idea, I hadn't thought of trying it that way. I'll try and inspect it again.

While doing the light reflecting test that BobH is recommending, try other bevel set tests at the same time. If you see a shinny spot, see if you can get correlation with other tests TNT TPT etc. When more than one test is showing the same spots as not yet done you are learning how to calibrate those tests.

Sounds like you're on the right track, Grenage. Honestly, if the razor shaves fine after a few passes on the 8k then it's probably the razor and not you. I can only echo what others have said otherwise, especially about focusing on stropping, getting a jeweler's loupe in the 30-60x range and hone with an overhead light source (bright, but not too bright. A simple LED strip from Ikea works great). The shine test is great because if it isn't passing that one, then it won't pass any of the others. I'm a big fan of the thumbpad test to measure if you've set the bevel.

This may or may not be the case with your razor, but one thing I've encountered honing vintage blades over the years is bad geometry due to hone wear on the spine. Sometimes the spine has worn away faster than the razor has lost width. In this case, the final bevel angle would become too acute, resulting in a less durable edge. The fix is to remove some width from the blade, reset the bevel, and hone per the usual. Obviously we don't want to remove width from razors willy-nilly, so the test for this is to do a little math first:

Measure the razor's width from the edge to where the spine would touch the stone (the top of the grind). Then measure the thickness of the spine. With a little math (remember Pythagoras?) we can work out the angle of the edge and determine if it is in an ideal range or not.

Originally Posted by portlandrazorco

This may or may not be the case with your razor, but one thing I've encountered honing vintage blades over the years is bad geometry due to hone wear on the spine. Sometimes the spine has worn away faster than the razor has lost width. In this case, the final bevel angle would become too acute, resulting in a less durable edge. The fix is to remove some width from the blade, reset the bevel, and hone per the usual. Obviously we don't want to remove width from razors willy-nilly, so the test for this is to do a little math first:

Measure the razor's width from the edge to where the spine would touch the stone (the top of the grind). Then measure the thickness of the spine. With a little math (remember Pythagoras?) we can work out the angle of the edge and determine if it is in an ideal range or not.

I would sooner use extra layers of tape to add spine width rather remove metal to decrease blade width. Once metal has been removed it can never be replaced. There is more than one way to skin a cat and both methods work but I just prefer the more non destructive one using a taped spine.

If you can't remember the formula to calculate the bevel angles or are to lazy as is my case you can find a downloadable Excel document for doing that here: http://coticule.be/wedges.html . Left side of page scroll down. The geometry is no different for wedge compared to other grinds so it works for all grinds.

Bob

I too am new to honing. Started on film and am getting stones now. The link on "Second try at honing" really made a difference in my understanding. When it says that you should not see any light on the edge of the blade (looking straight at the bevel) it means NO light. Any glow at all needs to be honed more.

The razor looks like a good one. I haven't modified any heals yet, but keep the heel/shoulder off the stone.

Sounds like you are on the right path.