Thread: honing the wapi, bottom 1/4 of blade does not dig in

Hi folks,

My first time honing. I just have an arkansas stone. In honing the wapi, bottom 1/4 of blade does not dig in to the nail. I feel I may have had un even laps on the 20-30 laps I did.

Do I keep the spine on the hone first and put the edge down after that, and how do I deal with the blade if the rest of the blade seems ok bottom 1/4 of blade does not seem ready to shave with?

Thanks

I am not really sure if I understand your question correctly. Yes you should lay the spine of the razor down before laying down the edge to avoid damaging the microscopic edge. The back 1/4 of the edge should get honed just like the rest of the blade as long as you do a proper X-pattern with even pressure throughout the stroke. If your blade is warped and this prevents the heal of the blade from comming in contact with the hone you can use the thin side (width) of your hone with a light even x pattern to sharpen the entire blade.

well, I am not sure if my question makes too much sense Thanks for your reply and I do appreciate your input.

I examined my wapi today, I totally destroyed it and it has some major honing wear on the spine and even more where I pressed down to help keep the razor flat on the x pattern. the bevel on that part of the blade is more pronounced and it seems to have 2 flakes or chips in that area. I used the arkansas stone from Poland and a chinese combo stone I have which I though is comprable to norton 4k8k but its probably closer to 1k as it destroyed my wapi's spine in like 50 strokes. The bevel by the bottom or the razor seems to be non existant (uneven honing?) The edge feels all rough now.

Is there a way to salvage this poor thing? I should be locked up for razor abuse, but I am a noob honing for the first time, so hopefully I will get off this time

The Wapi's I have honed up really well, fast, and hold an edge very well. At that price well worth the investment. Fantastic razors.

That said, I have come across the issue you're talking about with the last 1/4" to 1/2" of the blade not honing up as easily as the rest of the blade on a few of them. From what I can see it's the way the spine is tapered, causing it to lift back there. Maybe someone could chime in with a way around it.

For me I used two pieces of electrical tape over the spine and it caused the spine to raise up just enough to overcome this issue. I put it out there and I had a few honemiesters reply. Basically they tell me that they have not encountered this issue with the Wapi's and that the double electrical tape might work but you would need to use it from then on every time you hone the razor. I will add that the Wapi's that I had this issue with were the non-stamped versions. The SFK stamped versions seem to hone up perfect for me. Was this razor the non-stamped or the SFK stamped version?

I have this exact issue with the only Wap that I have tried to hone so far. This one is the non-marked version while the rest I have are marked. I guess I should have started on one of the marked razors

Originally Posted by biomesh

I have this exact issue with the only Wap that I have tried to hone so far. This one is the non-marked version while the rest I have are marked. I guess I should have started on one of the marked razors

Don't get me wrong, these are great razors ($11.00 Woo hoo, yeah baby!). I don't think at that price it's the end of the world. And for the record I like one of my non-stamped Wapi's the best out of all 6 of them and it's up there at the top of my favs, so go figure?

In my experience it is really just luck of the draw as far as the stamped vs. non stamped versions. I have had perfectly straight edges/spines and slightly warped edges/spines with both stamped vs. non stamped versions. Warped razors can still be honed well but more advanced honing techniques need to be used sometimes depending on the severity of the warp.

mine is a non stamped razor, btw wtf is a jimp?

Originally Posted by vcowman

mine is a non stamped razor, btw wtf is a jimp?

On the underside of the spine, where the thumb rests, there are a series of shallow grooves, those are called jimps.

Go to the Help files and read the document called "Razor Central".

It sounds like you had a slightly warped razor. The first two that I received, both stamped, had a slight warp. The cure was to use tape, then use an X pattern with the heel leading. I helps if you also use Xman's "rolling stroke" combined with the X pattern. The one other tool that helps with a warped blade is a narrow hone but not everyone has a bag full of hones.

It also seems that you really need to find out what grits your hones are before you continue. 50 laps on a 1000 grit is simply to much for a Wapi. Be sure to use tape on the spine for all future honing and be very aware of using pressure while honing. A little goes a long way.

Feel free to call me at any time,