Thread: why would bevel cut better on one side ????

hello i hope everyone is having a good day,
I have been trying to figure a out phenomenon i would sometimes encounter but cant really explain, i searched the forums and could not find an answer.

I have noticed that sometimes during bevel setting one side of the bevel would cut arm hair more easily than the other, i used to check only one side of the bevel and when i saw the bevel is cutting arm hair i would move up to the next stone.
now i started checking arm hair cutting at both sides and can sometimes notice a large difference but i cant think of why.

from my understanding when the razor is cutting arm hair during bevel set(after it has been dulled on glass) it means that the bevels have now met into a point(V shape) and if indeed the 2 bevels meet at one point why would one side of the bevel cut better than the other ?

what are your thoughts ? what is the mechanism here ? would you ignore this finding and move the grits or would you consider this abnormal and fix it ? and if so how would you approach fixing it ?

thank you very much, and sorry if this is a stupid question

Dr Tal Azouri

When you begin honing after dulling the edge sometimes you may observe better undercut on one side vs the other. I try to spend more time on the side that’s struggling to undercut water until it undercuts as well as the opposite side.

I used to watch undercut as well as an indicator, it has driven me insane many times.

When setting a bevel I always check shaving arm hair on both sides, sometimes one does and the other doesn't, I don't use any other tests anymore besides how easy it cuts arm hair on both sides

Some razors do it, some don't, I don't think it's a defect, it just takes some more time to get the bevel edge thin enough on one side than the other; ergo bevel setting IS the most important part.

If it's not set well, all the polishing and finishing is not gonna help anything with that

thank you guys for the reply.
what i cant understand is why would one side perform better then the other since to be able to cut hair the bevels need to meet to a point.

i thought maybe its because of the creation of a wire edge or a burr but then i would think the cutting would be changed after stropping on linen but it does not

Originally Posted by azourital

i thought maybe its because of the creation of a wire edge or a burr but then i would think the cutting would be changed after stropping on linen but it does not

You're assuming you removed the burr on the linen but if you didn't & you finish stropping on the same side as honing the burr will still be biased the same way.

Typically, we all learned to hone using the same number of strokes on each side of the razor using equal pressure. However, that only works if the razor starts out equal on both sides of the blade. That may not always be the case.

The best example of two sides being different is the Japanese Kamisori, one side is beveled and the other is flat. Due to that difference, shaving is always done from the same side of the blade rather than using both sides equally as we do with a western style razor.

If your blade is not cutting evenly from both sides, the bevel is not quite set. You may need to do more strokes on one side of the blade vs the other to get both sides shaving well.

Not sure what the reason is but a difference in undercut is something that shows up early and the opportunity to equalize it there in the early stages. Certainly a burr or false edge that’s not been removed is a possibility as well.

Did you check to see if you have a wire edge? Use a toothpick and run it from the spine of the razor down to the cutting edge and see if it catches .

Could be your using more pressure on one side over the other, while honing.

Its a great question and in my thoughts i agree with you. It doesnt make sense that one side would cur better than the other when bothside come to a point. If the point is rolled over to one side just a touch this could cause it. Now im no pro honer but id say to see what side of the blade is not cutting as well as the other, then make one stroke on that side and see if it changes to the other side at that point. 8 think they call it a foiled edge. Just too thing to hold up striaght.

Good lu h and be sure to let us know what you find. Im very enterested in this as ive run across it before myself. But, maybe we are just getting to damn picky.