Thread: Bowed straight razor

Have a look in the Advanced Honing Topics section: "Honing a concave/warped blade."

There's a good discussion on using a narrow hone, as well as how to simulate a
narrow hone.

The technique really does work, but I'm not sure that it would be a good place
to start for a beginner. It sure is a lot easier to learn to hone if you start with a
razor that doesn't have any geometry problems.

Dr. Matt has a video on what he calls the tap/wobble test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0e3irOytXQ

Very few razors are perfectly straight and flat; but only a few are seriously warped. Most razors can be honed successfully using various techniques, but if you are a beginner, some of these techniques may be above your current skill level. Thus, you may want to develop your honing skills on razors that are nearly flat and send out any with significant warp/wobble to some who hones hundreds or thousands of razors a year. That will save you a lot of frustration. Once your basic skills are in place, you can tackle more difficult razors.

Thank you all for your help.

Regarding sending the blade off to a honemeister, I have no idea where I would find someone like that. I will take a look in Vancouver; just a ferry ride away, but I won't be too heartbroken if I can't find one. I bought all these hones due to lack of anyone in town that could sharpen my SR.

I am never one to be discouraged, so I went at it last night with the smiling blade technique. That works great for the convex side and I managed to get a bevel on that side that was even. On the concave side, however, the geometry of it all makes it near impossible to get contact with the stone in the middle of the blade, and I did not find any suggestions for that. Using the 1 inch on the right side of the hone works great from the middle of the blade to the toe, but there really isn't a way to get from middle to heel. However, I did manage to get a bevel on that side as well, so we'll see... I'm not thrilled with it, so I'm going to go back at it tonight.

Because the blade is warped, I'm not overly concerned with destroying the razor... seems to me that it's destroyed anyways. In the meantime, I have a perfectly straight Dovo Bismarck. I watched a video about factory honed blades, I think by Dr. Matt, and with confidence I stropped it up right out of the package; it cut better than this Dovo BQ ever has, so as far as learning to hone, I'm in no hurry. In the meantime, I will order a few cheapos off of ebay and see what I can do with them. Am I looking for just anything German, with no pits and preferably no rust?

RayClem, that video is what I did after my first honing session, when I saw the uneven bevels (heel-toe on one side, middle on the other). I thought to myself, "that ain't right..." and concluded that the only explanation was a warped blade. I took the blade to my chunk of granite (that I had recently purchased thanks to Dr. Matt and his lapping video). Sure enough, I get a clinking sound just like that video as the blade rocks back and forth.


People mention narrow hones for this warped-blade issue. My question now is, if I lap the side of the hone, which is only about 1 inch wide, will that suffice as a narrow hone?

Japanese makers also turned out some wonderful razors, most sized around 13/16 with half-hollow grinds, and there are plenty of them in good condition to be found on eBay.

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to hone and test-shave a recent production Dovo BQ for a new member and was thoroughly dissatisfied on both fronts. Between the poor-quality craftsmanship and steel, the razor met every expectation I had for GDs. I advised the owner to dump the razor on eBay and buy anything vintage instead since he wasn't getting satisfying shaves.

Learning to straight shave with a poorly-made razor just isn't my cup of tea.

Originally Posted by ahjordan

People mention narrow hones for this warped-blade issue. My question now is, if I lap the side of the hone, which is only about 1 inch wide, will that suffice as a narrow hone?

I've used a 1.5in hone successfully with this technique, so maybe a 1in will work, too,
especially on the concave side of the blade.

NOTE: BOTH edges of the 1in hone must be chamfered, or you could chip the blade.

The trick is to carefully follow the point of contact, between the blade and the hone,
along the entire edge, using an X-stroke. Watch for the edge of the blade to push
or (best of all) undercut the honing solution (oil, water, whatever).

When the edge undercuts the honing solution along the entire length of the blade,
you're done.

Good luck!

When I use the heel forward X stroke on a warped blade I start with the heel of the bowed out side contacting the hone. As I move the blade forward I am also lifting the tang slightly as I go watching the water line move down the blade. Coming back on the bowed in side I lower the tang slightly as I come back down the hone. It should get you even contact along the whole length of the edge. That way you are only really using a narrow portion along the edge of the full size hone. Basically it simulates using a narrow hone or the edge of a full size hone laid on it's side.

No, a warped razor is not a destroyed razor but merely an imperfect one that can be honed to shave well if you use the right technique to counter the defect. There are more razors with this sort of defect than you would think.

Bob

As far as buying vintage. Look for something without pits or rust on the edge. Up on the face of the razor or other places can be cleaned up. If the rust or pits are on the edge, then you will ha e to take a good amount of steel away to get to good steel before it really gets cleaned up.

The post office isnt too far usually. Take a look at our members list and see who you can find close to you or at least in the high lands. Send them a PM and see if you can send them your razor for honing. We ha e a lot of good people here who are willing to help a guy out. If you were state side you would have lots of guys to choose from who would be happy to help. But still, look up some names and places and see if anyone is close to ya. Good luck and remember that honing is not as easy as sharpening a knife. It take time to learn to do it right.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback.

Progress update: I decided to try honing on the sides of my stones. I lapped the sides of my 1000/4000 and 8000 Nortons, then rounded off the edges. I started in on the 1000/4000, heel to toe making sure the contact was flat as I did the X strokes. I made sure as well to slide the blade from the 1000 to the 4000 side on each stroke. I managed to get the blade to cut arm hairs after about 30 strokes. The bevel was even along the edge on both sides, except of course on the concave side where the heel and toe had received the majority of the honing on my original first attempt.

I moved on to the 8000 at that point, with about 20 X strokes. The bevel looked great, so I moved to the strop. I did 60 on the fire hose and 80 on the leather to finish up (normally I do a 30/60), and then moved on to the test shave.

The razor shaved as good as it ever has, and I got probably the closest shave I've managed to get out of it. The only issue was that my face felt a bit more raw afterwards, confirmed by the stronger-than-usual sting from the aftershave. I think that indicates overhoning? Either way, I'm just glad to have the edge back!

Again, thanks for all your help on this.

Originally Posted by ahjordan

The razor shaved as good as it ever has, and I got probably the closest shave I've managed to get out of it. The only issue was that my face felt a bit more raw afterwards, confirmed by the stronger-than-usual sting from the aftershave. I think that indicates overhoning?

Nahh, not overhoned. You've done a very minimal number of strokes. May even need a little more on mid & final stone to tame down the 1k edge.
You probably just need to back off your pressure if the razor is a bit sharper now.

I have honed a couple of brand new Dovo's that have slight curves to them but they honed out ok
I agree with Os 30 stokes from 1-4k hitting both & then only 20 strokes on the 8k isn't much especially if only on a narrow stone,
I generally start at 40-50 full strokes on each hone progression & move up from there depending on how the bevel looks also finish with at least 100 strokes on leather

I would go back to the 4k for a bit longer & progress up to the finisher again

also sometimes after setting the bevel you can see it has a ragged or toothy looking edge when viewed under a loupe & so I run the blade through a piece of horn or wood to smooth the edge, then finish setting the bevel with some light passes until happy on the 1k
have also seen Mistro Livi do this with some blades as he seams to go from bevel set to a pasted strop to finish