Thread: uneven bevel - how to adjust

ive been in this wonderful wet shaving world for almost 3 years now and while i can pretty much put a shave-ready edge on any razor what i still cannot seem to master is the ability to apply an even bevel to some razors with varying degrees of hone wear.

anyone out there able to breakdown and explain the process so an ijit like me can comprehend?

thanks.
-s.

A wavy bevel means nothing if the razor shaves well, the issue could have been induced during its inital grind or a heavy handed honer during its life, you can gradually correct this with tape so start with say two layers of tape and hone and each time you hone use the tape and the wavy bevel will get thinner and more uniform but unless the spine is evenly worrn you will have to use tape everytime or the wonky bevel will return. This has worked for me but others may chime in with a better fix.

You can even them out to some degree with about 60 degree heel leading strokes. Finish each hone off that way and it looks better, but shaves the same.

You can't really correct uneven bevels just by honing with tape but you can make them smaller. You need to add the tape specifically to worn areas. Nonetheless this only adjusts the edge bevel.

If the razor is warped ,badly honed or ground, the spine will reflect this. So unless you can regrind or correct the spine it will always dictate the geometry of the edge. I'm talking worse case scenario tho as lesser problems can be corrected to some degree.

You can also put bulk wear on the razor by trying to even out the spine. It's a judgement call on each razor.

Just so i am clear ... by 'add tape to specifically worn areas' are you saying to apply very small pieces of tape just to the widest bevel areas? Each side individually? And then apply a second layer of tape fully across over top?

Originally Posted by sloanwinters

Just so i am clear ... by 'add tape to specifically worn areas' are you saying to apply very small pieces of tape just to the widest bevel areas? Each side individually? And then apply a second layer of tape fully across over top?

The tape is applied to the SPINE of the razor, thus increasing the
apex angle of the cutting edge, and reducing the width of the bevel.

Understood. But wear on one side does not necessarily mean equal/same wear pattern on the other. I meant adding small pieces of tape up NEAR the spine, but not ACROSS the spine onto the other side. Is my understanding correct?

gssixgun once posted an excellent explanation of a solution to honing a warped spine,
but I can't find it.

If I recall correctly, it involves applying 1 layer of tape to the spine (covering
both sides), honing with pressure on the spine until the tape wears thru on
the "high spots", and then applying a second layer of tape on top of that to
finish the honing.

That leaves a layer of tape filling in the low spots, and the second layer evens
the whole thing out. That results in an even bevel, hopefully.

If the bevel is still too wide, then a 3rd layer of tape is added.

Does that make sense?

Ha. yes! I think i understood that. Thank you!!

Unless you start with an almost perfect geometry it's hard to get a perfect bevel, unless it's really bad I don't worry about it. This can really be an issue with old abused razors, sometimes you just have to work with what you are dealt.