Thread: Honing old stubtails

Out of apparent masochism, now that I've put an edge on a couple of warped and twisted near wedges I find myself looking at things like this and wondering how to hone them (that's part of how I decide if I really want to buy a razor, I imagine how it'll be to hone):


So that hook at the heel I assume I'll just have to live with, but on a flat hone I can just do the rest like usual if I start a bit forward of that, maybe taping it if it has no hollow (or an acute angle), with quite a roll on the X to get the toe? Or this kinda thing simply only works on a very narrow/convex hone and I'm just going to frustrate myself on the usual 3"x8"?

I've honed a few of them, its not as bad as it looks.

X strokes and rolling x strokes on narrow hone's was best for me.

I have only honed one and that was on regular sized Naniwa hones. Rolling X strokes worked just fine. Alternately you could put your regular sized hone on it's edge and use it that way. I'd just live with the heel hook, at least for now.

Personally, I'll not get another stubtail because I do not like the short tail when shaving. OTH it never hurst to have one as an example of the kind if nothing else.

Bob

That hook will cut you, remove it. Grind the edge even with the tang or cut a choil with a diamond plate, or Dremel and small stone, where the edge meets the tang, so you can hone the whole edge. It does not need to be very large or deep.

Hone with a rolling X, using the right half of the stone, use sharpie ink to track your progress. You will have to lift the heel to hone the tip, here again ink will mark your progress.

Practice on a high grit stone to get the angle down and not remove too much steel practicing, then set the bevel and polish.

Be careful not to cut yourself on the heel while honing.
There's nothing to protect your fingers, should your hand slip on the tang. Don't worry about getting the heel end perfectly sharp, your not going to be able to shave with it anyway, and it'll keep you from slicing your thumb when shaving.

Yeah, you just roll the razor throughout the stroke so that the edge makes contact with the hone. It's a PITA or a fun challenge or anything in between depending on one's attitude

The bigger problem I've found with very old razor is subpar steel and that's not fixable no matter the hones or strokes.

Like Mike stated. I enjoy having an oldie in my collection and shaving with it knowing how old it is. Plus i honed it. But, i use the heal part of the time for trimming and there aint no heal. Stropping is also an issue. As Mike said, its easy to forget you finger placement when its not a bigger heal than the spine. Just be careful and know you need to watch it more than your used too.

Thanks everyone, some excellent info here, all the answers that I was looking for and, even better, things I'll need to know that hadn't occurred to me.

Originally Posted by outback

Be careful not to cut yourself on the heel while honing.
There's nothing to protect your fingers, should your hand slip on the tang. Don't worry about getting the heel end perfectly sharp, your not going to be able to shave with it anyway, and it'll keep you from slicing your thumb when shaving.

Thanks for reminding.