Thread: Scratches on Blade from Bevel Setter

Long post, short of it is how do folks avoid scratches on the blade from the bevel setting phase?

Ok, here we go.

I've been shaving with a straight for about 10 years. I've used a more budget oriented setup. A 20th century American import from Solingen has been my workhorse: Rauh Cutlery branding half-hollow with a square point, sturdy bone scales, but plenty of patina. Not a looker but gets the job done very well. I picked up a faux frameback to toy with, and have a Max Sprecher restored Wade & Butcher wedge, which is beautiful but too much for a daily shaver (I'm always worried about spotting it and fuss with it too much when I shave), and a Dovo Renaissance stainless (same blank as the Bismarck) that I hate and never have been able to get an acceptable edge on (even after sending it off)... I got the latter two some time back off someone who was getting out of the hobby and looking to offload. I have a long suffering Omega boar bristle with a nice little stand I picked up in Singapore a decade ago, and a quality 3" Tony Miller red latigo that's been humming.

For honing, I keep my edges myself with a Norton waterstone set sold as a pair of combination stones (220/1k and 4k/8k). I had (well... have but now it's a doorstop) a PHIG, didn't really understand it (still don't) and ended up getting a Naniwa 12K for a finisher. Didn't have to set any bevels, so never really used the 400/1k stone for anything but kitchen and utility knives. Life is good. Or so I thought. Never really moved forward with the hobby, a couple of kids and time at the office kept me busier and busier, and as I was getting great two-pass shaves who's to know any different?

Over the summer my wife decided to take the kids back to Michigan to see her parents and escape the heat. Left me alone in the Middle East in the dead heat of summer along with a credit card. I'm not going outside if I don't have to. What to do on the weekend? Hey let's check out some old internet forums. Look, SRP has changed it's name... weird. Hmm... Tony Miller's still making strops. He has horsehide! Yes, please! Hey look, Obie is selling a sweet Wacker... okay I'll bite. We start chatting, he's a super-friendly guy, and one Wacker turns into two Wackers. Now I have a set of Wackers in the mail...

Wackers show up. These are very nice razors! But... what the heck?! These Wackers have an edge like you wouldn't believe. I think even in my early days before I "knew" how to make an edge, and sent mine off for honing occasionally, not once did I ever experience an edge like this. Obie clearly has something supernatural going on... all I have to do is wave these razors in the general direction of my face in the morning and the whiskers come off. His honing digits are either kissed by angels or he's in an unholy sharpening pact with a demonic force. To get edges like this by the hands of man alone is impossible.

Wife and kids are still gone, and I'm alone with the dogs. Time to get to work and try and up my honing game. I'm not getting close with my workhorse. Maybe it's my tools? Hmm... JNats were barely a thing ten years ago when I would haunt the forum, but now they seem to have come (and gone a little maybe). I've been saving money on razor blades for ten years, and my wife hasn't shut off my credit yet... time to get some new stones. I order a JNat Awasedo from a well known vendor along with a four piece Mikawa Nagura and go to town on my workhorse and the Reni. I don't do a bevel reset, just go with my current edge. Workhorse comes out pretty close to my Naniwa edge... Reni is still disappointing... hmmm...

I poke around E-Bay and find a guy who sells estate stuff that's not razors. But he's got a pair of vintage Solingens for sale separately reasonably priced. Pictures look good. Talk him down a bit off his asking if I take both listings and he combines shipping. I end up with a Royal Crown Amco and a Paul Waldmin. Photos on E-Bay are always dicey, so who knows what I'll actually get in person, but I didn't spend a lot and worst case can use them for honing practice.



Turns out they're in pretty good shape. Both still pop armhairs. Waldmin has jimps and some gold wash on spine and tang that's disappearing. Amco's a nice widdle guy, super thin grind, although the tang is a bit thin for my grip. Scales on both are a higher end plastic, definitely better than bakelite. Pins tight. Razors close centered. They've seen some use, but very little hone wear. Era? Hard for me to say with my limited experience... I would have guessed post-WWII but Waldmin seems like he was active in the 20's & 30's?

Even though they are popping hair, I can tell the edges are suspect. Plus the whole reason I bought them was to go from bevel through full JNat progression and see where I land. I knifebread the Amco on a glass jar, and put it through a 1k, 4k, 8k synthetic progression. It's apparent from the start the spine has the slightest bend perpendicular to the blade. No worries, a slight rolling stroke (and drooping stroke on reverse side). Bevel sets well, it moves on quickly up the progression, and certainly seems shaveable off the 8k. I then go through the JNat progression up through the Koma. Give it a stropping try the shave. Shaves very well... now I'm better than my Naniwa 12k. Smoother... but still not up to Obie's blessed (or cursed...) level.

I give it a day. Go back with the Amco to the Awasedo and use the Tomo Nagura... then dilute slowly as I go down to water only. Now I strop. Now I shave. Now I'm better still! The scales fall and my eyes are opened to an entire range of possibilities beyond a Naniwa 12k. But Obie's edge is still out of my reach... His divine/infernal gift is beyond me for now. Maybe some day. He mentioned something about palm stropping, but there are a lot of questions involved there that I'm afraid to ask about. Whose palm are you supposed to be using? Does Obie have a collection of palms? Are they still attached to the hand? Where did the hand come from? One thing is clear based on his results... Depending on the nature of his gift, be it from heaven or hell, clearly this palm is moisturized in unicorn milk or the tears of a thousand urchins respectively...

Ok... whoever is still reading this... a. you have too much freetime, and b. can you help me with scratches off the bevel setter? I'm going to hone up the Waldmin next (same progression but probably will skip the Botan which seemed to go back a step or two), and while I don't really mind, the Amco picked up scratches on the blade off the Norton 1k. Keep in mind I've got several years experience with a Norton 4k/8k, but haven't really used the bevel setter for razors before. Is there a trick to this? Close-up of the Amco under lighting to show the scratches (they weren't there before I started my experiment). They're up and down the length of the blade maybe going in a centimeter from the edge, most noticeable in this photo on the toe.