Thread: Honing a wedge

Hi all,
I've been honing my personal collection for just about a year and have a question about honing a wedge. Given that the profile (cross-section) of a wedge is a triangle, should I tape the spine? Why not just hone the entire blade on its side, especially, if there's no wording/design/art work on the sides that could be lost? Just wondering. In other words, should I even bother with setting a bevel that's at a sharper angle than the wedge itself?

Appreciate any education I can receive...

-z

A wedge is not a true triangle... the face of the blade is slightly ground so only the spine and the edge are in the same plane.

Taping the bevel was not a thing 140ish years ago when wedges were in fashion...

In other words, tape or don't tape. It's your razor.

There are very few true wedges most have a slight concave grind to them. Place a straight edge from the spine to the edge and see if there is a sliver of light getting through. There should be as most are near wedges. The only true wedge I have seen was an old microtome used to cut specimens for microscope slides.

For a near wedge I'd use 1,2 or 3 layers of tape depending on how much spine wear there is and how wide the bevel is.

This set of 3 videos member GSSIXGUN may help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEtb9k3APYM

Posting a photo of the razor may help too.

Bob

+1 on watching Glen's (gssixgun) videos on honing a smiling wedge, also applies to regular near wedges. Here is how I know it works;

The first near wedge I tried to hone (a Frederick Reynolds) I spent roughly 5 hours just trying to set the bevel using the standard honing technique and failed. I gave up and sold it to a collector friend. Later I found Glen's videos, watched them all the way through maybe 3 times to familiarize myself with the procedure. In the mean time I acquired another near wedge, watched part of the first video, went to the hone with that info, watched some more of the video, tried that info until I went through all three videos and successfully finish the razor with an incredibly fine shaving edge. This process was very time consuming but well worth the time and effort. Later I traded back for that Frederick Reynolds and had it shaving in 30 minutes using the info I learned from Glen's videos. I still have the FR razor, still one of my best shavers.

Personally I tape. First so as not to wear the spine and change thickness of spine. Secondly I use 2 layers and in some cases at end a third to create a micro bevel.

Every razor gets the same treatment no matter the grind. I layer of scotch tape & 1 layer of Polyimide.. But.. last week i honed a razor with just polyimide because of the bevel angle.

I never found videos to be much help really... Although Glen has been extremely helpful to me over the years in the honing section of this forum..

Thanks

So, why would you want to hone without tape?

If you tape, you will save needless wear on the spine, prevent scratching the belly of the blade, (especially if you have spent hours hand sanding and polishing it), make a smaller, even bevel. Tape is the solution for compensation of a worn spine.

The benefits of honing a wedge without tape are…?

Bevel angle is not that critical, or folks would be shaving with the edge and spine on the skin.

Thank you all for the responses.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

So, why would you want to hone without tape? ......... Bevel angle is not that critical, or folks would be shaving with the edge and spine on the skin.

So this "shaving with the edge and spine on the skin" is what got me thinking and led to the OP. Like most of you, I rotate razors and this one wedge (https://sharprazorpalace.com/show-te...entifying.html) has been a bear to shave with. I've honed it a few times using tape and my Naniwa progression (1000, 4000, 8000 and 12,000) and stropped it on balsa prior to use. It (and some others as well, TBH) shaves well, but leaves me with a burning sensation after. So I've been experimenting with the shave angle and holding the blade at a lower angle to the skin (i.e., spine closer to skin) seems to reduce the amount of burn. Which got me wondering if holding the blade at a low angle is better, then why set a bevel, especially on a wedge. And no worries of losing any gold leaf/designs/words on the side of the blade, if the entire thing is honed without taping the spine.

The attached pictures are the razor in reference.

Additional question: what would cause the bevel to be uneven? (wider in the middle, narrower at the heel and toe)

“why set a bevel, especially on a wedge?”

It is not a “wedge” issue, it is a re-profiling, heel spur issue, and the wrong stroke.

Let’s define terms.

A “Fully Set Bevel” is a bevel honed flat from heel to toe,(does not have to be straight in profile, but in the same plane), the same.correct bevel angle and the two bevels must meet fully, chip free at the edge. Once all 3 goals are met, it is then refined and polished to make the edge straighter, micro-chip free.

The toe half of the razor is not touching the stone and not honed. It has a deep frown in the middle and a bad heel spur/hook,

The heel spur is keeping the middle off the stone. So, more pressure or heel off the stone stroke has been used to try to hone the middle creating the spur and exacerbating the frown.

If you experience burning, the edge is not fully honed, micro-chips are cutting your skin. You will need to remove the heel spur to get the middle half of the razor on the hone and a rolling X stroke to hone the smiling toe.

It’s an easy fix, but will require some patients, ink and 2 layers of tape on the spine. Re-ink to learn how much “roll” you need to fully hone the toe.

You will probably need to slightly lift the heel to fully hone the toe, with a rolling X, easy on the pressure.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

It’s an easy fix, but will require some patients, ink and 2 layers of tape on the spine. Re-ink to learn how much “roll” you need to fully hone the toe.

You will probably need to slightly lift the heel to fully hone the toe, with a rolling X, easy on the pressure.

Wow, thank you for that, Euclid440! I need a bit more help with the terminology - what exactly are the "heel spur" and "smiling toe"? And how does one get rid of the heel spur?

Appreciate all your help and time!