Thread: Can't get 2 razors to shave

I picked up a couple cheap un-honed practice razors. I've been looking at ebay. There aren't any Unions in the condition of the pic posted for $30 +/-. I did miss a brand new one in original packaging that went for dirt cheap 'cuz I wasn't around at the time the auction ended... Most of the razors currently listed for under $30 are quite rusted, excessively worn, etc. I wanted a clean razor to practice honing on, not a project, hence the cheap Chinese-made option. I'm watching some other on ebay as well.

I spent quite a bit of time setting the bevel on a 500 synthetic. Spine taped. Changed the tape often. The hollow face is much thicker right at the heel than the toe. The entire face feels consistent, then right at the heel it gets much thicker. There's a slight smile to length of the blade. The bevel is becoming much wider right at the heel. There's a small frown starting right in front of the heel. I focused on heel forward strokes, just at the heel, for quite a while. I was seeing the slurry creep up the bevel right in front of the heel, but not at the heel, and that where the frown is. Rocking the edge on a flat table there's a noticeable flat spot, or rather a spot that doesn't rock smoothly due to the frowned area in front of the heel.

I'm thinking of breadknifing and/or high-angle grinding right at the heel to get the smile back, and prevent the frown from growing. And then focusing on getting the bevels to meet just at the thicker heel area. Or maybe just increasing the diameter of the curve at the heel to take the thick part of the face out of the equation all together.

The bevels are meeting at the rest of the blade length, and are fairly even. So far, at 500 grit, the edge won't cut hair. It'll cut tomato skin (personally I think this is a silly test; All of my razor honing can cut tomato skin easily, but doesn't translate at all to how it shaves. I did know of a chef on another forum who used to shave w/ a 150mm petty knife, and posted videos of himself doing so. Not for me, thx...). As always I welcome any feedback. Thx.