Originally Posted by
CrescentCityRazors
That is how I would do it. Just round off the heel, and the edge stops making contact as it gets near the stabilizer.
@STF, I am pretty much the Gold Dollar guy around this forum and TBH I don't care for the Titans, due to the grind. They use four different grades of steel and they vary from pretty good to excellent. But the natural bevel angle is waaaaaaay big, like a ZY. That razor will hone, though. Over on B&B there is a guy named rbscebu who has put several 7 day sets together out of those Titans, and he loves them, uses Method honing on them including the post shave balsa maintenance, and says they are a delightful shave, and he can tell you all about them. I really ought to get him to come join up on this board. Anyway due to the grind and the steel hardness, they are not the easiest razor to hone to a science fiction sharp edge. On the other hand, this is no delicate rose petal of a razor, either, and it responds well to more heavy handed technique.
First, knock back the heel the way Paul showed you. It's not a $900 razor so don't be skeered of messing it up. You won't. OTOH, don't let power tools overheat the steel. Remember that right at the bevel, the steel is thin enough to overheat quite suddenly. You go 3 seconds of contact and maybe you are fine, but then go 3.5 seconds and get the BSOD, the Blue Stain of Death, which tells you that you pushed the temper too far and that part of the razor has lost its hardness. But really that IS a good job for dremel or belt sander/grinder (not an ordinary bench grinder, though!) I like to use the sanding drum attachment for the Dremel. It cuts really fast and is controllable.
Okay, with the heel knocked down, do a sharpie test. The edge from the factory is straight, However, that is not a real edge. In reality, the razor has a slight smile. And so, you can go and go and go and force the straight edge on the razor, and nothing wrong with that. Or you can use a SLIGHT rolling X stroke and gitter done quicker. Now most relatively new honers overdo the roll, and exaggerate the smile even more. You don't want that. They will desperately attempt to make absolutely sure that heel and toe are sharp. No need for that. The slight roll is what you want for that razor. And the best way to do a slight roll is to hone in hand, and let the weight of the razor roll the stone underneath it as you x-stroke. You will probably be amazed at how natural that is.
As I said, crude grind, heavy bevel angle, and hard steel. No sense pussyfooting around. Raise a burr by honing one side only, with firm pressure, with a coarse stone, maybe 200 grit and no finer than a 320. Sandpaper on your acrylic lapping film plate works well for that, but with sandpaper always bump up to the next finer grit compared to what stone you would use. Trust me on that. The same grit sandpaper, with it's scattering of proud abrasive particles, will make mincemeat out of your razor. So fine it up a grade or even two. I mention sandpaper because when you don't do this a lot, it makes sense to set up a disposable "stone" instead of buying something you will seldom use.
Anyway back to that burr. It does NOT have to go all the way end to end. You just want about half the edge to have a burr you can detect by feel. However many strokes that took, flip the razor and hone the other side the same. The burr should be now on the opposite side, and easy to feel. Go a dozen regular laps with light pressure to remove the burr. If you look carefully at your edge now, you will see fresh bevel reaching the edge on most of the blade, ideally mostly in the central portion, and some parts where the newly ground bevel does not go all the way to the edge, or the two bevel faces do not meet fully. That's okay. The heavy lifting is done now. If you go for a full bevel with very coarse grits you are simply wasting steel, because all the while you are progressing upward in grit to reduce scratch depth, you are still removing steel. This is why you stop short of a full burr. So anyway, now move up to 600 grit. You can go for a burr again if you wish, but I would just hone with moderate pressure using regular x stroke laps, remembering to let the stone roll under the razor, stone in hand. Hone until the bevel is set along almost the entire edge and your 320 grit scratches are gone gone gone. You can't get them out later when you are already a couple of grits up in the progression. EACH STAGE should eliminate the coarser scratches of the previous stage and in turn, leave its own not quite as coarse scratches. Done? Good. Now move up to a 1k or 2k stone and bring that bevel home with fairly light pressure. Watch the honing water. When it all gets scooped up on the blade and the blade seems like it sucks the stone dry, you are pretty nearly there. Lighten up to just the weight of the razor, add your favorite finishing strokes such as extra short x strokes, pull strokes, whatever, and test your bevel. You should be tickled pink at what you got, even though the bevel angle is very heavy on this razor. If not, try a couple dozen laps on the 600 and some more 1k or 2k work.
Remember, this razor has a very obtuse bevel angle. Don't be afraid of thinning that spine!!! You do yourself no favors by taping the spine on this razor!
Once the bevel is set, this blade will respond well to AlOx lapping film 9u, 3u, then 1u grits, or a Naniwa or Shapton progression, but not Kings, Bear Moo, Sharp Pebble, or similar. It's not Swedish steel but it is still pretty hard stuff. OTOH diamond plates on steel this hard require a lot of finesse or you will get chipping.
Once your razor is treetopping, you can go for the brass ring and do the balsa progression. Diamond in balsa isn't the same as a diamond plate, and the balsa, if prepared and used properly, will make your Titan shave a lot better than it deserves to shave. One reason rbscebu loves his Titans is because he used Method honing right from the start, and never learned any other way. And so of course his edges are good. If he was doing the more pedestrian style of rock honing and stopping at 10k or 12k with no further refinement, he wouldn't be quite so enamored with those razors. What I am getting at, is if you really pull out all the stops honing your Titan, it will shave pretty good. If you hone it just like most guys might a vintage American or Solingen blade, the Titan may be a bit too "gentle" for you.
For all that, I really prefer a Gold Dollar. Better grind, way lower price. But that's just me. If Titan took the same steel alloys and made 16.5 to 17 degree razors, they would probably impress me a lot more.
<EDIT> Oops, looks like I am a little late to the party! Glad you got your Titan to shave!