Thread: What do I do with a warped blade ?

It's hard enough to hone a straight blade. Have you considered salvaging the scales and simply tossing the blade?

Are you sure it is the razor?

Has you hone been lapped?

Warped blades though not the norm are not unusual. A person would do well to learn the proper method. It is not that difficult if you are given help with the technique or have the properly sized hones.

Urleebird said: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...ght=straighten

"Warped blade are not as uncommon as you may think. The heat treating process does it. The thinner the steel, the more likely it will warp. I'm pretty sure razors were either only partially ground or not ground at all before the heat process took place. After they were tempered, a different process, then they were ground. No way could they have been ground to their normal thin profile and then heat treated.

I have knifemaker friends who do their folders this way to ensure the blades do not warp. Warped blades can be fixed. Use a big vise.

Put the blade parallel to the top of the jaws near the surface. Vertically insert one wood dowel on each "low" side of the blade at the spine. Then insert a vertical dowel on the opposide side of the blade at the tangent of the "high" side on the spine.

Crank the vise shut until you go a little past the curvature of the bend. Practice on some junkers first. Do a little at a time and keep checking to see if the blade is straight.

Tip: Tape the dowels in place on the blade because you will need 5 hands otherwise to get them where they need to go."

I'm going to try it on a WB - has anyone tried this method? What were the results?

Originally Posted by DEwey

Urleebird said: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...ght=straighten

"Warped blade are not as uncommon as you may think. The heat treating process does it. The thinner the steel, the more likely it will warp. I'm pretty sure razors were either only partially ground or not ground at all before the heat process took place. After they were tempered, a different process, then they were ground. No way could they have been ground to their normal thin profile and then heat treated.

I have knifemaker friends who do their folders this way to ensure the blades do not warp. Warped blades can be fixed. Use a big vise.

Put the blade parallel to the top of the jaws near the surface. Vertically insert one wood dowel on each "low" side of the blade at the spine. Then insert a vertical dowel on the opposide side of the blade at the tangent of the "high" side on the spine.

Crank the vise shut until you go a little past the curvature of the bend. Practice on some junkers first. Do a little at a time and keep checking to see if the blade is straight.

Tip: Tape the dowels in place on the blade because you will need 5 hands otherwise to get them where they need to go."

I'm going to try it on a WB - has anyone tried this method? What were the results?

Generally speaking razors are more brittle than most knife steels so the risk of cracking the razor is greater. I know that Bill did one for someone here and it worked. However I would practice on a junker first!

The Dovo video gave me a good idea why their razors warp. It is the method of quenching that they use. It is an oil bath ( no problem) but when they immerse the 50 plus hot, soft steel blades into the oil they swish it around! Most knifemakers will tell you that is a no-no, it warps the blades.

Yep, I pressure test with my fingers first to get a feel of how much I need to flex the blade to get it to hopefully line up. This method is also a great way to make junkers.

thanks again for your comments and suggestions.

I've been experimenting some more this evening. Following Randy's instructions and using the two narrow hones I have managed to get my razor a lot sharper than previously. It is not quite there yet, but it is getting very close, and I'll give it a full test shave tomorrow.

One thing, though, is that it seems to work better when using lather than water or slurry - is that a sign I'm doing something wrong ? It seems to get more difficult keeping the razor flat on the hone the less pressure I apply. I've tried repeating the movement many times in an attempt to 'get it into the hands', and that seems to make it easier to do with less pressure...

Originally Posted by Kenrup

Yep, I pressure test with my fingers first to get a feel of how much I need to flex the blade to get it to hopefully line up. This method is also a great way to make junkers.

Hey Ken,
Would you say that Sheffields, with their softer steels, would be more successful candidates for straightening with the vise? Or does the age impair the ability to bend without breaking?

Originally Posted by DEwey

Hey Ken,
Would you say that Sheffield, with their softer steels, would be more successful candidates for straightening with the vise? Or does the age impair the ability to bend without breaking?

On old Sheffield steel I have been somewhat successful in straighting with just my fingers those blades that are hollow ground. I've rarely had a blade come to perfect flat with either method of straightening. It's like a dent in a car. The metal has stretched and now there is to much to put back in the original shape. I've tried lightly peening a test blade but I wasn't too happy with that result either. I try not to work a blade too hard or flex as to avoid needing to do any annealing. It is a pain to put a work into the cosmetic only to lose the utility. For me, it boils down to the assessment of will the straighting bring to close enough tolerances for honing without changing the characteristic of the steel. My latest example of this dilemma came last night. If you remember at the Texas Meet-Up Fritz had that blade with a huge chip. I thought there was enough belly to grind past it to give it a new bevel. Problem was how slow do I grind. Forget honing past 5 mm of gap. Or how fast to avoid losing temper or hardening. Well, I ground quick and an nailed it on the first pass. The honing took a couple of hours and I did a test shave with it. It looks good and honed okay, the test shave was rather mediocre. So I think some of the hardening was lots. But I think it could hone up to finer edge on a 15k if I wanted to put in the time.
Having said all that, for me it's a matter of evaluation if I want to do the bending, is the steel in good enough shape does it feel to stiff to bend or too soft to be any good when your done. Age doesn't play that big apart in the equation.

Geesh! that's the most typing I've done all day.

Originally Posted by Kenrup

On old Sheffield steel I have been somewhat successful in straighting with just my fingers those blades that are hollow ground. I've rarely had a blade come to perfect flat with either method of straightening.

Really? How do you do that? I have a slightly warped W&B that although now it can shave, I'd like to give it an even bevel. Do you think if I press down the blade in the zones that it doesn't touch the hone it will bend? What kind of force and technique are you talking about?
Throughout this thread you have told that we might try yo hone it with narrower hones, but I ask you know, what about stropping? It's the same problem! Some points of the blade won't touch the strop as others, thus, maybe it will not strop correctly, am I wrong?
Can a warped blade be of any use?