Thread: What do I do with a warped blade ?

Originally Posted by Leon

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?

I need to state this clearly, with the majority of the warped blades I have attempted to straighten, I have not had satisfactory results! Some have corrected enough to hone to a serviceable shaver. I will not sell a razor that will not perform with normal honing and stropping. It's scrapped. If a razor will only hone up correctly on nights of a full moon while you balance your hone on the edge on the shell of a albino Slovenian apple snail and strop on a strop made from the hide of the last unicorn, forget it. Sometime you have just got to suck it up and admit a blade is junk and not suitable for shaving.

Now, how I have had success with just by hand is to flex the metal in the opposite directions of the bend. I have also done the vice and dowel method. But guys, warp must be slight. If your ex-wife put your best razor in a vice and slammed it with her bowling ball, it's toast.

Originally Posted by dodi

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 ? lather tends to create more of a "suction" feel while honing thus making it easier to keep flat on the hone.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...practice is necessary to keep the blade flat on the hone. Just pay attention to the water/slurry/lather moving in front of the edge . If your not making equal pressure then some of the fluid will go under the edge.

Hope this helps,

Originally Posted by Leon

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?

The hones have no flex in them but a hanging strop does. The strop will conform to the razor if you use an X pattern while stropping.

Originally Posted by Kenrup

If a razor will only hone up correctly on nights of a full moon while you balance your hone on the edge on the shell of a albino Slovenian apple snail and strop on a strop made from the hide of the last unicorn, forget it.

As long as the honing doesn't have to be done during a full moon on a leap year, then you're lucky!

Originally Posted by toolarts

I get these $12.00 razors on Ebay and very few of them have any problem like this. On the other hand, I've got a couple of Wade and Butcher meat axes that do not hone comfortably. They have wierd places in the stroke where they suddenly shift to a different angle.

Of all the razors I see in antique shops that look un-used, about 90% have some small warp to them. I assume that's why they look new -- because they were hard to hone and they were gotten rid of!

Most of the ones I see that are well used have been so well used that the bevel is very wide and the spine has a large flat section from all the honing.

The trick is to find an un-used vintage razor that is not warped!

E