Thread: Grr, first lesson learned

Check the blade for warping! I was honing my wapi, trying to establish a good bevel and getting nowhere quick. I had great bevel to one side, and none at all at the other end. Being the straight forward thinker I am, I set to find out why. Sure as hell, the sides that weren't getting the bevel weren't even touching the hone! The Wapi seems to have a slight warp to it such that the tow curls ever so slightly to the right and the heel to the left. All that hone wear for nothing


The good news is I'm having great success with my german razors. Nothing shave ready yet, but I'm getting there. Not that I didn't respect the honemeisters' skills before, but I now have insider respect. It's amazing the level of skill some of our members exhibit with a stack of rocks.

I posted a quick and easy trick to check warpage before wasting time on honing or at least traditional honing methods. The link is here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=16788

Wapis have been spoken highly of for some time; however there appears to be a growing sentiment among recent purchasers of the NOS Wapis that the quality may be different (lower) than the NOS Wapis purchased in the past. I purchased 8 approx 3 months ago and I would say 5 are significantly warped and would require advanced honing technique to get them shave ready. Personally I am not a fan of this razor.

I wonder if the "tide will turn" on this razor and if the popular sentiment will change to viewing this razor as less desirable than when they first burst onto the SRP scene. The stock razor is way too scale heavy and out of balance and I don't think it could be argued that the blade quality fluctuates widely from excellent to downright poor.

Chris L

I had heard that, but I didn't think about warpage for two reasons. First, I'm just learning. I've got 20 things in my mind and something is bound to be forgotten. Second, mine is the older "good" kind that typically weren't warped. Live and learn

I'm more comfortable with the hones now, so hopefully I can recognize something like this before I waste time. Great thread by the way. That's how I ended up identifying it for sure. I laid it on my DMT and sure enough it was raised just enough to not touch.

One of the hardest things I'm finding it to keep the blade flatly on the hone without using pressure. It's like learning to shave with a straight again!

I've honed maybe a dozen Wapis, including several of the variations. I have found the consistency to be spotty, but they can usually be made shave-ready. Several of them had issues similar to what you're describing, Quick Orange. I'm not sure if the problem is really warping or whether it's just poor grinding. It would be hard to warp a blade as thick as the Wapis are.

The steel always seems to be decent, though.

Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

I'm not sure if the problem is really warping or whether it's just poor grinding. It would be hard to warp a blade as thick as the Wapis are.

I think you're right here, Josh. I myself have probably taken too loose of liberties in generalizing that a razor's edge not lying flat on a flat surface is due to "warping" when like you've said, there are other factors that can be at play when a razor is showing such signs of being flawed. Maybe there is a better term that we can use when the cause of the edge not laying flat is really undetermined?

This may be related. I have an old Swedish Engstrom that has what seems to be a warped/concave edge, yet the spine looks flat. Very weird razor. Manufacturing defect or user damage? A real challenge to sharpen, either way.