Thread: Help! Horrible hone job

Called up a cutlery place this weekend and they said they could hone my straight razor. They were completely wrong.

I went in today to have my razor honed, he went in the back room (could see him through some plexi glass) and he had started putting it on a belt machine before I could stop him.

He honed it in the wrong direction (the direction you strop), and holding the spine up so only the edge was being sharpened. By the time I saw what he was doing, it was too late. It was sharp enough to take hair off my arm, but I was still afraid about what he might have done to it.

Tonight I tried to strop, but I'm afraid that because the angle he sharpened it (which was not the angle of the blade and the spine lying down) that the tip of the edge might not have even been touching the strop flushly, and I may not have even stropped at all.

I tried shaving. It would cut my hairs, but it tugged way too much; there was no way I could shave with it, I was so disappointed. I only paid $4 for the service, but I'm afraid my blade might be damaged.

Anyone think they have the expertise to help me fix this? I'll send it and give you a couple bucks for the trouble and to send it back, or if anyone else is in the Raleigh area, or within driving distance, I can bring it by. Anyone?

We say this over and over again. never ever take a straight to a cutlery shop, or knife store for sharpening. They don't have a clue. Only have a straight sharpened by someone you KNOW can do the job.

Send it to Lynn, pay full price and tip besides. Whomever gets to rebuild the edge has a lot of work in store.

Even though I would know it was my own fault for taking my razor there, I would have given a lecture to the shop owner about mis-representing their services and at top volume too.

Depending on what you paid for your razor , you may be better off to buy another razor , that has been honed properly . I don't know how long it would take a honemiester to restore your edge . But I've done edge restorations on some of my razors , and it would take me AT LEAST 4 hours on a 1000 grit hone to reestablish the bevel , BEFORE I could even start to make the edge shaving sharp . The person who "honed" your razor , ruined the bevels on the edge , and they need to be rebuilt .

Honestly it doesn't sound like the razor is ruined. It sounds like since it cuts hairs/arm hair and is sharp and all, the bevel just needs to be "erased" and reset properly. Obviously it may take some metal off the razor that would have stayed there if it were honed properly. I am debating whether to have you send me the razor and I'll do it for free if you pay shipping both ways. I just have a lot of other razors to be working on. Hopefully someone else will offer their services...

Firebox is in my area, and he told me to bring it by. If that doesn't pan out, I'll let you know. Appreciated!

Originally Posted by marosell

He honed it in the wrong direction (the direction you strop), and holding the spine up so only the edge was being sharpened.

well to give the guy some credit, he was probably using a leather belt (makes for crazy quick sharpening of knives) so he had to hold the blade the direction you strop. if he'd held it the other way, you would have no choice but to buy a new razor...it would have caught on the belt, been ripped from his hands, thrown to the floor and shattered into precisely 3 pieces...

Cutlery Shops aren't what they used to be. Once it was a real profession, and barbers sent their razors out to a cutler to have the bevel re-established if the razor got damaged.

Now they just sharpen kitchen knives.

Quite a few years ago I took a cutter from a wood shaper (a panel raising cutter for making cabinet doors) to a cutlery shop.

I asked them if they could sharpen it and got the same response: "Sure!"
It was a carbide cutter 5-1/2" in diameter that spins at 7,000 RPM.

They whittled away at it with a little diamond paddle and actually ruined it.

They honed the profile side (which you should never do) by hand.

I then took it to a real professional carbide shop, and the politely informed me that the shaper cutter could not be repaired.

Oh well, the replacement cutter only cost me $250.00.

Quite a bit more than any of my razors.

The only good thing about this is it really made me interested in learning to sharpen things myself.

On a similar note, there is nothing like sawing wood with a high-quality Disston panel saw or miter saw in a Stanley miter box. These vintage saws can be had cheap and are made of the finest cast steel.

But try to find someone to sharpen them! I took a miter saw to a saw shop and they said they could sharpen it, but of course, when the were done, it was perfect for sawing tree limbs but not fine work.

I ended up shipping it to Pete Taran in New York State to have it jointed and sharpened, and then it was a beauty, and 10 years later still cuts like butter.

But Pete doesn't sharpen saws anymore. So now I have to do it myself with a saw vise and special files. It is very time consuming, filing both sides of EACH tooth on a 32" long saw blade.

I thought I had a lot of patience doing that...

Until I started learning to hone razors.

Originally Posted by marosell

Called up a cutlery place this weekend and they said they could hone my straight razor. They were completely wrong.

I went in today to have my razor honed, he went in the back room (could see him through some plexi glass) and he had started putting it on a belt machine before I could stop him.

He honed it in the wrong direction (the direction you strop), and holding the spine up so only the edge was being sharpened. By the time I saw what he was doing, it was too late. It was sharp enough to take hair off my arm, but I was still afraid about what he might have done to it.

Tonight I tried to strop, but I'm afraid that because the angle he sharpened it (which was not the angle of the blade and the spine lying down) that the tip of the edge might not have even been touching the strop flushly, and I may not have even stropped at all.

I tried shaving. It would cut my hairs, but it tugged way too much; there was no way I could shave with it, I was so disappointed. I only paid $4 for the service, but I'm afraid my blade might be damaged.

Anyone think they have the expertise to help me fix this? I'll send it and give you a couple bucks for the trouble and to send it back, or if anyone else is in the Raleigh area, or within driving distance, I can bring it by. Anyone?

I'm going to assume that this is Beck's in McGregor Village. I'm a n00b, and left my new blade there to get a good edge on it, and I can't say that's it's any better than when I dropped it off. It'll cut the hair on my face, but I still don't think I've ever gotten a good shave out of the new Dovo that I got for Christmas. Have you found anyone locally in Raleigh who can put a good edge on the blade?