Thread: Trouble honing a Bingham

I have a 4/8 W.Bingham Co. razor that has a BBB in a circle, a B95 on the monkey tail and has a hollow grind. I don't know if that will help, but I figured I'd include that info. I am having a lot of trouble honing it. It WILL NOT pop hairs. It passes the TPT and the TNT but, when I try the HHT it does not cut the hair the way it should. It grabs it and cuts the hair longitudinally.

I hone it the same way I hone my Boker #201(5/8) and my King Double Temper(11/16). These razors pass all the tests, but the Bingham won't. Is the steel a lower quality or do I need the treat the smaller razor differently. Thanks for your help in advance.

That is perfectly sharp enough to shave with. But a few more strokes on your finishing stone and then some stropping ought to bring it up to where you want it.

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

That is perfectly sharp enough to shave with. But a few more strokes on your finishing stone and then some stropping ought to bring it up to where you want it.

Yeah, I was going to suggest stropping myself!

Yep, sometimes stropping is all it takes.

You should tell us something about your honing method.
Pyramids on a Norton? Or a progressive honing approach?
It might be possible that you got a rounded (or double) bevel on that razor, which calls for a different plan of attack than a razor with a proper bevel. The results on the HHT indicate that you're not to far from home.
It also might be possible that your particular razor does not sustain a sharper edge than the one it currently has. Every razor maxes out on some point on the scale of sharpness. It all depends on the hardness and the grain of the steel how far you can push an edge into the realm of keenness. I have a very old frameback here, that simply won't become as sharp as my others, no matter what I do. I still shaves decent enough, though, and I think your Bingham will do too.
You could try performing a Magic Marker Test, to see if you're not having the condition I referred to in the beginning of this post.

Good luck,

Bart.

Not to split hairs (no pun intended), but if the edge is catching the hair enough to split it down the center than it should not be rounded much, if at all. And the edge would be too small to see with the naked eye in the case of the marker test.

But you can give it a shot, never know.

double post, disregard.

Try a few back hone strokes at the end. I run into this problem with razors once in awhile and a backhone usually solves it. For whatever reasons of steel quality or heat treating, some razors seem to benefit from a back honing. When I do these razors again, I use circular strokes on the hone which, if you break it down, is an X pattern with a backhone.

I used the marker to determine that I had "reached" the edge with my first stone, so I'm sure that is not the case. I tested the razor after stropping. I'll go and try the backstroke, when I get home.

Any update?

It's always good to know what techniques helped and which didn't.

It could still be stropping (not to beat a dead horse) since more stropping can only help the edge and you may have stopped just short of what was needed.