Thread: how common

Im curious if its common for a wapi to need quite a lot of initial work to get an even bevel? I received a new wapi today and its taking a long long time to get my bevel set (granted all i have to work with is a 4k/8k norton).

I've noticed on one side of the blade the toe has a nice bevel set with the heel almost untouched, and on the opposite side the toe untouched with the heel having a nice bevel. I've used the sharpie technique and it confirms that the toe on one side and the heel on the other areant quite contacting the hone where the edge will be. I suppose this means i need to keep honing.

edit: as a reference, i've honed a DD satinedge (from ebay) which was not sharp at all when i got it, to shaving fantastic. Also, i've done some touchups on my DA...and reset the bevel on my H. Wacker. All 3 shave very nicely.

Didn't you realize that you and I are out there in order to give the majority of the Wapi owners (I can't say "guys" anymore) great trouble free encounters with their Wapis?

What I'm referring to with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek is the fact that although MOST Wapis I must believe and I'm sure our resident Wapi expert Mike Ratcliff can attest to are easy to hone and shave very well. I drew the short straw on Wapis when I bought 8 of the stamped ones last year. One has an inclusion on the bevel area that would completely need to be honed past making it a good 3/32" or more shorter. Another had an area of the edge actually flake off during honing leaving what looked like a decent chip even though the edge was not dinged against anything. I believe 4 of the remaining ones are significantly warped or at the least have flawed spine issues. I have other great vintage razors to shave with and play with so my Wapis essentially have been kicked to the curb possibly for a later date.

That long rant aside "setting a bevel" and having an "even" bevel are two different things that depending on the razor may never be both achieved. One is critical, the other is aesthetic. A razor can have the bevel "set" and appear visually to be of uneven width (the bevel). Many razors are like that. I have a DD Dwarf that has a perfectly even bevel on one side and a bevel of varying width from approx 1/16" down to almost no bevel. It shaves very well.

It's critical only that the two planes of both sides meet along the entire length of the razor. This point of intersection is the edge. A bevel is "set" when the two planes meet along the entire edge. It's not critical that the bevel be visually even.

I would recommend focusing on achieving a set edge and throw care to the wind regarding the razor's bevel appearance given you have an inexpensive razor to work with.

Chris L

i apparently had my terms mucked up, there is clearly 2 spots on the edge that areant contacting the hone at all (ala marker test)

for good measure i just re-lapped my norton to make sure it isnt that it is uneven.

so after lapping my stone, and marking the edges in the spots that the edge stops contacting the hone, giving it another 50 or so passes i can tell that im making progress. Very slow progress >.<

so after another 30 mins on the hone, about 30 passes on a pasted strop, and 50ish passes on my tony miller strop my wapi is slaying the HHT. Cant wait to try it in the morning!

Getting the edge free from inclusions, pits, and any other "sawtooth" problems can be done with an unusual technique borrowed from cellular biologists who use extremely sharp knives called "microtomes" to carve up individual cells for microscopic analysis. You hold the razor vertically on the stone and draw it towards you. You're bringing the edge to one height. Then you hone it and you won't have problems. There is an excerpt from a book written in 1908 in the How To section of my website describing the technique. The book was written by a Cornell professor. It's an interesting read not only for the above technique but also for other things he notes such as the problem that stones don't come from the quarry flat. Plus ce que c'est change, plus ce que c'est le meme chose! The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I had a Wapi with a hairline crack in the bevel. When I mentioned it to Wojtec he sent me a replacement, didn't even bother to ask the damaged one back.

My personal experiences with Wapi's are hit and miss literally..... I purchased 2 of them, one was was pretty good, not an even bevel mind you, but a good shaving razor, and as far as I know it is still shaving just fine. The second was a bear to hone, I finally got it shaving and used it for about 6 months, not a bad razor, but not in the same league as any of my good ones (keep in mind I don't like stiff grinds) I sold it to one of the new guys at a very low price, thinking he could use it for awhile then work his way to a better razor.... The edge by the heel promptly fell apart after 3 shaves, I actually thought that the edge was just barely holding together, and when it was presented to some harder work from a new shaver, just gave up the ghost... I promptly refunded the small amount of money that he had paid and never thought about that razor again....
I went back to a thread that I had written about the first good one, and re-read it, one of the things that I had noted was that even with that razor, I had made reference, that I did not think these were made of the same stuff as other razors, and that they might not last quite as long as other razors....
At the price point that they are sold they are a great entry level razor and many get long life and good shaves from them...... Are they in the same league as most of the vintage and new razors???? I dont think so, but again at the price point, they are hard to beat.....

I've honed a couple hundred of them by now, and most have small defects. It's very common to have a amall spot of pitting or stain on the blade, a slight warp, or poor bevel. These can be nice razors, but most seem to need fine tuning on their initial setup.

I've only had to send half a dozen or so back for severe warpage, or chipping, the rest just needed some TLC like straightening wavy edges, and honing past some minor defects.

I have honed a bunch of these and for the most part they take an edge easily and are very nice shavers. Considering the price is a bonus. However, when you get one that is finicky, it can be a real pain to get right. You can even get to experiment with all your equipment and all the honemeister's techniques.

Have fun.

Lynn