Thread: Problems setting bevel

Its not that the bevel was gone, its more that there was never one there to begin with. It was as though it had been factory sharpened. Never honed. It was bought from AaronX- he would be able to tell us more.

I picked it up in Kona Hawaii and it didn't have a bevel at that time. Sandy it's a wedge blade and will take a bit to set the bevel on 4k. Keep at it and as Lee and I suggested try the marker test to make sure you're getting good contact with the hone.

I don't think you mentioned this: Are you using a felt marker to mark the edge to indicate the stone is touching the entire edge? If you're not, it sounds as though you need to.

Regards,

Steve

I wasnt using the marker test until Aaron told me to. In fact I have yet to ise it even now. Hope to do it later this week.

I use the wet and dry paper..................dry.

You take the sheet of paper and divide it into three.

You then put the paper on a flat edge e.g. a piece of glass or a kitchen worksurface if the edge is not curved or a table, or a chopping board.

Shake the paper first and rub it over with your hand to dust off foreign material and grains of loose grit.

You could even overlap it on the top of your norton

Use the paper as you would your 4/8k Norton, but with a little pressure

You could even overlap the wet and dry on the top of your norton.

Once you have made a maximum of ten return passes on the wet and dry, throw it away and replace it if you need to with a fresh piece.

After just two return passes, You should see the two newly honed edges if you look at the blade. If you see the two lines shining at you, your on your way. By all means use the marker if you don,t see the freshly honed, glinting metal running the length of the blade . But I doubt if this will be a problem.

If you are nervous of using the wet and dry, try it first with an old knife, so you see what happens.

If th paper moves, just hold it with your finger tips. Eventually, the paper will start curling . But if you use it as I have said for 10 return passes maximum, the curling problems should be a non issue. Just don't be too fussy, all the things that you think will matter actually don't. Just hone it 10 return passes and you will be really unlucky not to have formed the best bevel on the razor that is possible. Then go to your Norton. Can't advise about that though, I don't have one. I use a natural yellow coticule first with slurry then without, to do what the Norton is famous for.

But you will have to polish the edge on something when you have finished in the Norton. Use newspaper. It's as effective as Chromium Oxide.

Again, wrap a few pages tightly around a piece of wood and make a flat surfaced hone. STROP your blade on this newspaper hone the same as you would on your leather hone.

Although you would never believe it from reading these forums, it's not rocket science. The newspaper trick is the most effective blade polisher there has ever been. It has been used for generations to polish blades of all types. Just as leather belts were used to strop razor blades and discipline unruly children. We call it multitasking.

Good luck.