Thread: uneven bevel?

Honing a chip out of a shave ready edge.

Using electrical tape on spline. Chip is allllllmost out completely even under magnification. The edge and spline bevel have been pretty narrow and even. After trying to get this chip out, I'd say one side's edge bevel is wider towards the end of edge.

so basically an uneven bevel the length of one side of the razor.

What does this symptom suggest, and what should I do?

I also don't understand why the edge bevel would get wider if using tape. If anything that increase the angle of honing and the edge should stay the same width.

Although your are not giving us a whole lot of info to draw from, I am going to guess that you just learned what we mean when we say "Warped" blade.... The tape layer helps alleviate this problem but not totally, a warp is still a warp even under the tape....
You are right in your assumption that with tape, the bevel should be smaller, but you are still having to hone around the warp, BTW you do that with a true X stroke, and perhaps a rocking / rolling X depending on the blade..... Circle honing and / or Japanese honing might help to pull that bevel into line but dont forget to go back to the X stroke to even it out....


That's as good as I can give you with the info here...

I alleviate this by honing on the edge of the stone.

Back this past July I got a 9/8 Joe Rogers that had a big chip in the center of the warped blade. Perfect storm for a neophyte honer. With some great input from some forum members and a lot of hours I got the chip out and the blade honed to shave ready using the rolling X.

Using 1 layer of tape for the duration (changed it when it was necessary) I used a 325 diamond plate to get the chip and set the bevel initially then went to 1 1/2" Norton's single grit 1K, 4K, and 8K. Finished on a Blue/Green Escher. The blade is now an 8/8 and the bevel is not even on both sides but there is a bevel and the razor does deliver a good shave. As an advanced honer explained to me that while an even bevel is the ideal situation the bevel need not be even as long as there is a bevel. So keep on truckin and you will get it.

A difference in pressure or angle would do it on a straight edge. Does it have a smile? What kind of grind is the razor? What kind of hone do you use? The hone could be uneven.

Yeah, I should have given more information. The razor is a 3 year old Dovo stainless 5/8's hollow ground (full hollow I think). Hone originally by a forum member. I chipped it ever so slightly in the past and honed out the chips on a 4k norton but wasn't able to get it shave ready (no tape). Sent it out to forum member for sharpening, was pleased with results. Managed to nick it pretty good AGAIN, this time chip was about half the edge's bevel (i know it's all relative to size of bevel).

The edge's bevel was very narrow. Slight hone wear on the spline probably from me getting the first chip out without any tape. Regardless it's still pretty narrow on the spline and most importantly EVEN for the whole length of blade.

This time around I went to the 4k norton with 1 layer of electrical tape on the spline. Kept very very light pressure on blade for ton of passes. I was honing blade flat mostly, doing x's for some passes, doing heal leading for some passes. Took a really long time, now can barely see the chip with the naked eye but can still see it under magnification. It was kind of passing HHT's at certain places on the edge. I didn't want to go to something lower grit for various reasons. I was going to keep going but noticed something.

The edge's bevel is still very narrow. BUT, I noticed on one side of blade, the bevel of the edge towards the toe was slightly wider. Change in the edge's bevel was a gradual diagonal from the heal. Sort of like 1/2 millimeter wide at heal to 1 millimeter wide at toe. Don't have exact measurements because don't have anything to measure that small.

At the very toe end, I can ever so slightly see where the honemeister's honing is on the end and where my honing has met his. It appears the edge's bevel was even when he was done with it, so I don't see how the razor can be warped if I didn't drop it since then.

I'll try to get pictures but it's hard to get such a narrow bevel viewable in a picture.

Looking for honing advice as the chip isn't out yet, and this uneven bevel is only happening on one side, with a very even and consistent bevel on spline that is taped! My plan is to remove the tape once the chip is out, then hone without it. Is this a bad idea, will this remove a lot of spline metal getting the razor's bevel back from the taped angle? I just like the idea of honing without the tape for touchups.

Thanks to all those who have answered already, I know it's hard with only a text description!

My equipment:
DMT 8C (I think it's flat, tried to check with a straight level as I don't have a straight edge)
Norton 4/8k (Lapped by DMT 8C)
Newly aquired Chinese 12k

I think you can rule out that it's not related to hone wear. Usually the dmts are pretty flat and will make your other hones flat. Unless you made a bunch of passes because of the stainless, they probably stayed flat. You could ask the guy that honed it for you if he used a rolling x stroke on it. If he did, he might or might not have noticed that the blade is possibly warped. If you can rule out that it wasn't your technique, ie, you used light,even, consistent pressure along the edge and you didn't get the shoulder or tang of the blade on the hone or otherwise make any passes at a different angle, then I think all the data points to a warped blade.

The only other thing I can think of is that a lot of metal has been removed from the blade over the past few years. I've seen some razors gradually taper a bit after many years of honing and that can contribute to a difference in the edge width. But, you make it sound like it's only a few years old and hasn't been honed nearly that much. Again, I would say it is warped a little, in my humble opinion. Hope this helps.

The other variable is your touch on the hone with the razor. I see this all the time. Lately I've been getting a lot of blades with uneven bevels from folks who either had trouble honing their razor or sent it to someone who introduced a problem into the blade. The possibility also exists there is something wrong with the blade such as a warp or bad heat treat or it might just be worn out. I see that in vintage blades I restore. If you could send me a photo of the edge in question, I could better troubleshoot the problem. Depending on the size of the chip, I hold the blade vertically on a 1k Shapton and take the whole edge back to a straight or almost straight blade (see the writeup on this process in a 1908 book excerpt on my Honing How To page). It will also be demonstrated in the DVD I will have for sale in about 10 days. It will show myself and Harrelson Stanley honing blades using the Shaptons.

If you haven't already put a magic marker on the edge and did a few strokes try that. You can see if your edge is making contact all the way from toe to heel consistently. If it is not that is where the rolling X comes into play.