Thread: Well I'll be! Bevel is important!

So after taking a long hiatus from honing, I decided to get back into it after I picked up a 600 grit DMT bench whetstone (you can see it here: DMT DIAMOND WHETSTONES). I can see you cringing right now at 600 grit, but hear me out. Over 6 months ago I got a decent looking razor from the Bay on the cheap with the intention of restoring it. Unfortunately, the edge wasn't straight, and I was getting nowhere with my 1200 continuous. Dejected, I sat it down and never picked it up again.

Fast forward to now. I figured what the hell, I'll give it another shot. I put some water on the new 600 and began attempting a new bevel. It took a lot of work, but I'll be damned if I wasn't able to get a good bevel set on what I believed to be a severely warped blade. In my opinion, it is indeed warped, but not nearly as bad as I originally thought.

Things I've learned:

* Don't worry about the slurry holes in this hone. They don't catch on the razor's edge at all, especially if you have a couple drops of water on it.

* 600 seems to be a great bevel setting grit. It eats steel quickly, but not at an alarming rate.

* If it seems warped, give a lower grit a whirl. You never know...

* The 1200 continuous does a fantastic job of smoothing out the relatively rough edge the 600 grit leaves, but it takes time on the Belgian Blue to smooth out the 1200.

I'm not ready to move from the Blue to the Coticule yet, but it's already on the threshold of shaving sharp.

Congratulations on your perseverance!
Unfortunately thats what it takes for some razors. I have had a number of razors that have defied the normal process.

Next time try using sandpaper. IMHO it leaves a smoother edge.

Do you just wrap the sandpaper around another hone or what? Sandpaper had occurred to me, but then HAD kicked in

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

Do you just wrap the sandpaper around another hone or what? Sandpaper had occurred to me, but then HAD kicked in

I cut a piece of sandpaper the width of the hone and slightly longer. I use wet/dry sandpaper. Soak the sandpaper in water briefly, 1-2 minutes, then wet the top of the hone and lay the sandpaper on top.

25-50 laps is usually sufficient.

*strokes imaginary beard*

Thanks Randy, I'll have to give that a whirl!