Thread: heal and toe

I have 16 razors i use noton 4k/ 8k and my belgiums blue and yeliow all hones are lapped regular with dmt8c so they are all ways flat. If i hone all my razors flat in the x pattern when refreshing i never seem to remove marker from either one side or the other at the very tip of toe or the begining of the heal one side can be perfect the other may be a bit of marker can be seen. if i roll slightly the marker vanishes straight away .if i lead by the heal hitting hone first and then the toe leaving hone last. (rolling stroke)

i have tryed the 45 degree angle and the heal still does'nt hit the hone. Is this quite normal do you guys find this. i realy would prefer to hone flat as at least it seems a more consistant method and keeping blade flat you carn't real go wrong.

does it real matter if there is a tiny bit of marker being left at heal or toe just on the shoulder or just as the curve starts on say for for example dovo tortiose.

"i have tryed the 45 degree angle and the heal still does'nt hit the hone. Is this quite normal do you guys find this. i realy would prefer to hone flat as at least it seems a more consistant method and keeping blade flat you carn't real go wrong."

Well, it is easier to hone flat, but once you get used to a rolling stroke it isn't so bad either. If your blade is older, or warped I would say it's 'normal' to use a rollin' stroke.


"does it real matter if there is a tiny bit of marker being left at heal or toe just on the shoulder or just as the curve starts on say for for example dovo tortiose. "


It matters if it negatively affects your shave! If you don't notice any decrease in shave quality, don't sweat it.

I have a few razors that have little dull spots on the heel and toe areas, mostly older wedges. It would be prohibitively time consuming (and knock about 1/32" off the blade thickness) to clean it up, so I just accept it.

Some folks intentionally blunt the edge of the heel and toe areas to keep those pesky edges from biting. If that sounds good to you, the work is already done.

I do get on fairly well with the rolling x and i've always liked to hone the full bevel as where it curves round a little as i find this pat of the blade doescome in handy i just did'nt want to be doing more harm than good i no as long as the spineis kept flat that is all that matters but i find this problem with new blades as when i get a new blade i always put marker along the egde and x pattern up an down my yellow coticule and nine times out of ten marker remains at the very toe or very begining of heal or just the toe vice the versa so i have always to be on the safe side started honing my blades with a slight rolling x.just wonderd if any one else find this works for them

^ what Joke1176 said.

If you prefer flat, non smilie edges: just keep honing it flat and eventually the main edge will catch up to the heel/toe. Might take 5 to 20 years or more, though...

I have a vintage one that needs a rolling stroke to hit the very tip, but I never bother to sharpen the tip of it. It'll get there eventually.

I'm not happy unless I get it all. Here is a excerpt on honing and stropping that is in the help files. It is from an old barber's manual and it has been very helpful to me. It addresses this issue specifically. On my PC at home and at work it displays sideways. I couldn't figure out how to rotate it so I printed it out. I refer to it often.

I have spoke to some one today who actualy honed acouple of my razors up and he is very good i won't mention his name. But he did say alot of people dont actualy realize the very tip of your razor and very heal does'nt and is not meant to be sharp only the actual cutting edge but if you want the very heal and toe then you would in most cases have to roll your stroke a little that sounds about right to me i hope

You need to use the Rolling X, even just a little on 'flat' edges.

X

Originally Posted by gary haywood

I have spoke to some one today who actualy honed acouple of my razors up and he is very good i won't mention his name. But he did say alot of people dont actualy realize the very tip of your razor and very heal does'nt and is not meant to be sharp only the actual cutting edge but if you want the very heal and toe then you would in most cases have to roll your stroke a little that sounds about right to me i hope

To each his own. If we are talking about the portion of the edge that has a bevel I want it to be sharp the full length. I use most all of it at one time or another during a shave. YMMV.

As far as the heel is concerned I can live without it being sharp though having it sharp sure does help. Now the toe on the other hand I like to use for precision work and I need it to be sharp.

Just my two cents.