Thread: Razors that don't sit flat on hone

Is this a common situation? I've been buying some razors on ebay that have blades that appear to be in good shape. Most of them, when placed on the hone, lay perfectly flat, so that throughout the length of the blade, the spine and edge are touching the hone perfectly flat on both sides. Honing these razors is fairly straightforward.

I've found 2 razors so far, though, that when they are placed flat on the hone, one side is ok and lays flat, but the other side there is a section of the edge that does not touch the hone. It seems as if the spine isn't completely and perfectly straight throughout, on that side.

These 2 razors have been giving me a hard time to hone. I've found that if I lead with the heel with an X stroke where the tip comes within a quarter to half an inch from the edge of the hone, I can hit the entire blade and set a decent bevel, but my technique needs a lot of improvement because I need to use moderate pressure in order to ensure that the blade stays level throughout the stroke (particularly when less than half an inch of the blade is touching the stone). Should I keep trying something like this? Or should I try for an hour on the DMT8 to wear the spine enough that the edge sits flat? (I think this would be possible, but it would probably take 200 strokes+ with moderate pressure.)

Is this common with older razors, where it seems like the spine isn't quite straight (I think this is the cause) making it a PITA to hone?

I just received a razor from ebay that has this condition. Sits nice and flat on one side, flip it over and the blade rocks back and forth on the stone.

I think I'll be able to get it honed using the heel leading x strokes, but it will be an excercise in patience and concentration I think.

I have 2 razors that have displayed this problem out of 17. Neither of them are sharp right now.

Warped blades.It is common and gives a little problem when you hone.as mentioned before me use rolling motion to sharp warped part.shouldn't be too difficult.Don't worry about how wide will be sharpened edge.i am sure it won't be same but that is ok

Cool, I was doing it the right way! It's definitely an exercise in patience, doing it like this. Hopefully the result is worth it I'll get back at it tonight and see how it turns out.

Pjrage, IMO consider yourself very very lucky if the majority of your razors lie perfectly flat on the hone on both sides of the blade. Or maybe a thank you to me is in order since I have the opposite situation. I have quite a few razors and almost none of them literally lie perfectly flat on a hone on both sides of the blade. See, I must have all the non flat razors which may be allowing YOU to have flat ones.

I think I'll have to be picked up off the floor the next time I do find one that's perfectly flat.

Maybe our definitions of truly flat are different though; I consider PERFECTLY FLAT on both sides to be a razor that would exhibit the following behavior:

Using the marker test and no pressure, after only one or at the most two complete passes, under magnification, both bevels of said razor would be absolutely, completely and uniformly abraded by the hone and there would be no trace of marker anywhere. IMO such a razor would be so easy to hone I could give it to anyone to hone with very basic instruction and if they couldn't hone it to a keen shaving edge I'd question their motor skills long before wondering about anything challenging about the razor.

Conversely then, virtually all of my razors are different in behavior and require individual assessment and also require some level (even if it's minor) of deviation from a standard patent honing technique.

Maybe the worst of it is over for me and every razor I'll acquire from here on out will be perfect and therefore effortless to hone? Even though I like a good challenge I can only hope that this could be the case for me.

Chris L

Many times the ebay purchases are not warped, but really have had the spine honed/ground very poorly. I have seen this many times cause a razor to not lie flat on one side or the other. Typically you see different pressure all over the place both on the spine and edge and usually not the same on the front or back of the razor.

These razors are usually the ones that I might tape as there is the need to remove a lot of steel to correct the bevel although if you don't correct the spine and hone it again later, you will always need the tape. The 45 degree X pattern stroke has always been extremely successful for me on these types of razors as well as wedges and smiling shaped blades.

Have fun,

Lynn

Originally Posted by Lynn

The 45 degree X pattern stroke has always been extremely successful for me on these types of razors as well as wedges and smiling shaped blades. Have fun,
Lynn

+1 on what Lynn said and there is also the rolling x for extreme cases .

Let me clarify "perfectly flat." I was using it as a relative term where one blade, to the naked eye appears to be "perfectly flat," and responds very well to the normal X pattern honing. I have no idea if they are truly "perfectly flat." But the blades in question are clearly not flat, with roughly 20 thousands or more of gap between the edge and stone on the parts in question.

And I figure it must be just the spine, because the one side lays flat (to the eye ), but not the other. This indicates that it probably isn't warped. If it were warped I would expect the blade to hump on one side and cup on the other.

I think I'll stick with the 45 degree X pattern, with a slight roll at the affected area to keep it flat, and see where I end up.

Kind of unrelated, but how exactly does the marker test work? I assume you use marker on the bevel, but I'm always afraid to do it because I figure I'll end up markering up more than just the bevel by accident (it can be a very small area!), and have a hard time removing the extra marker on the blade. Does it just polish out with some maas? Wouldn't it be risky to polish or otherwise try to move the marker that is so close to your now finished edge?

EDIT: Found the answer to my marker question here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/basic...ck-marker.html for anyone else interested.

It's good you found some marker test info and also good you provided a link. The marker test is invaluable to me when honing. I use it on virtually ever razor. It pinpoints problem areas better than anything else I've found thereby eliminating the head scratching and anxiety inducing mystery behavior edges have such a penchant for.

Black sharpie marker has always been easy for me to wipe off when I get some on the hollow of the blade above the bevel. When I apply the marker to the bevels I'm not that concerned about getting marker on other parts of the blade for that reason.

Chris L

On the marker. What I do is when I first put the razor to the hone I mark the edge with the black marker. I do a stroke or two and see what is removed. Once the stroke is figured out I wipe the marker off. Better to do it immediately rather then when I have made progress on the blade.

I have started to keep a log and I make a note of the results of the marker test as if you have a lot of razors it is hard to remember what stroke works for each one and it would be a hassle to do the marker every time you hone. If you have just a few to maintain it probably wouldn't be hard to remember.