Thread: Honing a warped blade

Hello gents...

I started a thread a few months ago with question on how to hone a razor with warped blade... I got some answers and I tried to hone it, but I always seem to fail...
I just couldn't set my bevel properly...
Yesterday I took that particular razor and decided to make everything what's in my power to hone it...
And when I was soaking my stones something crossed my mind... I was always using only ONE layer of tape on the spine...
So, I decided to give it a try with THREE layers of tape... First I did 60 laps on 1k just to see what will happen... I did a thumbnail test and found out that there is only about 1/4 of inch in the middle of the blade where bevel wasn't set... So I did 40 more laps and TNT and the bevel was set throughout the entire edge...
But, since the blade is 9/16" wide, I thought that three layers of tape did mess with the edge geometry...
So, I removed one layer of tape and did 60 more laps on 1k side... I saw that the bevel was getting a bit wider and I saw 2 shades of gray along the edge...
Then I realized that second bevel was forming and I honed it on 1k until I honed out the first bevel...
Then I removed the second layer of tape and repeat the process until there was only one uniform bevel...
And THEN I took the razor on the higher grit stones (3k, 6k, 12k) to polish the edge...
I skipped the CrOx this time just to see what will happen and it seems to me that the 12k did the pretty good job...
100 passes on the leather and razor was popping the tips of my arm hair with no pulling (I didn't touch the skin, the edge was in the air)...

So, regardless of reading tons of posts on how the higher grit stones are used ONLY to polish the previously set bevel, I just had to learn it the hard way...

Thanks for sharing the experience.

Sounds like the tape divided one large bevel-setting job into three smaller parts, each with a separate mark to shoot for.
If it bought you the patience to sit this one through, that's just an awesome method for you.

Well done,

Bart.

I think I will try this approach on a razor I believe may be warped. Thanks for sharing that experience. The weird thing about my razor (maybe someone can comment on what I have here), is that I can lay the razor flat on a stone and both the spine and bevel touch at the same time on one side. When I flip it over, I have to press on the heel side to make it sit flat from heel to point, and even then there are several spots it doesn't touch entirely. If I look down on the spine when holding it my hand, one side that would touch the stone is straight. The other side has a bump near the heel (the spine is straight then has like a mountain, then goes back down). I'm actually not sure if this was an error created over time or if the blade is warped naturally. Anyway, I've been honing on a 1K Shapton to no evail (one piece of electrical tape on spine). I've got a pretty decent bevel forming on the flat side, but the other is in bits and pieces. There is a very slight smile where the edge will cut hair on my arm decently, but the rest is shot.

Does any of this sound similar to what you had? Anyone else have suggestions? Good post...

Originally Posted by papasote

I think I will try this approach on a razor I believe may be warped. Thanks for sharing that experience. The weird thing about my razor (maybe someone can comment on what I have here), is that I can lay the razor flat on a stone and both the spine and bevel touch at the same time on one side. When I flip it over, I have to press on the heel side to make it sit flat from heel to point, and even then there are several spots it doesn't touch entirely. If I look down on the spine when holding it my hand, one side that would touch the stone is straight. The other side has a bump near the heel (the spine is straight then has like a mountain, then goes back down). I'm actually not sure if this was an error created over time or if the blade is warped naturally. Anyway, I've been honing on a 1K Shapton to no evail (one piece of electrical tape on spine). I've got a pretty decent bevel forming on the flat side, but the other is in bits and pieces. There is a very slight smile where the edge will cut hair on my arm decently, but the rest is shot.

Does any of this sound similar to what you had? Anyone else have suggestions? Good post...

From your description there seems to be a “hump” on the “bad” side that is preventing the heel and the toe from contacting the hone. Or the razor is warped. This is common in old Sheffield wedge razors (I have a few just like that). You cannot correct it but you can hone around it (or change your honing technique to adapt to this condition).
If you lay the razor on the side where the heel and the toe does not touch the hone, can you gently “rock” the razor to get the heel and toe to alternately touch the hone?
If so, then, when honing that side, you will have to “tilt” the razor so that the heel and the toe will contact the hone during that side of the stroke…. So at the start of the stroke you tilt the razor so the heel touches the hone, then during the sweep you rock the razor so that at the end of the strike the razor is tilted so the toe is in contact with the hone. When doing the other side you hone as normal but you must remember to rock the razor for the “bad” side.

If you think about it... the heel and toe of the “good” side will get much more cutting from the hone than the other side, so you may want to give the heel and toe of the “bad” side a few more strokes than the other “good” side… so from time to time do a few back and forth strokes to the heel and toe so they can “catch up", then flip the razor and do one stroke on the good side.

It may sound complicated… but there’s not much to it except developing muscle memory through practice.

Hope this long wind helps.

That is actually exactly what I noticed with the hone wear. The good side had a nice new bevel, the bad side had like no wear. How would the taping apply here? Should I add layers around the hump? Or tape as normal? I've been doing a rocking motion, but I must not be good at it because it it hasn't given me any results worth mentioning.

Tried 3 layers of tape across the entire spine as oppose to around the hump, nothing. I was able to reach a bevel across the entire edge, but the center is the part that will cut anything. I did the, take a layer off and hone down to one piece of tape. I think the razor is crap... it's vintage off ebay, I will eventually send it to a honemeister, but I'm determined to attempt it myself (LOL). By the way, not trying to . . . .

Originally Posted by papasote

Tried 3 layers of tape across the entire spine as oppose to around the hump, nothing. I was able to reach a bevel across the entire edge, but the center is the part that will cut anything. I did the, take a layer off and hone down to one piece of tape. I think the razor is crap... it's vintage off ebay, I will eventually send it to a honemeister, but I'm determined to attempt it myself (LOL). By the way, not trying to . . . .

OK you may or may not have a few issues, so I will ask a couple of questions so please don't give up just yet.

Is your razor a wedge or “near wedge” grind? Sheffield or other old blade?
What kind of hone are you using to set the bevel?
I will assuming you are new to honing straight razors and you are following the honing instructions posted all over the forum (only the weight of the blade using a low grit hone and you have a lot of patience).

It's a Wade & Butcher Sheffield, Extra Hollow Ground. I am using a Shapton 1K to set the bevel, I am very new, and my patience is fine (I am just afraid of honing too much and messing something up). About the pressure, I have to apply a slight amount of pressure on the bevel by lifting the spine to kind of keep it on the stone. I am not a good judge of if this is too much, but sometimes I catch myself feeling like I should lighten up a bit. Whether I keep the blade on the stone the entire pass (heel leading with a slight rolling pressure throughout the pass from heel to point to make even the parts that don't touch consistently), or if I do the X-pattern and have it some off the stone, I still can't get anything even from heel to point.

Can you post a photo of the blade?