Thread: Typ. newbie honing question

After finally stepping up to the real honing ranks and trying to tackle an ebay special, I finally had my first frustrating razor.

I have a 5/8 full hollow that I breadknifed and then set the bevel on the norton 1k. The bevel was nice and even across, same basic level of sharpness along the length of the bevel. Did a couple of extra strokes on the 1k to remove a couple of small chips that breadknifing didn't get.

Then went to the Norton 4k/8k pyramid. The heel to 2/3 up the blade were good (popping hairs at base) but the last 1/3 at the toe just wasn't getting there. I think that I didn't set the bevel well enough but I put in a decent amount of work on the 1k.

I guess what I'm asking is there a common mistake I may be doing that leads to the toe not being as sharp as the heel? Thanks

Most likely, your pressure in holding the blade against the stone is not uniform. The most critical feedback you can get while honing is watching the water in front of the blade. Most likely you are getting a nice wave front ahead of the edge on the heel end and very little on the toe. If you are honing correctly, as the bevel is set the water wave should be uniform along the entire length, and on both sides, of the blade.

Is there also a slight smile in the blade? I've found that this can cause difficulty when honing the toe, as you need more of a rolling/twisting motion to sharpen the toe more effectively.

Originally Posted by StraightRazorDave

Is there also a slight smile in the blade?...

Just checked it and there it was, ever so slight - Explains alot. It's just an ebay junker so I'll breadknife it again.

Thanks for the wisdom

Unless there's a chip in the edge, I wouldn't do the breadknifing route. A smile isn't a bad thing, it can just be a little more awkward to hone than a perfectly straight edge. If you breadknife it it would take a lot of work to re-establish the bevel (again ), so it's more of a last resort thing.

Have you tried more of a circular motion in your honing, the "half-moon" stroke as hi_bud_gl calls it. It's sort of a twisting motion so it's easier to hone the toe on a curved blade especially. It worked well for me when trying to hone a smiling blade. You should try doing the marker test and colouring the edge and doing a few laps on a hone to see how much is removed. I tried this with my smiling blade and realized that I was missing the last 1/4" towards the end.

I would first try the marker test and try to adapt your honing stroke before you try anything else.

Hope that helps you a bit. :gl

I stronly recommend sending the razor to either Utopian or myself for the free honing we are offering rather than breadknife it.

Your done with the 1k stone when you can cut hairs the same way as a very sharp knife would.

what do you mean by bread nifing it? I find most blades never get the very end or heal for same reason that there is a slight curve i just hone with heal down first and finish only slightly toe raised keeping spine flat the hole time this gets the hole edge i follow the riple in front of my edge it always looks fine but black marker reveals differant in most cases marker can still be seen at the tip of toe or heal depending on razor. I spoke to a honemeister about this and he said in actual fact the very heal and toe don'thave to be sharp and some people blunt it purposly. I my self like the whole bevel to follow round that is why i roll slightly if needed.