Thread: Need Bevel Tip

Originally Posted by Doop

I was setting the bevel on a vintage Kropp last nite. To start, I inked the edge and gave a few test swipes on the Norton 1k to see what I was dealing with. One side of the blade came out quite clean and the other left a good size section, about 25% of the blade length, in the center.

Based on that information, I'd guess that you're dealing with a warped, or uneven ground blade. When laying on the problem side, the middle part of the edge is probably not touching the hone. If it's a warp, the bevel at the middle part will be wider on the opposite side.
I presume the bend is pretty outspoken, based on the time you honed without success on the coarse hone. There are two possible solutions to deal with such a flaw.

1. As you already figured, use narrow hones. They are capable of following the bended curve of the blade. You can use the narrow side of many hones. Even if they are combination hones (treat as the coarsest hone of the combination). Make sure you lap the surface you're using and round the corners a bit.

2. Introduce a smiling curve into the edge. With the middle part being slightly ahead of the tip and toe, it has far better chance of making good contact with the hone. You need to master a good rolling X for this. Of both options, this is the most difficult. Personally, I usually first introduce the smile "breadknifingly" (with a very slight rocking motion), and then rely on X-strokes on a coarse hone (DMT-C) to establish a nice bevel on the now smiling edge.

Best regards,
Bart.

Originally Posted by Doop

I was setting the bevel on a vintage Kropp last nite. To start, I inked the edge and gave a few test swipes on the Norton 1k to see what I was dealing with. One side of the blade came out quite clean and the other left a good size section, about 25% of the blade length, in the center.

= Warped blade. Nothing really to do about it, except trying to use a thinner hone to set a proper bevel in the trouble area.

Originally Posted by Doop

I honed on the 1K for a while and could see I wasn't going to get results on that grit for at least an eon so I flipped over to the 330 grit side and started in. It was kinda late and the Tigers were on TV so I stopped after about 40 minutes.

OMG, stop! 1 minute on a 330 grit is murdering the edge let alone 40.
I'm sure your 1k stone is fine otherwise it wouldn't pass the magic marker test (at least on one of the sides).