Thread: *razzle frazzle grumble* Warped Edge

I give up. I give up i give up igiveupigiveup.

4 hours. FOUR HOURS of honing on this thing. I honed in a bit of a smile after reading Smythe's post here--this razor had a frown when I got it, and it seemed to have all the problems he described. Plus, it just made sense for a swaybacked razor to have a matching smile.

So I was making progress. I taped the spine because if I hadn't, there would be no spine left, and I got to where I was mostly hitting on points with my strokes using the marker test. Iwas using Lynn's 45 degree strokes, and after a while I was noticing some real progress. I got to where the heel was a really nice feeling bevel--popping hairs and sticky. But the toe WOULD NOT GET SHARP. I tried circles and back honing on just the toe, I tried extra tape on the toe. I tried toe-leading 45 degree strokes, and NOTHING HAPPENED. No change whatsoever in the feel of that toe. I have half a bevel, and a rapidly shrinking razor.

Enough.

I looked into my crystal coticule ball and saw that your away stroke is good, but your return stroke is missing good contact with the toe.

Fix it and you'll have a nice, sharp bevel from toe to heel

I snagged a mint Genco Master Barber off ebay for $15 several months ago. It was beautiful. When I started honing it I was horrified to find it was warped.

I could see if I just kept it flat on the stones, it was going to have big scalloped bevels. I tried rolling X strokes off the edge of the stones and that helped, but I couldn't get it as smooth shaving as I wanted. Finally I tried diamond lapping film in narrow 1-inch strips. That worked like a charm.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

I looked into my crystal coticule ball and saw that your away stroke is good, but your return stroke is missing good contact with the toe.

Fix it and you'll have a nice, sharp bevel from toe to heel

You should go on the road! Yeah. That was it in the end. It was, predictably, MY fault. The initial warp was eliminated by honing in a smile, but the final issues with the bevel at the toe were uneven strokes on the return.

I now have a very nice bevel, easily shaving arm hair along the entire length of the blade.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

O_S, it's not a known brand--a Japanese made blade called "Rongin."

Warped edges might be a problem, but it also could be an excuse to buy a narrow hone. That might work.


Skizzo