Thread: Ebay razor does not lay flat on the hone

I recently picked up a batch of ebay razors eager to improve my honing skills. To start, I chose the cleanest, nicest looking razor out of the bunch I bought, one that appeared to need the least amount of honing in order to get it shaving. Boy, I picked the wrong razor: I laid it down on the hone (naniwa 1000) to set the bevel (which is what I wanted to practice) and it does not lay flat! If I lay the spine on the hone, the head of the blade does not quite touch the hone with the blade facing away from me. The problem is less apparent with the blade facing me.

I am relatively new at this, but I do know enough from maintaining my shave-ready razors, that my other razors lay flat on the hone. Any ideas (or links in this forum) that might help me approach this problem? In the meantime, I will clean up the others and see if I have any better luck. If solving this problem proves to be too much for me, I will save this razor for another day...much further down the road.

Thanks.

Adam

Sometimes a 45 degree angle to the hone works and other times the "rolling x" seen here .

Hello. I had the same problem with the razor.

First things are first, you have to set the bevel properly.

Try to tape the spine with only one layer of electric tape. Do 20 - 30 laps on your 1k stone and then try to make a Thumbnail Test. Try to feel where edge picks the thumbnail and where it just glides over it. Then try to do the Magic Marker Test (paint the edge with MM and do 10 laps on 1k to see where hone cuts the metal off)

Then try to tape the spine with 3 layers of electric tape and do the 45 degree X-stroke on 1k until your Thumb informs you that the bevel is set over entire length of razor's edge. Your bevel might look funny and not uniform due to warp of your blade.

You have to think of blade's geometry, so after setting the bevel with 3 layers of tape I recommend removing two layers off and honing until your bevel has only one shade of grey color under strong light. That means that you have only one bevel and that you can take your razor to higher grit stones to polish that bevel.

Believe me, patience is your strength.

Also, similar thing was discussed here.

If these razors are to practice honing with I would not use tape as it will complicate the issue.

First determine it the blade is tapered or warped. If warped you will see light through the middle of the blade when one side is laid flat on the hone. the other side will rock between showing light at the heal and toe where the middle will always be on the hone. To set the bevel and hone this type of blade you will need to have only one point of the bevel on the hone at any one time. Tip the blade slightly so the heal is the only part touching the hone and slide it off the side of the hone to more towards the toe. When you are about 1/4 distance form the tow you can lay the blade flat on the hone to finish your stroke. Repeat this stroke for all honing of the blade on both sides and all hones. Be sure to use the marker test to be sure you are honing the complete edge.

If the blade is tapered or smiling Jimmy's rolling x stroke is the way to go.

The marker test is the best method to determine if the blade is tapered or warped.

Good luck.

Believe it or not, all three of the above posts are correct, they are just different approaches to the same problem...

The degree of the problem will determine which is the best for you, Jimmy's would be the first system I would try after using the Magic Marker...
Then if that alone doesn't work move to Joed's and finally if a full reset of the edge is necessary which is the most labor intensive go with Roberts...

Thanks to everyone for the responses. I will go though the steps that each of you outlined, following Glen's order. I must admit that the process looks pretty daunting to me. I will table this item on my agenda for a few weeks. Since I feel I need more practice with setting the bevel, I will work on the easier razors first. I will definitely return to this soon. When I do, I will report on my progress.

Adam