Thread: New TI 6/8, Not shave ready and uneven bevel, is this normal?

I just got my new TI 6/8 and was looking forward to my first str8 shave but discovered that it was not shave ready.



Failed the arm shave test, so forget about the hanging hair test. I also noticed a few uneven parts on the edge towards the heel under the microscope.

Uneven Edge (Fresh out of the Box) (Mag. x200):


Decided that since I can't shave with it, might as well try honing on the 4k/8k Norton. Started with the 8k, then switched to a few laps on the 4k until the edge was even, then 8k.

It will take a lot of practice, but I am going sloooow.

After honing it is somewhat sharper but still not what I would consider razor sharp. Can shave the arm hair but pulls a bit. BTW my arm hairs are softer than my beard.

This looks like a burr. How do I remove it? Do a lap on the hone in the reverse direction (away from the edge)? (Mag. x200)


Also I noticed that the width of the bevel is not even, it is noticeable to the eye. Is this normal for a new razor? (Face is the logo side of the blade. Mag. x 60):

Wow! Way to dive in there, Vlad. Make sure you use a pyramid honing scheme (listed in the forum(search) and the Help files) to get it where it should be. You may apply light pressure at the start of the honing, but taper it off to practically none at the end. Also try slightly rolling the main point of contact along the length of the blade from heel to toe as you advance along the hone.

X

Well, I got the 3/4 of the blade to pop hairs on my arm. I am using the pyramid honing and this is what got the 3/4 of the blade sharp. The 1/4 near the heel just won't.

I can see that the heel part does not spend as much time on the hone as the toe. I am using a 2" Norton. So I tried to reverse the X pattern to go from toe to heel. Did not seem to affect it.

It is probably the uneven pressure that I am applying during honing.

I will retry tomorrow since I am quite tired of honing tonite.

Good post; good observations. Assymetrical bevels could be poor microscope setup. Maybe not.

I'm sure you are on your way to getting a really good edge. You know the drill; some things cannot be taught. If you have a wire-edge/burr, then the backhoning you mention might be good. I don't know. There are many ways to remove a burr. Your edge looks good enough to try some of the tried and true pyramid techniques that some of the sorcerers around here have developed. Don't ask me why, but they seem to work on nearly keen edges like you are showing.

Thanks for the good post.

Hi Larry:

No, the uneven bevel is not a microscope artifact, it is visible to the naked eye. It is a very big difference. The back toe bevel is .2 mm wide, back heel bevel about .5 mm, face heel is about .4mm and face toe is .8mm.

Now, if I could get the whole blade shave sharp I would not care how it looks.

I tried shaving with it even before I got it to 3/4 there. Just wanted too see what it feels like. I've been waiting for the razor for 3 weeks and saving this beard for the last two days, knowing that the razor would arrive today. So anticipation was built up, but the razor was not ready.

I managed to shave the sideburn but as soon as I got to an area on the cheek with wider patch of hair the blade just got stuck in the hair. I would have to put way too much pressure on the blade for my comfort. I finished the shave with a DE. After which I spent the last 3 hours honing the razor.

Will try shaving with it as is tomorrow.

Sorry to hear about your difficulties!

Wire edge - perform 3-5 back leading strokes followed by 5 normal edge leading strokes. Examine the edge, repeat as necessary to remove the wire edge. If the 8000 side does not do the trick then go back to the 4000 hone and do the same.

Bottom to top honing - don't do it. It messes up the fin. Unless you are taking into account the angles of the scratch pattern. You do not want to cross angles.

Heel sharpening - instead of using the X pattern just use a straight across the hone motion, with a slight angle on the razor, honing only the bottom section of the blade. Rotate your wrist to make sure that the pressure is on that bottom heel section of the blade. Try using an alternating 5 laps X pattern and 5 laps straight across pattern. It sounds like the heel was over ground.

To even out the bevel on both sides use the 4000 side on the narrow bevel side until it comes close to matching the other side of th bevel.

Since you have some corrective work to be done here I would tape the spine until the bevels are approx. the same width. I would not focus to much on having bevels with a uniform width. There may be a slight error in grinding the thickness of the razors spine. My focus would be on the sharpness of the blade, along its entire length, not the uniformity of the bevel.

Really like you pics!
What microscope did you use?


Hope this helps,

Randy pointed out in another threadthat overhoning the cuttign fins away is a common mistake. Try honing in a quiet room and listen to the fins get filed away on the 8000 side. I found it easy to use just a little too much pressure or a few too mant trips and the cutting sound begins to diminish. Is it possible you're overdoing it at the heel, grinding down the 'teeth' and this is why you're not popping hairs there?

The microscope is Digital Blue QX5. Low cost ($79.95) and easy to use. I read about it on the posts and decided that if I am going to learn to hone I need to see what is going on. Being able to snap pics and post them here for advice also seemed like a good to have feature.

I think I am getting closer on the honing of this blade, all the advice I got and previous posts that I read are starting to gel into a eureka moment.

Yesterday I noticed the nice line patterns everywhere on the edge except the 1/4 of the blade near the heel on the face side. It was odd but I did not pay attention to it. I woke up today with the realization that the 1/4 near the heel does not get honed on the face side of the blade. (You can see it in the "Face Heel" bevel pictures.)

So I honed slowly with a rocking motion from heel to toe to make the point of contact with the hone move all along the blade. I remember seeing it in one of the posts. Very slight effect but it worked much better. Now the whole blade shaves arm hairs with a poping sound. Beard shave test this afternoon.

I have a Fromm razor with an uneaven bevel. I've never been able to hone it out. It doesn't seem to matter much, as I still get a very good shave with this blade (it's my everyday blade). It does look odd, though. I honestly think it's because the blade has a slight (VERY slight) twist to it. I wonder if it would even be possible to fix it. I'm inclined to think not.

Have you flattened this stone? I feel it's absolutely imperative that all sharpening stones be flattened prior to hteir first use. I have found some to be slightly off out of the box and it's nice to take down the rough corners.

My jobs have a tendency to sharpen the heel first, so I concentrate on the x-pattern now. I think there is an almost imperceptable muscle movement in the hand during x honing that spreads the right amount of pressure along the blade.