Thread: Bevel Setting a Smile: Heel is dull!

I do a fair number of smiling wedges, and they can be a serious PITA. I usually do rocking, heal leading circles to get things going and then a rolling, heal leading X to set the bevel and do the rest of the honing. I hold the razor in position such that the heal is leading - maybe around a 30 degree angle, but it depends on the razor and it's smile and how much I end up needing to work certain parts of the blade. Note the angle you hold the razor at, you'll want to keep that constant all the time. This is because the spine width may vary, as may the distance from the spine to the edge, so keeping the angle of the razor with respect to the hone constant is the only way to ensure you have a consistent bevel angle. If you change the angle, you will likely see multiple bevels start to form. That is bad.

So, the heal leading, rocking circle, serious metal removal technique: Start with the heal leading (razor at an angle to the hone) and tilt the razor such that the heal makes contact with the hone, just as you would with a rolling X stroke. Now, instead of making a rolling X, start to make little circles with the razor. As you are making circles, start to rock the razor towards the toe, as you would if you were doing a rolling X stroke, and keep those circles going. Also, maintain the angle of the razor to the hone. Roll out to the toe, and then roll back. Try to keep your circle rate, your rock rate, and the size of your circles constant at first. This will help to remove metal uniformly from all parts of the razor's spine and edge. I count the number of "rocks" from heal to toe back to heal (so heal, toe, heal is 1), do a few, and then flip the razor and do the other side. As you figure out which parts of the razor need more steel removed, you can focus in by rocking more slowly there, doing bigger circles there, or doing faster circles there - any one of these (or all three) results in more distance over the hone which results in more metal removed. Sometimes, I only rock over the heal, sometimes I only rock over the toe, sometimes I only rock over the middle - well, I shouldn't say only; if I'm really working the heal, I still rock all the way out to the toe now and again just so the wear at the toe doesn't form a step. A step shouldn't form, because your circles and rocking will not likely all end uniformly at the same place, but I like to be sure I'm blending the wear.

Periodically, I interrupt the rocking, rolling, circular madness, do a few rolling X strokes, and check the edge. Depending on how much work you need to do, you may be able to just look at the edge, or you may need to check by doing a arm hair, thumbnail, or thumbpad test. I do these rolling X strokes before testing because I find it easier to look and feel an edge that has a uniform scratch pattern, and the X's give me that. Once I get good results from just a few rolling X strokes, I go back and do 10 more rolling X strokes, just to make sure. Make sure of what? I don't really know. It just makes me feel better.

Once I have the bevel set, I'll do mostly just the heal leading, rolling X (same angle!) all the way up to my finisher, but sometimes I do the rocking, rolling circular madness on my second hone (would work on whatever you go to after the 1k - be it a Norton 4, Nani 3, Nani 5, Aoto, whatever) for a little followed by the rolling, heal leading X. For that first jump, the RRCM helps remove scratches quicker, but there's no need for anything but the rolling, heal leading X on the higher grits.

I hope that all makes sense, and if I'm really hopeful, I hope it helps someone. It would probably be better if I could do a video, and I would if I could, but I'm not set up to do so.

It's just what works for me, maybe it will work for you too.

Holli, that was a great post. I'm thinking it will really help me with this current Wostenholm as I'm starting to think the blade is a little warped.

I'm going to spend some time on the 1K tomorrow doing some of that RRCM and hopefully get a nice bevel finally set.

Originally Posted by mainaman

Here a nice tutorial on the different strokes for honing razors with different problems
Strokes for honing a razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Such a very amazing link!
Thanks you for the post.