Thread: Have you ever??

Have you ever had a near wedge that you taped and brought back to the hones 3 times and cannot get a close/smooth shave out of it. This one is made by Lane and Read / American Cutlery. I have had no problems getting edges on my greaves/butchers/Hawcroft,but this one is giving me stress!! I had to put 5 layers of tape on the spine to get a nice bevel,one that was not to wide.Are there just some steel out there that just wont CUT IT.Has any body had a razor that they just gave up on???? thanks

This razor

The Wedge That Popped My Cherry - Straight Razor Place Forums

Took me two days, I had to step away twice from it, I even had to rebuff it...

4 1/2 hours just to set the bevel correctly,, The problem was it had multiple bevels from some of the previous owners over the last 100 years.... I had to get all those even, then finally put an edge on it...

If you are working Wedge styles, learn the 45+ degree heel forward stoke, dragging the edge across the hone that way, you can feel all the bevels, once that becomes a nice smooth feel, then you are getting there...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

This razor

The Wedge That Popped My Cherry - Straight Razor Place Forums

Took me two days, I had to step away twice from it, I even had to rebuff it...

4 1/2 hours just to set the bevel correctly,, The problem was it had multiple bevels from some of the previous owners over the last 100 years.... I had to get all those even, then finally put an edge on it...

If you are working Wedge styles, learn the 45+ degree heel forward stoke, dragging the edge across the hone that way, you can feel all the bevels, once that becomes a nice smooth feel, then you are getting there...

thanks glen for the tip. After i take the razor out of the trashcan i will give it another go around.

There ya go brother, if you still have a sense of humor going, then that razor hasn't beat ya !!!

Thanks for the giggle, now go bend that thing to your will, my friend...

This bugger took me months (off and on) to get shavable. I even tried the heel forward bit that worked on many other razors, but this being my first old school near wedge I had alot of learning to do. What finaly got it there for me was going to narrow stones AND the 45 heel first

I guess all the time I spent on this bugger really paid off as the next monster wedge I got honed up in less than an hour (or I got farking lucky).

These old blades also seem to have a life of their own, ether they like you or they don't, and their big enough to cause greif

Originally Posted by DwarvenChef

These old blades also seem to have a life of their own, ether they like you or they don't, and their big enough to cause greif

I absolutely agree with that statement! I beginning to think that my Fenton requires the attention of an exorcist.

Yep, some of those wedges can be evil..!

Hope you can get this one sorted..!

5 layers of tape is a lot for the "final" bevel. It's fine to do some work to get it there, but I'd say drop down to 1 for the final bevel setting. Don't worry about what the bevels look like, because you have to take off the steel to get the edge - there's no way around it.

BTW, I have found that the heal leading stroke will typically result in thinner bevels and, therefore, less steel removed, which means less time on the hones.