Thread: Honing a bent blade

Hi,

I received a straight razor from a friend. It was an antique store find. I cleaned it up a bit. I've been trying to put an edge on it to get shave ready without success. I picked up a 30x loop and noticed that on one side of the blade appears to carry a new edge from heal to toe. However, on the other side only form the middle or so back to the heal is touching the hone. From the middle to the toe there are no signs of honing. Looking down the blade I see not obvious bend.

I guess I'm wondering how to address this to be able to hone the edge, but at the same time wondering if it worth salvaging the razor. I'm more than happy to chalk this up to a learning experience and figure out how to get an edge on this razor.

I have included a few images, Let me know if you need better pictures or more specific pictures for review.

I appreciate any insights or comments you have.

Thanks,
Mike

You can fix it one of two ways. You can do a more dramatic rolling X to reach that part of the edge, or you can tape the spine only in the region that is not cutting a bevel. If the toe half of the blade is not cutting a bevel, then just tape the toe half of the blade. You may need more than one layer of tape, but the idea is to lift the spine high enough to allow the edge to reach the hone. You will need to change the tape frequently because as it wears away the spine will be lowering and the edge will be rotating away from the hone--causing you to cut a wider bevel but never reaching the very apex of the edge.

Hi,

I'll give the rolling 'X' a try and see where that takes me.

Thanks,
Mike