Thread: honing a wedge

I am not sure this is typing mistake or not but you have confused me. I quote your words and let us know did you really do this?


[QUOTE=timberrr59;694131]I honed (Crescent barber hone/lathered) my John Pitts 6/8 Wedge as I did my Hollows-but used electrician's tape (one layer) for the last 20 X passes per side. That really brought the bevel to proper angle.

I polished (Escher) 40 X passes without tape and stropped 50 strokes on "sharpen", and 50 strokes on "finish" (Austin, TX Shumate Strop (pre-1904). It was an extra effort to get the John Pitts shaving again, but it was worth it. The difference I notice between a hollow and a wedge is that there is absolutely no sound as the wedge shaves! Not even a quiet "skritch" as it cuts the whiskers. I really like using a good wedge. To me they are worth the extra effort and time. Today (Thanksgiving, 2010) was a good shaving day and I am thankful for having Straight Razor Place for help and fellowship. Keep healthy friends, RRR

Only quoted words blue colors?
thank you

Yes, I did this: My hone is a Crescent brand, I used lather on it and did final X-pattern passes (laps) after using circular/X laps like I do with hollow grind blades. Polishing was done on an Escher using X-pattern passes only. I removed the tape from the spine before polishing. The old strop has two leather strops, one is thick and has "Sharpen" stamped on it, the other is thinner and has "Finish" stamped on it. I mentioned the brand names for reference; not trying to be confusing. This wedge razor honing took place at the kitchen table while my wife prepared our Thanksgiving meal. It took about an hour to complete and was successful (honing & meal).

Tip: plan to hone and polish razors while spending time with your spouse. They like the company and seem glad to see someone busy doing something. I always have a razor or a knife in the truck to be sharpened while I wait out in the parking lot while she goes grocery shopping or to Wal-Mart. It passes the time and my steel gets sharp. Good luck with all that...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Lets see who I can pi$$ off by saying this hehehe, but it takes quite a few wedges to really get the hang of honing them out, really no two are the same since so many different people honed them they each have separate problems, the less hone wear on the spine the easier they are to hone...I always love when someone hones their first wedge and gets a good one and they think they are sooooo easy, then the next one kicks their butt..
You also are going to run into the infamous W&B heel warps, those are tons of fun

+100 to this.. I have 2 wedges I have honed.. one honed up nice and easy ( I put a single piece of tape on it ). The next one was a bear that took me 3 months of on and off honing to get the bevel finally set because it frustrated me so.

Originally Posted by timberrr59

Yes, I did this: My hone is a Crescent brand, I used lather on it and did final X-pattern passes (laps) after using circular/X laps like I do with hollow grind blades. Polishing was done on an Escher using X-pattern passes only. I removed the tape from the spine before polishing. The old strop has two leather strops, one is thick and has "Sharpen" stamped on it, the other is thinner and has "Finish" stamped on it.

You mention you removed the tape from the spine before polishing.
if understand you correctly you did polishing with Escher stone. 40x pattern.
Now in reality you have not done any escher work on that blade.
if you want to eschers effect on your razor You shouldn't remove the tape before moving to escher stone.
while you strop, it (strop) bends and covers small angle differences but hone will never do this.
hope this helps.gl

Originally Posted by gssixgun

...
The real wedge stroke is a 45 degree heel forward X as that is the stroke that will let you feel all the multiple bevels as you hone. If you do that stroke on an older worn wedge you can actually feel the "Bumpity bump" as it goes across the hone. If you want to FIX the bevel you have to master this stoke, ...

Gunner, thank You! This helps quite a bit. 'Explains some behaviors I get from the first vintage wedges.

That the stroke would have to be mastered makes sense - well said & illustrated. What I'm not understanding is if the mastery of this stroke 'performs' the correction, or simply makes clear the correction needed. Either way, I have some skill to master, but it would be helpful to know if this stroke corrects as well as diagnoses.

Many Thanks for your kind & generous help!

Originally Posted by pinklather

Gunner, thank You! This helps quite a bit. 'Explains some behaviors I get from the first vintage wedges.

That the stroke would have to be mastered makes sense - well said & illustrated. What I'm not understanding is if the mastery of this stroke 'performs' the correction, or simply makes clear the correction needed. Either way, I have some skill to master, but it would be helpful to know if this stroke corrects as well as diagnoses.

Many Thanks for your kind & generous help!

Yes it will correct the edge, and the best part is that you can actually feel it straighten out... The edge will lose all the other bevels, and get really smooth as it comes in... it is pretty cool the way it works...
As it evens up you can start to switch over to that swooping stroke and get points like a barber's notch sharp too.
Now once it it even, you can restore the blade if that is your intention, then tape and reduce the size of the bevel if you want too, since the bevel and the spine are all nice and straight again...

Honestly if you take some of these old beauties and sight down the edge at a light you can actually see the wavy bevel...

'Gunner, THANK YOU!!

This is great news, and it's hard to say how much your kind help is appreciated.

'Hope you & yours have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Good post there

After I figured this out on my first few monster wedges I find I don't notice myself doing it automaticly with new wedges. It only dawned on me that I had it down when I got one full wedge shaving in about 20 minutes. Doing just what has just been discribed.

Ya I'm still learning wedges as I have dedicated my future razors to only heavy wedges Reminds me I have 6 more to get up and running

I'm sitting here wondering how setting a bevel with tape, and then removing the tape to finish is doing anything other than setting a second bevel that won't come close to touching the edge of the razor. (I think that's what Sham is saying).

Currently being on a near wedge "kick", I just received two 1/4 hollow wedges from Sham that were both excellent. I tried the Wade & Butcher out yesterday, but didn't have time to finish my last pass, as I was running late for Thanksgiving dinner with my neighbors. So, I finished with my DE (something I haven't touched for almost 2 months now). I sat there feeling my face thinking, "Yeah, this is pretty close".

But, tonight I broke out Sham's Frederick Renolds near wedge, and damn (!!) it was the same closeness as I had finishing with my DE yesterday--even around my chin, which I've never gotten before with a straight.

In Sham's ad, he stated, "i have set the bevel without taping etc to correct the angle".

Therein lies the tie into this thread. I assume that what Sham did to get such a nice bevel is what Glenn has described--thanks for the info, Glenn!! (At the time I bought the razor, I didn't know what Sham was talking about, but, coming from Sham I figured it had to be good--now with Glenn's input on this thread, it's making more sense to me).

As an aside, after my catract surgery, I have one eye that's far sighted, and one eye that's near sighted. The result is I see double vision with glasses (this condition--known as "prism"--isn't correctable with glasses, it's permanent; so my choices are to wear contacts, which I can't do right now because of an eye infection; or to have a cataract surgery on the other eye, which my doc doesn't want to do until all alternatives--meaning the contacts lenses--are exhausted). So, in order to shave, I have to do so without glasses, otherwise I see 2 faces and 2 straight razors, and wonder which face to shave first!).

So, I've been shaving entirely by feel, and as a result, I can't see much of anything in the mirror. Twice using the Fredrick Reynolds, I felt what I was sure would leave a slice when shaving my throat (at least, I think it would have if it was full hollow). But, there weren't any traces of red at all!

Near wedges are just very user friendly!! (Especially when coming from Sham!).

Kent

That is why I'm not much for tape. I use tape to set the first bevel. After that I remove the tape and set the bevel again on the same stone. It doesn't take long to remove that higher angles bulge and saves the most amount of grinding from the spine. After that the edge, bevel, and spine are in line and working.