Thread: Question on taping a wedge

No not really. Wedges are very slightly concave. If they were not the whole of the blade would make contact. Give it a try and you'll see what I mean.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Wedges are very slightly concave. If they were not the whole of the blade would make contact.

Except for a true wedge. The reason ive ask is concerning that doubl duck ive honed down to a true wedge.

Originally Posted by simpleman

Except for a true wedge. The reason ive ask is concerning that doubl duck ive honed down to a true wedge.

I haven't run across one of those yet except for the wedges we used to use to dog down iron when welding in the cement plant. Beat them with 8 pound hammers though so I guess we ain't talking about the same thing.

I wonder if i really need a bevel on this razor? Its sharper than a regular knife already and im still less than 500 grit.

I guess i should have clarified somewhat..creating a new bevel is what I meant..there is and has to be a bevel on a razor or it would just be a blunt edge..lol. With a true wedge the bevel is essentially the whole width of the blade...if you tape that wedge then its almost as though you're creating a double bevel and involves removing alot less steel.

I think I may have run into the problem you are describing. My tape is 3/4" wide and when I lapped it over the spine on my Wade & Butcher 5/8 wedge the bottom of the tape "high centered" so to say, and the blade would rock between the spine and edge. So, I put a strip of tape on a piece of glass and used a straight edge and exacto knife to reduce the width of the tape to 9/16". The tape doesn't come as far down the side of the blade now. No rocking. Works great! Still not shave ready though.

Rob.

Originally Posted by simpleman

Except for a true wedge. The reason ive ask is concerning that doubl duck ive honed down to a true wedge.

Here is the problem,,, You are not dealing with a true wedge, trust me here they are rare, you are dealing with a worn out spine
So you cannot add metal back on that spine, so you are going to have to add tape or toss the razor...

It is going to take about 3 layers to get it about right...

Here is a honing trick for bad worn spines...

Use the fact that tape wears down to your advantage instead of as a disadvantage...
Put one layer of tape on the spine, start honing, after you have established a good wear pattern on that tape, so that you would normally be ready to toss it and change it out STOP...
Put on another layer right over the worn tape, with your razor maybe two...

Hone as normal, never take the half worn piece off until you are done, it serves to even out the spine, now you are honing on an even surface with the next layer, or two in your case...

Try it, it should work for you, that is if the razor is real special to ya, myself at that amount of work, I would be thinking new razor...

It wasnt a true wedge nore was it a 4/8" blade when i started. Seeing how the blade was junk and I had a couple hours to spare i honed it down to a true wedge(even though the spine is thinner than it was from teh factory) but I see what I need to do with the tape to get it shave ready. Thanks again