Thread: a "smiling" Wostenholm ?

I have two Wostenholms; both from ebay. The one in question has a gently curved edge (from heal to toe). I think that is referred to as a "smiling" blade but not sure of that. Honed it this morning and noticed that with a 10x loupe this situation; One side of the bevel is wide at the toe and narrow at the heal. When i flip the blade over, and look at the opposing bevel i've got the opposite. Narrow at the toe and wide at the heal. The Spine is in almost pristine condition. This leads me to believe i have a slightly "twisted" blade. Any thoughts on getting an even bevel from heal to toe? If it is twisted, i wonder if someone got a little too aggressive with a posishing wheel or something like that and heated the blade enough to inflict a little twist to it.

Just a thought: This might get more attention in the honing forum. Try reposting there.

i've got the exact same situation with a frederick reynolds. honed it and shaved with it today. i think someone took a dremel to it because there are grinding marks on it and the bevel seems to disappear in that area.

There are so many variables when it comes to old razors. Is the blade straight, is it an even grind, what did previous honers do to it, did you do anything when you honed it, how was it handled/stored through the ages, etc.

But the most important one is - Do you care what the wear looks like?

To me, the answer is "No, so long as it shaves as well as I can make it."

My goal is to remove the minimal amount of metal and get the best edge possible. So I don't "correct" the razor unless it's absolutely necessary.

Originally Posted by michaelcassani

I have two Wostenholms; both from ebay. The one in question has a gently curved edge (from heal to toe). I think that is referred to as a "smiling" blade but not sure of that. Honed it this morning and noticed that with a 10x loupe this situation; One side of the bevel is wide at the toe and narrow at the heal. When i flip the blade over, and look at the opposing bevel i've got the opposite. Narrow at the toe and wide at the heal. The Spine is in almost pristine condition. This leads me to believe i have a slightly "twisted" blade. Any thoughts on getting an even bevel from heal to toe? If it is twisted, i wonder if someone got a little too aggressive with a posishing wheel or something like that and heated the blade enough to inflict a little twist to it.

If the bevel comes together tight and smooth you
may just be done.

A bevel as you describe should shave just fine and
if it does let it be.

Since it is your razor you can take the next couple
years and little by little adjust things. But if
it shaves well (do give it a couple tries) there is
nothing to fix IMO.

BTW: I do not think it is polishing wheel heat but rather a bit
of warp in the quench of the heat treating.

It's shaving quite well. shaved one side of my face with it as the other side was shaved earlier today with the Puma 52 that i honed & stropped last night. A few little micro chips moving toward the toe of the blade but a very close shave for me. This is fun stuff.