Wedge Honing

This is a bit different twist on the wedge honing. I am working on a full wedge W&B. I have been working for two days now and it is no closer to being sharp enough to cut hair than it was when I began. I know in the past we have gone down this road and Lynn has talked about laying the razor at a greater than 90 degree angle and honing it using the X pattern. I am trying to accomplish this but can't seem to get the razor in the proper position. Can someone describe this position for me. or provide me with some tips that might work on a wedge to get it honed. I have tried putting some tape on the spine and thought that might get me there but to no avail. So I am back to attempting this 90 degree technique.

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Originally Posted by jmsbcknr

This is a bit different twist on the wedge honing. I am working on a full wedge W&B. I have been working for two days now and it is no closer to being sharp enough to cut hair than it was when I began. I know in the past we have gone down this road and Lynn has talked about laying the razor at a greater than 90 degree angle and honing it using the X pattern. I am trying to accomplish this but can't seem to get the razor in the proper position. Can someone describe this position for me. or provide me with some tips that might work on a wedge to get it honed. I have tried putting some tape on the spine and thought that might get me there but to no avail. So I am back to attempting this 90 degree technique.

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Here is the only advice I can give - Send it to Lynn. I had a W&B wedge that I couldn't get to cut anything. Lynn got it "razor" sharp. It still isver a year later.

lol...Rich, you beat me to it!

Or you could send it to me...:D

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Or you could send it to me...

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For honing or for permanent safe keeping? lol

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Originally Posted by jmsbcknr

This is a bit different twist on the wedge honing. I am working on a full wedge W&B. I have been working for two days now and it is no closer to being sharp enough to cut hair than it was when I began. I know in the past we have gone down this road and Lynn has talked about laying the razor at a greater than 90 degree angle and honing it using the X pattern. I am trying to accomplish this but can't seem to get the razor in the proper position. Can someone describe this position for me. or provide me with some tips that might work on a wedge to get it honed. I have tried putting some tape on the spine and thought that might get me there but to no avail. So I am back to attempting this 90 degree technique.

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Try this: After taping the spine, lay the blade flat on the hone, with the center of the blade pointing off the corner of the stone. This puts it at just about a 45 degree angle. If the blade has a "smile", then sweep it, ending up with the blade perpendicular to the hone. If not, pull straight down. A couple other things might help too; use the narrow side of the hone, as this concentrates more force along the contacted portion of the edge. You could also tape the spine and perform "circles". Do about 20 on each side, test, and repeat if necessary. I love the way wedges shave, but they are tough to hone, because you have to remove a ton of metal at the edge of a truly dull one (relatively speaking).

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Originally Posted by trapperjohnme

For honing or for permanent safe keeping? lol

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Merely for honing, of course. :D

Fortunately I don't have a smile. The blade seems to be fairly straight. I wondered about the spine taping. I had heard about that before.

What gets me is I can feel changes in the blade like it begins to catch on my thumb (not the nail side) but then when I shave with it, it skips over the hair as if it is completely dull. I will keep working it.

It is not my only razor and though I know Lynn does a wonderful job, this is about me learning the finer art of shaving with a once very dull razor. That is my goal. Keeping it sharp once I get there has not been my problem.

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Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

Try this: After taping the spine, lay the blade flat on the hone, with the center of the blade pointing off the corner of the stone. This puts it at just about a 45 degree angle. If the blade has a "smile", then sweep it, ending up with the blade perpendicular to the hone. If not, pull straight down. A couple other things might help too; use the narrow side of the hone, as this concentrates more force along the contacted portion of the edge. You could also tape the spine and perform "circles". Do about 20 on each side, test, and repeat if necessary. I love the way wedges shave, but they are tough to hone, because you have to remove a ton of metal at the edge of a truly dull one (relatively speaking).

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The tape is merely to prevent excessive hone wear. If you've got so much tape on the spine that you're substantially changing the honing angle, you're doing it wrong. Wedges, because of the way they're made, seem to show hone wear much worse than other grinds, because so much of the blade is making contact with the hone. Also, the circles are merely to remove metal fast. Afterwards, you still need to go back to a more "standard" honing motion. The extreme angle of the blade on the hone is the best advice I've ever gotten (from Lynn, no less :D) on honing wedges. Another thing I do is to begin wedges on a very coarse (1000 grit) stone, working on it until it'll shave hair on the coarse stone before moving up to the 4k & 8k. This saves a lot of time, aggravation, and cursing of my maker.

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Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

This saves a lot of time, aggravation, and cursing of my maker.

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This is getting better and better. Thanks.