Thread: Evil, Cursed Frameback bevel problems

I will start this post with a picture of the razor I am trying to hone:


You can maybe see from the picture that the edge had a bit of chipping on it. What you can't see though is how incredibly dull it was. It was as if somebody had actually filed the edge down. It was probably used exclusively as a letter opener or the likes since there is absolutely no hone wear on the spine.

Now for where I ask for advice: I have been working on this thing for 3 nights now on the Chosera 1k. I've been doing circles with 1 layer of tape, working to get to a point where there were no chips in it. Finally last night I got all the chips out, but to my amazement the blade was still super dull. After about an hour this evening, I could still see the flat spot on the edge, so I started using 2 pieces of electrical tape with the intention of either putting a micro bevel on it, or starting a whole new bevel. My problem is that the tape is wearing down enough to where I am not contacting the very edge on the hone after about 20 laps. I don't think I am pushing down at all, but I am using a fairly heavy slurry. I am soaking my Norton 220/1000 now, and have the idea of dropping it to the 220 until I can get the bevels to meet. Does anybody have any suggestions, or does this sound like the correct course of action? Oh, by the way, the "bevel" I currently have on it is absolutely perfect in appearance except for the whole not meeting each other thing.

The only time I use slurry on the 1K is when I am doing some serious grinding, otherwise I keep the stone rinsed. Personally I love framebacks & if you would like some help with it, PM me.

If you are wearing the tape away after 20 circles, you are putting way too much pressure on the spine, or you are using crappy tape, or both. Don't use cheap electrical tape, spring for the $3.50 3M good stuff. When you hone, focus on torquing the pressure so that the pressure is on the edge and the spine is merely being guided on the hone.

If you can't sort it out, you could always go for a drive. Lynn is about an hour and a half south of you!

Oh, and you should know, framebacks are glorious, blessed razors...
AFTER you get them honed!
Good luck.

Thanks for the quick replies!

Shooter: Thanks for the offer of help! As to the slurry, say I am honing a razor in fairly good condition, I will do light/medium slurry until I can pop arm hair, then I go 10-15 laps after each 2-3 spray water dilution until I get to clear water on the stone. By then I usually have a pretty nice edge going. But I figured since I was trying to lose a pretty good amount of steel to get the bevels to meet I would use a heavy slurry. Does this sound right?

Utopian: If this razor continues to give me grief, I am planning to attend the Mid-MO razor meet at Lynn's. So the frameback may tag along to receive some mentoring help. As to the tape, I was just kind of guessing at the number of rolling-x laps I was doing until the tape showed signs of wear. I would say the tape started to wear down to where the bevel angle was afected after about 4-5 minutes of circles?

If the blade is seriously blunt (like in breadknifing) then I do backwards/forward strokes on one side with the spine lifted a little clear of the hone, then repeat on the other side until the bevel is almost formed. Sounds like heresy, but it saves a lot of wear on the spine and/or a lot of tape! When you do finally lay the razor flat on the hone, you will be taking a small wedge of metal off, just above the bevel - the work progresses much more quicly like this. Fot that degree of bluntness, I use at least a 600 grit hone, and if there are major chips then a DMT 325. If there are chips to be honed out, be prepared to go up and down the grits ('pyramiding') to get rid of the wire edge on the over-honed parts.

Regards,
Neil