Thread: Fromm trouble

New to the straight razor world and I'm having a hell of a time. One side of my razor has a pretty even full length edge. The other side was an edge with uneven height and not full length. Even when I put too much pressure on the toe a couple of passes I don't see any evidence on the blade that it's touching. I have a norton 1000/8000 combo. DO I need a 4 and can anyone help me??

It might help if you can post some pictures of the blade overall and in close up. It will give the honing gurus more information and a better idea of what state the razor is in if you can.

The jump from a 1K to an 8K is pretty big. A 4K will definitely help that transition.

Regarding your razor - pics would help. I would not use isolated pressure in one area to get the edge to touch. It will lead to even more problems. The spine could potentially be slightly warped which would cause part of the razor to not hit the stone. You can get around this by using say only the rightmost 1" part of your 1K and modifying your stroke so that all parts of the blade will come into contact as you hone. Kind of like honing on a narrow hone - just imagine that narrow area on your norton.

if you have new Fromm then sorry no one can help you.
Old ones are good.
gl

Hope these are clear enough. I'll tell ya this, I got me stones a few days ago and went to work before flattening. I flattened today and have been working for about 2 hours and the arch on the one side is only getting worse.

If you will notice in your pictures, there is a significant amount of hone wear on the spine (the flattening on the spine). Then, since your last picture shows it so clearly, you can see how the bevel shape is mirroring the shape of the hone wear. This is why your bevel looks wonky, because there is uneven hone wear on your spine. If this is a new razor, this happened because of too much pressure being put on the center of the blade. If it is vintage, somebody either did the same thing, or it was honed on a super non flat hone.

Suggestions on what to do: Personally I would put a piece of electrical tape on the deepest part of the spine to try to "level off" the spine. That will allow the blade to contact the stone on the toe and heel more than the center area. That is until the edge gets evened out. Once the edge gets evened out you should be pretty close to a good edge.

I have never honed a razor this worn before, so my suggestion is purely conjecture.

edit 2: I just reread your OP, and wanted to remind you that since you're just starting out, I would try to not put a lot of pressure on the blade at all. Sure it will take longer, but it will also take longer for something to get messed up, and therefore more time to potentially catch the mistake.

Also, check out the wiki: honing strokes specifically the 45 degree stroke, and the swooping stroke.

Well, the good news is that you did not trash a good razor. If you want to keep trying to fix this razor, then you might want to consider taping the spine. If you have any sort of bevel on the back side, I would move on, but unfortunately you don't have an intermediate stone. The 1k to 8k jump is a bit much. Is this your only razor?

My dad gave me some razors from his dad and his dad. SO I bought this to practice on before i used his. Though I am planning on getting my mistakes out of the way on this razor I'd like to get good. So, I'm going to get a 4k and I'm also going to tape the middle only. I've had tape on the spine most of today, but it's been on the entire spine. Thanks much all. I'll report back when I figure things out a bit better.

also, what about masking tape or scotch tape?? The electrical is leaving black on my hone. Is that a sign that I'm pushing too hard and I don't need to change tape or is that just the deal??

No not scotch tape or masking tape.
Maybe, maybe not on the pressure vs tape. You should use good electrical tape, not cheap stuff. Spring for the $3 Scotch/3M stuff, not the 50 cent crap. When you hone, the pressure should be torqued toward the edge, not just pressing down on the spine. The spine should only serve as a guide to maintain the proper angle at the bevel.