Thread: Irregular bevel depth

I have a Boker 5/8 King Cutter that appears to have a bevel with irregular depth along its edge. At the tip and heel the bevels are deeper, while more shallow at center. Under magnification I cannot see any multiple bevel angles, so it looks like one uniform, but irregular bevel. I have twice honed the razor with a Norton 4/8 with nothing coarser than that, as the razor is relatively new and I am hoping this can be remedied without re-setting the bevel. I have no experience yet with setting bevels - just touched up razors with the 4/8 and a finishing stone.
Shaving with the razor after such honing is okay the first time or two, then successively pulls more with each shave.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and my thanks for past help from this excellent forum.

If the razor shaves well, the shape of the bevel does not matter at all. There are many things that can cause this to happen, but it's by no means a problem.

Edge decay is normal, but it should not be happening after one or even two shaves. The edge life will increase as your stropping and shave technique improve, and honing skills can play a role too.

To echo what holli4 said .... if by irregular depth you mean that the bevel is wider here and narrower there that is not an unusual situation. When they manufacture razors the relationship between the spine and the edge is not always perfect. Some razors will have anomalies between spine and bevel that will show up in the bevel shape and spine wear. Just go with the flow and don't try and let the bevel be what that relationship between spine and edge turns out to be naturally. I'm referring to a new razor. If it is a vintage razor and already has hone wear you have to hope the previous honer knew his stuff. In that case sometimes things can be corrected, sometimes not. Just IMHO.

Excellent - thanks for the helpful reply. It is as you described, a new razor that was honed professionally upon purchase, so I am being careful not to overdo it with too much corrective honing.

If you are seeing a taller bevel at the toe and heel, it might be that you are slightly rolling the blade as you hone it. Try to maintain it flat on the stone and apply little pressure. Applying pressure while honing can result in a slight rolling action

for what it's worth, if this was a recently aquired "professionally" honed blade, you shouldn't really be needing any honing for quite some time. It's likely that it is currently far duller now than when you first got it. You can keep a razor going strong for a long time just with your strop. Just like everyone else said, I don't think you've got anything to worry about with your wear. Kinda sounds like the start of a smiling little blade to me