Thread: Have set an even bevel on smiling edge, but can't get it sharp

I posted a thread a couple weeks ago about having trouble with my first smiling edge. I gave up then and went on with the restoration. Now that I'm finished I've decided to take another crack at it. I looked at the smiling wedge videos posted by gsixgun and that helped quite a bit. After a fair amount of work and at least an hour on the norton 1k, I have a bevel clearly made from the heel to the toe, and its pretty even. It also bites nicely on a wet thumbnail, but it doesn't come close to popping hairs. The bevel is getting wide enough to make me slightly nervous, but its not sharp enough to move to the 4/8k. What do I do to get the bevel sharper, but not wider?

Note: I've been using the 'long stroke' at a 45 degree angle and the 45 with the curve at the end of the stroke as well as circles with some pressure.

you may have hard tome to pop hairs off norton 1k, put the razor to the 4k stone and try on arm hairs then.

It's not uncommon for a blade restored by a new restorer to end up with relatively wide bevels. This is because a new restorer is more likely to remove more steel near the edge, which means more must then be honed off to get the bevel back. I also wouldn't go by the even-ness of the bevel. If the previous honing was uneven or if your metal removal during the resto was uneven (or if any of a number of other things happened), the bevel will not be even from toe to heel. Sure, you could remove excess metal to make it even, but I would not see that as a good thing. The bevel is only cosmetic, and you can never put steel back onto the razor.

If you add a layer of tape, or two or however many you decide to use, you may be able to slow the rate at which the bevels widen. This is partly because of the minor change in bevel angle, which has a more pronounced effect on a heavy grind than a full hollow, and partly because you stop the spine from narrowing, which can prevent the bevel angle from shrinking or even increase it, if you remove a lot of metal during honing. Personally, my view is that if you have already started on a restored blade without tape, you may as well continue without tape, or tape now, then remove it and reset the bevel. The main reason I say this is that, either way, you've already got spine wear showing. In my opinion, I think that having low grit wear at the spine on a shave ready razor looks weird. Again, just cosmetic, but it's my cosmetic preference. (Note I don't really care about the cosmetics of hone wear, while others might.)

As for testing the edge, a number of factors come into play. The razor may bite if one side has the bevel to the edge but the other does not. Or if you have a wire edge (possible on a 1k with pressure, though circles make me think most likely not). Or maybe your TNT needs calibrating. Or maybe it's your hair test that needs calibrating and the edge is good.

Just remember, removing excess steel is only cosmetic. Unless you are doing so unevenly (without having a reason to), or so excessively that you note the blade width shrinking, you're probably not removing enough for it to matter at all.

So do you think if I did a pyramid on the 4/8 k starting at like 25 laps the edge will improve?

It will or it won't. If it does, your bevel is good, and you can use that to recaliblate your armhair test. If it doesn't, the bevel is not ready, and you can use that to recalibrate your TNT.

Do not forget the magic marker trick.
Works well at 1k and 4k and will same
a month of honing at 8k....

post pics we may be more helpful.

Go to the Norton 4K and see what happens, pryamids are useful when you're learning but if it's a big blade they may not do enough each time you make one. You may need to stay on the 4K side for a while. Is this razor hollow ground or a bigger grind? This may be a factor in getting advice and you may need tape if it's a half hollow, wedge, etc. You should be able to pop hair on 4K though, Norton 1K usually gives a hard time with arm hair popping.