Thread: is this an uneven bevel?

Wow, thank you very much for that I'll have a read, looks very helpful and interesting

Looks pretty uneven to me, but you can't make it 'even' with breadknifing etc.. The only way to fix it is to regrind the razor evenly.
It doesn't matter for shaving as long as it's honed well.

I have shaved with razors that have very uneven bevel, or has little chips but as long as it shaves good. fine by me. if it bothers me, i'll try to fix 'em. If you plan to restore that razor, I'd suggest send it out to a honemeister, honing a wedge razor with little experience can be very frustrating.
my experiece, after sometimes honing some hollows I was quite confident making razor sharp from bevel start but, when I tried to do the wedge I spent hours painfully getting nothing but blade with lots of hone wears which supposed to be my beautiful razor

hi, thanks for all the responses, I decided to have a go at honing it myself as didn't want to spend money on having it 'reground'. However i don't think it has gone very well, I used a norton 1K and put 1 layer of tape on the spine and have spent several hours trying to set the bevel on the edge which was 'wavy' and not even on each side and it seems this is still the case, i used a norton prep stone to create some slurry and try speed things up... it feels sharpish but does not cut hair on the skin let alone pop arm hairs...
So my question is, do i keep honing away till it is sharper or am i not applying enough pressure, I've been doing circle stroke and x patterns..

From your last pic, it appears you have 2 bevels on that side. I would guess the edge bevel has not seen the stone yet. You should coat the edge in permanent marker to see what stroke gives you coverage or potential for coverage at this stage. Just remember adding tape to an unevenly honed spine will simply create the same edge shape at a slightly steeper angle. I would skip the tape while trying to correct this razor.
Looks also to be in the early stages of a frown forward of the heel. Lotta work ahead of you yet but it may still shave well when the 2 sides meet.

thanks for the advice, what i did the other night was put on 3 layers of tape to try and make more of an angle to hone that large bevel and now it cuts my arm hair which i guess is good, however the edge still looks similar to the previous photos and has that kind of double bevel, i will try what you suggest with the marker pen this weekend and see where it is touching the hone...is it right that if its cutting arm hair all the way along the edge i can move up to the 4k?

Originally Posted by markhur

...is it right that if its cutting arm hair all the way along the edge i can move up to the 4k?

If the marker is removed from the edge & it is cutting hair at bevel setting, yes , move up the grits. At the final stages of bevel setting it can be hard but not impossible to see if the bevel is fully set with a marker or even under magnification so thumbpad tests & armhair tests can be a help. How easily arm hair is cut can tell a lot too but you will probably develop your own way of doing things.

thank you for the help, just one query, what happens if when the marker pen is not removed from the entire edge or varies on each side... is that jsut a case of continuing to hone on the 1k until it is all removed evenly?

Keep trying different angles until you find the angle that hits the spot and removes the marker.

You better off finding the correct angle and doing less strokes then doing a lot of incorrect strokes and removing metal that doesn't need to be removed. I would be using a higher grit stone until you find the angle's that you need.

If the bevel isn't set correctly from the first attempt you might need to re set it where it has missed but if it touches then you probably don't need to go back to the 1k. But find the correct angle first before you do anything.

I am a rookie with straights (just the two I own(one I made)), but I have honed very many knives and I often look under 7 to 10x mag to see if the honed surfaces touch at the apex. If they do not then the blade either is not sharp or could be sharper still. I have applied this to my razors and it works for me. In my LIMITED time with razors I would guess the double bevel will keep you from having as good a blade as you will get when it is gone. That is not to say that you will not be able to get it sharp enough to shave.

After you work up the grits, maybe use a paste.

Some one told me that if my Grandfathers' Henckel is important to me I should consider sending it out to a pro and learn on a less nice and newer straight.

GL
Jeff