Thread: help with honing #41 SS Dovo blade

Hi, his is my first post in a very long time. Just picked up the hobby again recently. I'm trying to hone a SS Dovo that I got a few years ago but didn't use alot. Back then I honed it a little, and shaved with it a few times. I started last night with 1K Norton to set the bevel. The 1K was hitting most of the bevel except three spots. One on the middle towards the toe of the blade, then on the other side at heel and toe. The bevel is wide in other spots but barely anything in those spots I tried putting my finger on these spots while honing but still nothing. Then I tried some more pressure and torquing the blade a bit. This made the water grey up, and I made some progress. A thin bevel with 1K scratch pattern formed in those spots and started to widen. So I had a bevel straight across, just wider in some spots. So I went to Norton 4K. Had a similar experience with this stone but at the end was pretty sure I had 4K marks from heel to toe, same as with 1K. Now after working on the 8K, most of the blade is polished but those three spots seem to be lagging again, and not progressing. I'm tempted just to go back to a coarser grit and keep at it since I made progress like that before but I'm not sure if I should. It seems like a lot of honing for a blade that was very lightly used before and I don't want to mess it up. Any suggestions?

----Michael

Unless there is a defect in the blade geometry (got pictures?) you probably didn't get the bevel right and to go from there is like taking Calculus when you flunked Algebra. One builds on the other. You might try the magic marker trick on the blade to ensure you are hitting the entire blade on the hone but to me it sounds like there is some unequal honing going on. You need to correct that first.

Do you tape the spine when honing? If not you may have uneven hone wear on the spine and that will cause the problems you're describing. If you find that's the case, I would send it to one of the members familiar with correcting this type of issue. Hope this helps.

Howard

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Unless there is a defect in the blade geometry (got pictures?) you probably didn't get the bevel right and to go from there is like taking Calculus when you flunked Algebra. One builds on the other. You might try the magic marker trick on the blade to ensure you are hitting the entire blade on the hone but to me it sounds like there is some unequal honing going on. You need to correct that first.

I don't think the problem would show up in pictures, it's too small. And the blade lies as flat on the hone as any new razor I have gotten. Yet the less honed areas were there right from the beginning just after starting on 1k. So I think the problem was with the blade, at least when I first started. Is that possible in a nice razor with minimal hone wear? My current thinking is that I lost patience, and started applying too much pressure. I think that inhibited further progress when I started doing that. So my first urge is to go back to the 1k using light x-strokes for a while and see if that helps. But I don't want to keep working for nothing and ruin the razor. I may just shelve it for a while.

Michael

Sometimes I tape and sometimes I don't. It's something I am experimenting with. In this case I did not tape. I agree that uneven spine wear often correlates with an uneven edge. Let's say that I do have some uneven wear, and I'm not sure that I do (I will check). Would the best thing now be to tape? Or would it be better to not tape in the hopes of evening out the situation? I'm definately considering sending it out except I'm broke and I'm stubborn.


-----Michael

Try two layers of tape do sets of 20 circles, just like Lynn's and my vids show until you have a even sharpness, note I didn't say even looking bevel that might never happen.. Once the sharpness is really even from toe to heel then remove 1 layer of tape and do a set or two of 20 medium pressure circles.. Replace the layer of old tape with new and hone as you normally do to finish off the razor... Change the tape once again for the final 20 laps of feather light finishing laps..

I sometimes refer to this as "taking the ruts out of the road" if you have ever driven down a back road through the snow this makes perfect sense.. The ruts get deeper and deeper and soon you just have to follow them, trying to get out of them, or to cut new straighter ones, normally gets you pulled back in, or thrown off the road
The second layer of tape acts like a plow does on the road, cutting and evening out the old ruts, (hone wear) then you have a fighting chance of getting a nice evenly sharp bevel set...

Now you could also try and even up the spine to the bevel, but basically that takes a ton of time, talent, and metal to accomplish so the choice is yours...

gssixgun--- I am definately going to try this. I really appreciate this helpful and practical advice. And the rationale of the "snowplow" evening the road makes a good mental image. I am assuming that I should start out on 1000 grit for this. I'm also assuming that adding pressure after taking one layer of tape off is to compensate for reducing the angle. When you say to change the tape again for 20 finishing laps, are you talking a bout later on the finishing hone or again on the rougher stone? I usualy follow your video by doing one tape for bevel, one for sharpening, one for polishing. BTW, I really appreciate your youtube videos. They are a big part of getting me back into the hobby and for helping me do my first really successful honing jobs.

-----Michael

Follow the Video after the initial two layer re-set, on the 1k stone, that is the only difference... You are going to use two layers to clear out the crap then start again