Thread: Issues with a near wedge. Please advise.

I'v not developed enough experience to really ID the degree of wedge I'm working with here. But the point is, I knew I was in for a significant amount of time at the stones before I got what I wanted. So the issue is, I've spent about 2-4 hours on the 220 Norton and it seems to very, very slowly be coming around to an bevel. Problem is, the bevel that's coming around. One one side of the blade, I've got a bevel appearing in the middle of the blade edge, while on the other side of the blade, it's appearing only at the toe and heel. I started by using both hands, and applying zero pressure..or at least as close to zero as a newbie could muster. After a couple hours, (two separate sessions), I've moved to just one hand. I've varied the strokes alot. Maybe too much. But I've tried x-strokes, while turning the stone every 50 or so. I've tried straight up and backs. I've tried re-lapping the Norton. Is it me? or is it the blade? What do you think? My personal guess is that the blade is ever so slightly bent...but I don't know anything.

A trick that I learned for these type of blades is to first use magic marker on the edge. Then imagine that you are only using about 1/2" of the stone, making sure that all areas of the bevel touch the stone in that area. Then check the edge to make sure the marker is gone in all areas of the bevel. If not adjust your honing stroke accordingly to get the full length of the blade. You may have to rock the blade to a certain degree to hone the warp.

Thanks Theseus! I'll give it a go. I was about to put this one on the shelf. If the warp can be worked with, I'm a happy man.

Try a narrower stone if the bevel does not touch the hone along its entire length. You need to know that in the olden days not every one could afford a 3" wide hone. Many razors were honed on hones 1-1.5" wide.

I was skeptical that a narrower stone would do anything, but I did try it, in combination with using the marker to more easily see exactly what I was doing. It worked!! It's doing that whole "hairs falling off with no pressure" thing! Kind of a bummer I spent all that money on the Nortons, and ended up using my Combo India stone, followed by a generic barber hone, then a Hindostan. Thanks very much guys! This is awesome! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Congrats on getting it to work. And don't worry, I'm sure that you will still get plenty of use out of those Nortons.

Originally Posted by regularjoe

I was skeptical that a narrower stone would do anything, but I did try it, in combination with using the marker to more easily see exactly what I was doing. It worked!! It's doing that whole "hairs falling off with no pressure" thing! Kind of a bummer I spent all that money on the Nortons, and ended up using my Combo India stone, followed by a generic barber hone, then a Hindostan. Thanks very much guys! This is awesome! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

"A good workman never blames the tools"

The fix was in solving your stroke problem, the next razor that gives you fits you will start there and it won't matter much at all what stone you use to fix the problem ...

Originally Posted by regularjoe

What do you think? My personal guess is that the blade is ever so slightly bent...but I don't know anything.

I think you're right . It sounds like the spine of the razor is warped . You can check it by laying the blade on a flat surface , and see how the spine matches up with it .

Do not feel bummed about the Nortons. I have seen them work magic. I would also avoid cutting them if you ever think so. I have all different ranges of hone sizes running from one the size of my finger to a green monster and larger. You cannot easily uncut a hone.

And for future reference don't be afraid to add a little pressure at the early stages of honing. When people say "no pressure" they are mostly referring to the polishing stages, not the bevel stages. A little pressure, particularly on a wedgey grind, can be very useful on occasion.

James.