Thread: Advice on touching up a full wedge

I have a wedge in need of a touch up. I'm not sure if it was taped when the seller honed it, but I think it was because there is no visible spine wear.

My question is: when doing a touch up should I tape it? Any other tips for touching up a wedge?

Put one layer of tape on the razor, blacken the edge with a "magic marker", hone 10 laps on a higher grit stone, look at the bevel under magnification ... This will tell you everything you need to know...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Put one layer of tape on the razor, blacken the edge with a "magic marker", hone 10 laps on a higher grit stone, look at the bevel under magnification ... This will tell you everything you need to know...

If I can't look at it under magnification, is there another way I should know when it's done?

Done???

What you are checking for is to see whether the person that honed it used tape, the bright line at the bevel will give you an idea of the bevel angle, and whether there was no tape, 1 layer, 2 layers, 3 layers, etc...
The process I told you will not damage the spine or the edge...

The bright line has to hit the very edge or you are trying to re-set a bevel instead of just re-freshing the edge..

Glen's telling you how to determine the number of layers of tape that may have been used by the previous honer. There is no point "touching up" the edge if you are not using at least as many layers as the previous person did.

Do what he says with the magic marker, and try to see whether the marker is rubbed off to the very edge or not. If it is, then the previous person probably only used a single layer of tape (the most likely scenario). If there is some black marker between the edge and the shiny area made when you honed, you need to add another level of tape, because this is indicating the angle is too low and you are not hitting the blade with the hone right to the edge.

Repeat the process until you are sure you are hitting to the very edge, then touch up as you normally would.

James.