Quote Originally Posted by sclick View Post
So I did the magic marker test and I was not making full contact. The razor has a slight smile to it which I somehow didn't notice (lesson learned, never hone while doped up on cough medicine) hence my irregular wear on the spine. I am going to have someone more experienced take care of this for me if I haven't already caused irreprable damage. I certainly hope my noobosity did not bring about the demise of a razor. Does anyone know of a honemeister in the Baltimore area?
Disclaimer: I don't claim to be an expert, but I (finally) get good shaves from every thebay razor I have bought.

A few points:
1) I found the marker test can be misleading. You may find you hone the marker off the edge, but that doesn't mean the two sides meet at a sharp bevel.
2) I guess I lucked out on the more hollow razors I honed. They apparently had much better bevels than some of the heavier grinds I tried and didn't require much pressure. However, I spent hours and hours on a Genco Heavy and a Shumate Ben Hur and put them away in frustration. At the Rocky Mountain meet, I learned from Glen (gssixgun) that I was using much less pressure than necessary. Adding more "torque" to the blade to push the edge onto the Norton 1K, I got good bevels on both of them with about 60 circles on each side - alternating 20 on one side then 20 on the other. Then, back off on the pressure and do 20 or 30 X-strokes on the 1K before moving up.
3) If I had not used a layer of tape on the spines of these two problem blades, I would have really noticeable spine wear.

As always, YMMV, but more pressure made the difference for me.

Good luck