Thread: Help with a Morley Clover Brand near wedge.

Hey guys, I am having some serious trouble getting a Morley sharp. I am not sure whether it's my technique or what, but I just can't seem to get it to hold an edge. I have gotten all but three of 20+ vintage razors sharp enough to shave. But I can't seem to get this one sharp. I have been using a Soft, Hard, and Surgical Black Arkansas. I have actually dulled a Torrey on the side of my Surgical (To get a really small smile out, probably not the right way to do it) and it still managed to get a good bevel on the soft and is passing all of the shave tests, ran out of long enough arm hair, but is passing the leg hair test.

Is it possible that it is just the blade messing with me? I went out and got a 800/4000 King, and used 800 - Soft ark - hard ark - 4000 - hard ark again - Black ark. And it still didn't work. Is it time to send it to a honemeister? My first 4 blades were sharpened by a honemeister, so I have something to compare, but goodness this just isn't working for me. Any suggestions before I give up and send it out. Or is this blade just not for me?

Oh, and at one point I thought I had it ready, was passing the HHT/AHT/TPT but it shaved terribly and gave me some serious burn on my neck. I appreciate any help, and I am using Dishwashing liquid and water on my Arks, slow I know, but I don't want to use oil and be forced to continue with it. I have spent about 5 hours on this stupid thing (just in honing attempts).

A picture would help.

How is the bevel? That's the place to start. You say it won't hold an edge. Do you mean it was sharp but lost the sharpness fast or it never was sharp enough to begin with?

I will try to upload a couple pictures tonight. I thought it was ready after it passed several of the subjective tests, but then it failed the shave test miserably.

I honed a frown out of a Morley once . It took hours , because the steel was very hard . Your Morley may have very hard steel , too . Extremely hard steel = more hone time . Good luck with it .