Almost panicked!!

So I've been feeling more & more comfortable with my honing lately and I decided to have another go at the family razor. I started with a light polish using a dremel & felt pads. I wasn't after a mirror finish, just to clean up the tiny pits/stains. It still shows its age just not so distressed/neglected looking now.

Then I went to the 1k, killed the edge I had on it & did a small amount of light breadknifing to work out most of a pit near the toe. Once I started on the bevel the pit at the toe cleaned up nicely & was popping hairs, so I continued with the rest of the edge. Then panic set in! The outer half of the blade was coming around nicely, I've never been so careful to keep the pressure even & do nice, clean strokes but half the blade (toward the heel) felt like a butter knife on my arm. I know during the buffing I was careful never to get the blade too hot to hold, but there I started doubting myself & wondering if I'd worked it too hard on that end of the blade. Another few strokes on the 1k did nothing for it so at this point I made the wise decision to leave the razor alone & call it quits for the night.

Today I picked it back up with a cleared mind, killed the partial edge I had on it, did some circles & a few laps on my DMT with 3 layers of tape & whaddaya know? It's taking an edge now! Took off a layer of tape, did a few more laps & it's still good. I've made it a point to be very careful with this razor & my best guess is my pressure was so light (basically weight of blade) on the 1k last night I never got a full bevel set all the way across. Plus it was the first time I'd tried breadknifing, so I likely underestimated the work to get a bevel after that.

I'm going to continue a little while on the 1k tonight as there are 2 small spots on the blade that still need a bit of work, but after that I'm quitting while I'm ahead. I'll pick it back up again tomorrow or Sunday to start on the 4x8.

For those who are curious, the razor in question is a 5/8 Morley & Sons that belonged to my great-grandfather. Spine wear is almost perfectly even on one side & slightly heavy toward the heel & toe on the other.

Moral of the story: If you're getting frustrated because you can't get it to do what you want, walk away & come back tomorrow. It won't hurt the razor to wait 24 hours, but it might if you get too hasty. :)

Sounds like you did the right thing walking away, good job!

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Moral of the story: If you're getting frustrated because you can't get it to do what you want, walk away & come back tomorrow. It won't hurt the razor to wait 24 hours, but it might if you get too hasty.

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This is a very good point, took me a few razors to realize it, but if I haven't gotten a good bevel in 20 minutes I'm having a bad hone day and there's no point to continue honing, it will only get worse.

That's also the last time I try breadknifing a blade for a good long time too. A couple of times i heard a faint *tink* when I didn't keep the stroke perfectly straight & my heart stopped, expecting to look down & see a big chunk broken out from the sideways motion. After having tried it (and I didn't do much) it just seems way too easy to damage a blade for me to be doing again for now.

EDIT: I think those two tinks I heard are where it still needs work. I can't see anything moving the light across the edge, but I'm pretty sure those were the areas I was working when they happened. The blade has a very slight smile at the heel & toe, so the whole blade wasn't always in contact.

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Originally Posted by KenWeir

That's also the last time I try breadknifing a blade for a good long time too.
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Glad you said that!
Dulling a razor makes NO sense when you want it to be sharp.
Contests, bragging sure.... but not to shave.

Perhaps run it on a cork or slice paper then use the magic marker test
to make it easy to know that the bevel and edge is fresh perhaps.

The coticle folk dull an edge on a glass tumbler to show how good
they are on a coticle not because it is a good idea or good practice
for the razor.

Review some of Lynn's videos. He does begin testing the edge with his thumb pad
so he knows what he has to do. One video the edge was dull because it
was made dull as a challenge. Another was still sharp, just not sharp enough
to shave with.

Contest sure...
Shaving not so sure....

I did it because there was a pit & some stains that went across the bevel & all the way to the edge just to help make sure I went far enough back without putting too much uneven pressure on the blade. It may not have been the best way to do it, but it worked :)