Thread: how much does uneven hone wear matter?

I've just received a DD Satin Wedge that I got on ebay for ten bucks. It has no value as a collectible and I don't care much about the aesthetics; I want to shave with it, period.

There's a lot of hone wear on the tip, and the bevel's wide there, and then both the wear and the bevel width diminish as you move toward the toe. If you traced the edge with a pencil, you'd get a straight line. But in full light it doesn't look at all straight because of the 'sloping' lines of spine wear and bevel width.

Since there's no frown or anything, should I just sharpen and shave? Is there any reason I should try to get everything even? And if so, how would I go about doing that?

Here's the ebay picture, if it helps.

It matters a little bit because the bevel's gonna be a little less acute on the narrow end, but it's not likely to really matter that much, smiling blades frequently have this characteristic at the heel and toe and they shave just fine. Try it, and if it really bothers you then you can worry about regrinding the blade.

Thanks mparker, I'll give it a try.

Some circular honing on 1000 grit wet sandpaper with more emphasis on the back will give the blade more of a smiling profile and even out the hone wear. It will also help establish a nice bevel to start pyramiding on.

Circular honing is just what it sounds like, lay the razor flat on its spine and edge and move it in circles?

Would the advantage of this be more or less cosmetic, or would it improve the performance a lot?

This razor is almost a full wedge, but it's damn small, the smallest razor I've seen, and I'm wary of taking off much more metal...

Circular honing is preferred for this sort of thing because it's a lot faster than using laps, since the razor stays on the hone for 20 circles or so before being flipped over.

one more thing - wedges perform very well even at small sizes. hollow ground razors can get a little interesting at the 4/8 and smaller sizes, but wedges keep chugging along shaving just fine.

What size is your razor at the large and small ends?

I don't have a ruler at hand, but it looks like a 4/8. The shorter end is only a hair's breadth shorter, maybe 1/32 of an inch. It's the inside line of the bevel, not the edge itself, that slopes noticeably...

Mparker and firestart, do you think if I evened out the wear w/circular honing that I'd improve the performance much? It's not a looker if you see what I mean. If it were a child I wouldn't be paying for no braces.

This won't take you much time or effort for that matter and will speed up your own honing of the blade.

Do circles have to be circular, or can I just move it back and forth on the same side for 20 "rounds"? I ask because obviously I want to keep the shoulder off the sandpaper, but the very part I need to hone more is adjacent to the shoulder.

In fact if I were to make a green guess I'd say it's because of the shoulder that the lower part of the blade has been underhoned.

You guys are invaluable – sorry about all the stupid questions.

Generally, when I've got a razor where I just want to hone one part of the blade, I wrap electrical tape around the rest of it. A few days ago I needed to take some of the smile out of a frameback, so I wrapped electrical tape around the heel and toe, then taped the spine, and went to town on the sandpaper. It did a nice job of preventing me from accidentally honing the parts of the blade that didn't need it.