Thread: Advice please (irregular hone due to previous efforts)

What is the consensus on ah heirloom that will be used weekly. Perhaps this will boil down to a personal choice...so I hesitate to even ask...but here goes.

I honed a razor recently, and someone had obviously previously honed it with their index finger resting on the obverse face on the away stroke because the bevel was a much lower angle in this area on the front face of the blade. Perhaps impossible to see from this before photo, but under the etching the bevel is wider. (the blade is what some call a "rattler" and quite flexible).



So during honing, I set a new bevel and the new bevel does not erase this old lower angle bit of bevel...but I established enough bevel to polish up nicely and it shaves well.

So my question is, what would YOU do? Consume more blade and polish out the sins of the past, or preserve as much life as possible and let the blade continue to show its past?

Thanks for you consideration.

When I was a youngster my mom would say I was 'handsome' and my grandma would hear that and say,"Handsome is as handsome does." IOW, it ain't what you look like, it is how you do. So, taking grandma's admonition, I would leave that bevel as is if it is working well.

I am having trouble with uploads this morning...here is another "before" photo for consideration. (I hope)

My rule is: "Never extend a bevel farther than it must go". Mine are nearly invisible. Steel is a precious metal.

Unit, I'm with Jimmy & Ace. Particularly 'cause this one has the added value of being an ancestor's blade. (and a dang nice one!) Your subsequent use and re-honing will likely even up the differences. I'll usually opt for an approach that saves steel whenever possible.

One member with a 'beard of steel' used my Electric. A few shaves and the edge came back looking like a crosscut saw blade. One of the little dents was deep, and I left it in place 'cause it still shaved really well. Now that member's beard is going to eat edges, so I suggested he try the stropping on newsprint backed by a stone. He kept his edges working without having to wear away more steel each week to keep shaving.

A while back i got a W&B with a very large chip and lots of uneven hone wear, i just purchase the razor to
practice, 1st to remove the big chip and 2nd to make it shave ready. Took a while but i did get the razor to shave ready status. The bevel in two areas is really big, and others area small, it was popping hair and i keep going, turns out the razor is in my rotation and its a great shaver and yours will be as well, probably not pretty to look at but great shaves!

Wide, shallow bevels show that alot of pressure was used to hone at some point, this happens sometimes and is a bugger to correct at times. I tend to go minimalist when it comes to removing steel, and with an heirloom piece I'm just plain nuts about it. I've cut stones and dug up equipment that allowed me to get the edge honed even on warped blades, just to avoid loosing alot of steel. Most razors I don't tend to worry about corrective grinding unless it's a memorable piece like heirlooms

If you get it shaving with minimal sharpening by all means go for it as the "problems from the past" will eventually hone out with time.

If it took a good bevel, and it shaves good, there's no reason for removing metal for the sake of cosmetics. If it were mine, and regardless of heirloom or otherwise, that's how I would feel on the matter.