Thread: Poor Honing Job?

Hello,

I am hoping you guys can give me your opinion on my W&B I just recieved back from honing. I sent it to a well known vintage safety and straight razor site and got it back early last week. Although when I took a close look at it I started to have some concerns about the honing job they did. The bevel is uneven and wavy with each side of the razor having a different pattern of wear.

The presentation side with the etching has more hone wear on the heel and in the center, but very little on the toe. Although the toe-end spine shows alot of wear.

*Note: the pictures do not fully show how wavy the bevel is in person; they were taken with a phone cam.



The reverse side has an opposite pattern of wear. The bevel is very high on the toe and hardly noticable on the heel.




Is this normal? The two other razor that I have that are honed have a perfectly even and straight bevel; this does not look right to me.

Is this something that I should have fixed or talk to the site about?

Thanks for the help,
Chance

Yes, old razors like that quite often have a bit uneven bevel all along the blade.
More important is, how did it shave?

The bevel and the uniformity of that bevel, is controlled by the geometry of the razor, and the old hone wear that might be present..

If you wanted a small even bevel, they would have had to adjust that geometry by using tape because of the old hone wear on that razor,, some use it, some don't..

+1 on what Glen and Birnando said. Shave with it and then make a judgement on the honing.

The more I look at those pictures, the more I am convinced someone ground away a fair amount of the blade to remove a chip.
The shape of the bevel wear doesn't match the spine, the position of the etching is below center, and the tang seems large.

That would explain the geometry as well - if the curvature after grinding isn't exactly how it was from the factory in relation to the spine, the bevel will be uneven.

How is the shave?

Yes, how's the shave?

One more vote for : How's the shave?

Originally Posted by HNSB

The more I look at those pictures, the more I am convinced someone ground away a fair amount of the blade to remove a chip.
The shape of the bevel wear doesn't match the spine, the position of the etching is below center, and the tang seems large.

That would explain the geometry as well - if the curvature after grinding isn't exactly how it was from the factory in relation to the spine, the bevel will be uneven.

Well, when I sent them the razor there was no chips. So unless something happened to it in their care, I don't think that would be the case. Thank you for your input though.

I guess I understand what everyone is saying in regards to the uneven geometry causing uneven hone wear but the razor looked fine to me before. Although I've never done any honing...

Here is a pic after my restoration and before I sent it out:



As for how it shaves... Its ok. I'm still a semi-beginner so I don't have many other razors to compare it too and my two other razors that are shave ready don't shave as well as I have expected either, so maybe I'm just doing something wrong! Although it definitely does not shave like my double edge razors.

I did not strop it before my first shave so as to make sure my stropping wouldn't have any affect on the sharpness. And the first shave was mediocre. It doesn't cut through heavy growth like my safetys.

Strop it and try again.