Thread: "Dip-at-toe" stubtails 18th century

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

If it's close to a perfect wedge it will all be hone wear. These were all actually fairly hollow when first made and a fresh off the line one would have a tiny bevel. Best way to be true to origin would be to get it reground by a professional razor grinder (e.g. Joe Edson) rather than taking it flat. I don't recall offhand the diameter of the grinding stones from this period - Zak do you have a reference for that?

I’m away from my desktop with the citation, but it was a 10” wheel.

One of these days I'll learn to wait until I've got sources in front of me...

One of these days.

The correct answer is 12-15" stones.

Here's what Holtzapffel had to say about it after visiting Sheffield manufacturers.

Mind you, Holtzapffel was looking at a later version of the process (he mentions that 5" to 6" stones made the best razors -- it's unlikely many razors were made with stones of those sizes in the mid 18th century), but it makes for a very good idea.

Originally Posted by srsimon

Ah...that I agree completely with. Sorry, thought you were talking about a hollow grind.

It certainly started life as a wedge with a slight hollow. The wear hasn't reached the spine (there's a slight "back bevel" at the spine that hasn't been worn through yet). It's close enough at this point to a true wedge that it makes the most sense to take it the rest of the way there. The angles support it..and are pretty consistent along the length of the blade.

I was thinking of addressing that narrowing/dip at the heel of the blade, but I think I'll leave it be -- it provides some protection for the thumb (rather than resting in plane with the edge).

After giving this some thought, I honestly can't imagine a worse way to approach honing this razor in terms of preservation.

Most likely, the original owner stopped using it because they didn't have access to a wheel or someone who had one. When the bevel gets as wide as it is on this razor, it becomes incredibly time consuming to hone -- flattening it to a full wedge will make that much worse.

Preserve your sanity. Simply use 3-4 layers of tape.