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

Originally Posted by srsimon

The razor is very close to a true wedge as it stands -- it's not a large time investment to finish that process off, and doing so is going to smooth out a couple of spots along the sides that I'd like to even up to make future honing easier. Again, I have the razor in front of me -- this is the best for it. Taking it to a true wedge won't even reach the spine (there's a short bevel narrowing the width as you approach the spine). That ridge line running down the blade is going to move back to or near the spine, but that's about the extent of it...and a relatively small change to bring the sides back to true.

My plan, such as it is, is to take it to a true wedge and test the edge. If there are any issues, then I tape the spine (since it will all be even at that point) and put in a new bevel.

One question for the tapers in the audience: have you run into any issues with taping a spine that doesn't match the profile of the edge? That's the case with dip-at-toe, though the change in bevel angle should be _slight_.

The tape should descend past the edge of the spine into the hollow of the blade, so the edge isn't touching the hone. On some razors, the spine can have a tall enough profile that it's necessary to use a piece on each side (unless you find very wide electrical tape).

These razors were ground so that the part of the spine that lays on the hone is the same width even below the part at the toe that's been slightly concaved.

Really though, that's all somewhat moot since these razors have enough variability that you're going to be using reasonably large swooping motions to make contact along the entire edge. More likely than not you're only really going to have 3-4cm of edge touching the hone at any one time. This is part of the reason why flattening the blade face into one enormous bevel is a bad idea. You'll find that in order to get the entire edge flat on the hone, you'll need to remove a lot of the blade. I know it doesn't seem like it -- it looks like it was nearly a wedge to begin with. Believe me, the very slight concavity from the radius of the wheel makes a difference.

There aren't any true wedge razors for very good reason.

From the book linked to above: