Thread: The Real Wedge

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Their faces are curious and horrible to behold, the features being unclear and ill-defined, like a vaguely threatening amorphous mass.

Sounds like the tribe HNSB came out of .......

I'm a little skeered now and am thinking of B&B.

Originally Posted by WW243

I'm a little skeered now and am thinking of B&B.

Just remember to abandon all hope before you leave, hell and damnation await...

Regards
Neil

That's It! The straw that the Pope scraped off His red shoes when he drove the last nail into the camel....

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Just remember to abandon all hope before you leave, hell and damnation await...

Regards
Neil

I know this isn't a shaving razor, but rather a microtome blade. As I understand, To hone these 'true wedge' blades, a sleeve slides onto the spine to elevate it to the proper angle.

I need someone to educate me in this because I am clearly missing something. If a true wedge is a perfect V then why couldn't you hone it as normal. Yes you would be removing steel all along the face but eventually you would be back to a perfect V which is what you want anyway. What the heck am I missing here?

Originally Posted by Steel

I need someone to educate me in this because I am clearly missing something. If a true wedge is a perfect V then why couldn't you hone it as normal. Yes you would be removing steel all along the face but eventually you would be back to a perfect V which is what you want anyway. What the heck am I missing here?

Let's say you have a 6/8 full wedge. When honing such a blade, you would have to remove steel along the entire 6/8 width of the blade. Whereas with even a slight hollow or the addition of tape, only the edge and spine are in contact with the hone. So is honing a perfect wedge possible? I suppose it probably would be, but you'd have to set aside a heck of a lot of time to do it.

There may be other things that have escaped my mind at the moment, but the sheer amount of surface area being honed would IMHO be an issue.

Originally Posted by bdcoffey

I know this isn't a shaving razor, but rather a microtome blade. As I understand, To hone these 'true wedge' blades, a sleeve slides onto the spine to elevate it to the proper angle.

Quite a few did have a sleeve arrangement, but most that resembled a straight razor in all respcts were not honed that way. The flat side was never sharpened - too much work taking all that steel off, and not really necessary anyway. Instead the blade rested flat side down on a frame and a hone (or small board with abrasive on it) was slid back and forth over the bevel of the hollow ground side.

You still find them made (microtome razors) today, and they are available with the honing sleds, etc, from some microscope enthusiasts and lab supply shops.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Steel

... What the heck am I missing here?

Nothing. Like Cangooner pointed out, you wouldn't want to take all that metal off - it takes an extremely long time and if you are not ultra careful lifting the blade up to see how you are progressing most likely results in you putting it down again at a slightly different angle - then it really does take forever. Don't ask me how I know that...

But what am I talking about?! Try your sig line out on a shallow ground razor and see how fast it is to turn it into a real flat-sided wedge...

Regards,
Neil

Perhaps they were honed on a convex stone?

A blade can be ground flat on a round wheel simply by using the side of the wheel.


Carry on.