Thread: manufacturing -vs- useage spine wear - can you know ?

Say a vintage razor suddenly appears in front of you, 1/2 hollow and based on your SRP education its most likely from 1890s. The part of spine that touches the hone is visibly consistant from heel to toe both sides with a flat width of about 2 mm. The blade width is consistant over the length, i.e, the toe is not honed out.

As you consider the flat of the spine, the question is: is this the result of user honing, or, could it be an artifact of the original grind ?

A nice picture would help. But--- 2mm sounds like just a bit of hone wear. Nothing to lose sleep over, especially if it's even wear, but normal for an unprotected honing or two.

I think you also have to consider the grind of the razor. The big wedges with 2mm of hone contact at the spine is quite minimal. A more modern grind and 2mm is starting to raise some concern, but as stumpy pointed out if it is even it's should not be an event. Although without pictures it is all just supposition.