Thread: Can anyone advise me

mainaman I am so sorry it sounds like disagreement it is not. Once I hit send I can only hope you know I stuck my foot in my mouth. I don't know everything I am not arguing with you guys. I like to think of it as debating. I can actually learn better this way.

Alienedge, hones come in different grits, some to set a bevel, some to polish or finish the edge. Go back to the home page, read and learn. Not everyone uses tape on their razors, but it can be beneficial if you have issues setting the bevel or dealing with a vintage wedge razor. Knives are not a good comparison. Best of luck.

Okay don't use a knife that seems to confusing . Get an old straight razor off E-bay that is very dull and sharpen it on a hone and only a hone. A hone of any kind. Not a 1000 grit stone but a hone. It will require some elbow grease. How do you do that blue box with the quote in it ?

Originally Posted by Utopian

There is absolutely no indication of what amount of pressure the OP is using.

I hope I can get the blue box to show the quote if not I am sorry. I have to debate this. I don't see how a hone will show wear on the spine with no pressure. You would have to use a courser grit or pressure on a hone, enough pressure to flatten a spot on the spine. I guess you could use a jeweler's lope to see the wear, but if you want to see it with your naked eye using a hone in a reasonable amount of time you will have to go at it like your making a prison shank. I am sorry for saying barber hone. I did not want to split hairs with any one. How about hone any hone.

To me a bevel setter and a finisher are both hones. They can also be called stones. Purists can debate if a synthetic hone is a stone or if only naturals should be called stones. It is immaterial to me. In casual conversations the terms are interchanged freely. If you are writing a scholarly report then the definition should be nailed down.

Here is a link to the terms commonly used in SRP.

Acronyms and Abbreviations - Straight Razor Place Library

Originally Posted by AlienEdge

I hope I can get the blue box to show the quote if not I am sorry. I have to debate this. I don't see how a hone will show wear on the spine with no pressure. You would have to use a courser grit or pressure on a hone, enough pressure to flatten a spot on the spine. I guess you could use a jeweler's lope to see the wear, but if you want to see it with your naked eye using a hone in a reasonable amount of time you will have to go at it like your making a prison shank. I am sorry for saying barber hone. I did not want to split hairs with any one. How about hone any hone.

As Utopian said, using tape is a personal choice. I do. Enough said.

The use of tape has been said to have originated to prevent new honers from wearing the spine. When you read some threads on Ebay offerings you will often hear "a lot of spine wear". A very experienced honer will have very little spine wear as this person has learned the very delicate use of torque to put the pressure on the bevel and not to put pressure over both the bevel and spine.

You are correct about no wear on the spine if no pressure is placed on the spine. If the spine is lifted off of the hone you are in a sense sharpening a knife. I would not want to shave with a razor that had been sharpened like a knife. Nuff said.

Originally Posted by rolodave

To me a bevel setter and a finisher are both hones. Acronyms and Abbreviations - Straight Razor Place Library

Thanks for your help but I don't think acronyms & abbreviations will help me get my point across. A bastard cross cut file and emery board might both be considered files, but not to me. One takes off more material than the other, and much quicker.

Originally Posted by rolodave

As Utopian said, using tape is a personal choice. I do. Enough said. The use of tape has been said to have originated to prevent new honers from wearing the spine. If the spine is lifted off of the hone you are in a sense sharpening a knife. I would not want to shave with a razor that had been sharpened like a knife. Nuff said.

I have a good idea why people use tape. I have read some people putting the razor through their arsenal of stones start with a 500 grit, then 800 grit, then 1000 grit, then 4k, 8k, 12k, maybe some Japanese stone, a lot of paste balsa wood and perhaps more tape. So the buyer's on e-bay will not see the grinding process someone has put the straight razor through. I personally would not tell someone to lift the spine off the stone either. Tape will change the angle by lifting the spine of the straight razor. Careful saying knife that will throw a monkey wrench into the machine.

Originally Posted by AlienEdge

mainaman I am so sorry it sounds like disagreement it is not. Once I hit send I can only hope you know I stuck my foot in my mouth. I don't know everything I am not arguing with you guys. I like to think of it as debating. I can actually learn better this way.

I am not offended, there is nothing wrong with disagreements.

Originally Posted by AlienEdge

The hone will take off metal but really slow. It is not for sharpening it is to polish out some of the imperfections. The knife was to show how long and how hard it would be to sharp on such a fine grit.

On the razor forums we call the stones "Hones" we group all the grits under that acronym. Only the finishing stone would be a hone technically. Unfortunately knife sharpening is not a valid example to illustrate points about razor sharpening, just way too different concepts.

As for as the tape I don't see how tape will straighten out steel.

it will not and I do not think anyone made such statements.

If the spine is bent, crooked , or curved it stands to reason that the blade will follow the spine. The problem will be at the cutting edge as well. To me it is possible that the blade is warped to making it look kind of like a finger nail curve and putting tape on the forehead will not straighten out the finger nail.

We do not know exactly what the condition of the blade is, as I stated tape can be used to get better edge NOT to fix grind issues. If the OP can improve the edge this way and is fine with uneven bevel and spine then that is the end game for that razor. If the OP wants to correct the grind and straighten the bevels, as I pointed out, they will have to correct the spine. If the blade is ground wavy then that type of correction will not work, the bevels will remain uneven. Spine corrections are done with no tape.

I don't sharpen with a hone.

we do not as well but we just call them hones.