Thread: Soft blade?

Originally Posted by Bonio

Im on a bit of a tight budget to be honest, however I will see what I can find

I used this one and this one. (links to amazon). They seem to work well enough dont clog or grab they feel even and the lines they leave on the blade look even as far as I can see.

I have just measured the thickness of the spine as I wondered if it was thinner where it shows signs of honing the most (towards the tip) it is in fact .54mm thicker there which explains the excess honing marks I guess.

I will do what is suggested though. Leave it to one side as I quite like the blade and would hate to spoil it.

Seem similar to that of Norton stones. Should work as long as you lapped the stones and know indeed they are flat. They really don't come lapped or truly flat in my experience from the factory even if bought new.

See if there is someone that has honed and proficient in your area that can assist you. I would also finish up on a 12k grit like a Naniwa to get that final edge for shaving. If you don't have one seek someone in the area also. But you can shave off a 8k stone for sure.

Good luck and just make sure those stones are truly flat by lapping them or getting someone to do it for you.

Those are carborundum silicon carbide stones and are meant mostly for stainless steel knives and tools. They probably are flat, but they work better after they have been burnished in with a piece of scrap steel.
I've never been able to get a smooth edge on plain carbon steel with carborundum; however, a good finisher after the 8k will smooth up the carborundum edge.

The 1k stone is a good one to remove chips from blades and to do a bevel set on a stainless razor.

You do have a nice razor there, it can be brought back to life, but it will take some honing gymnastics to get it shave ready. I'd put it aside for now until you learn some more honing - or if you really love it, send it out to honed which is probably cheaper than buying more hones.

What Brand is the razor ????

It has no manufacturer on it just made in sheffield

I asked because the profile of the Blade and the Grind look suspect..

Could I see a pic of the entire razor ??? and one with the Sheffield stamp

“Seem similar to that of Norton stones. Should work as long as you lapped the stones”

No, they are nothing like a Norton stone, other than that, they are advertised, as the same grit.

Only a small number of stones work well, honing razors, with knives you may be able to get away with these stone.

With razors it is not just grit size that matters, the type of grit and more importantly the binder plays a large part in performance in razor honing, especially when learning to hone.

The problem with making these statements, is new guys read them and say “Oh, they are just like Norton’s, at a fraction of the cost.”

You have only to look at the Chinese Naturals and EBay slates and all the issues new guys have with them, expecting stellar, high grit performance.

I suspect there are far more Chinese and EBay slate stones sitting in drawers, than in use.

If you want to lean to hone, set yourself up for success and buy quality stones, they really are not, that expensive and it is a life time purchase,

Originally Posted by Bonio

When they heat treated blades in the old days did they do the entire blade or was it just a portion of the cutting edge? Im guessing with something as small as a blade they would have done the whole lot.

Normally the whole blade would get the heat treating. BUT Sheffield steel is a shallow hardening steel and only the thin section close to the cutting edge would be Martensite after the quench.

Right now that is starting to make sense. I asked the original question because I studied metallurgy as part of my trade (although many years ago!) and I wondered if this blade might of been honed past the ideal layer for holding an edge. I only paid a few £ for it and it was bought as an experiment really. It measures 5/8" deep.

Did you create all that hone wear ???


I have a sneaking suspicion even with the little amount of clues you are giving us from the pics, what you have there is what we often call an RSO.. (Razor Shaped Object)

I can't be sure from the pics you have provided, but that is where the clues are taking my thoughts

With more pics and more info I can get much smarter

Regardless that razor has some seriously bad hone wear

For a 5/8 size razor the tang should be about .135" thick, or just over 1/8" at the pivot that will give you an idea of original blade size , but from the pics the ratio looks about right, hard to tell really..
This will tell you if there was much more blade size honed away taking you into the "Belly of the Blade"

Originally Posted by bluesman7

Normally the whole blade would get the heat treating. BUT Sheffield steel is a shallow hardening steel and only the thin section close to the cutting edge would be Martensite after the quench.

That's 1 I never heard before. Just saying :<0) I would be interested in knowing more.