Thread: Help on honing a wedge

Any tips clues or secrets? I got an old W&B wedge and I just can't get it shving sharp any tips? Thanks.

Tape the spine! On some wedges, it will dramatically reduce the amount of metal you need to remove to set the bevel.

Wedges are worth the extra effort.

Yeah a few !!!!

Tape the spine 1 layer for heavy blades 2 layers for true wedges (very rare)

Use a little pressure to get the bevel set on the low grits... "a little"

Most of the time the heels or toes on these need to be pulled into line some are actually warped some seem that way because of all the different bevels and spine wear on them you have to even that all up before you are ever going to get an edge....

Patience Grasshopper I have never taken less than 1 hour to get a bevel set on one of these, on a 1k stone....It takes a fair amount of honing to get them all in line and sharp...

Ohhhh yeah Circle, Rocking, Japanese, Swooping, Heel Forward and probably a few other strokes we haven't named are your friends with these

Bevel setting, bevel setting... and more bevel setting. Everything after that is gravy.

Setting a bevel CANNOT be overstated! I've literally spent 4 hours on 1K Shapton glass hone to get a nice bevel on that LOVELY Sheffield steel. Take your time, use a little pressure and then STOP.

Relax, do something else for a while, then go at it again. Time spent at this stage is time well spent. Once you have a bevel that is SHARP-and I mean stupid sharp only then can you begin to think about going to finer grits.

Your patience WILL be rewarded. Few if any modern razors will match a vintage Sheffield edge.

By all means,use tape on the spine too.

Originally Posted by Memorael

Any tips clues or secrets? I got an old W&B wedge and I just can't get it shving sharp any tips? Thanks.

I have one that I gave up on, and I'm sending it to someone that knows what they are doing. I have no problem getting a scary sharp edge on a full hollow, but I don't have the tools for a wedge.

the heavier the grind, the harder the honing, or so I have found.

how much tape do I put on the spine? or should I do like 3 then 2 then 1 or something like that? it seems it is getting better only thing is it is taking a loooooong time all those bathroom trips are well spent though

Originally Posted by Memorael

Any tips clues or secrets? I got an old W&B wedge and I just can't get it shving sharp any tips? Thanks.

Assuming worse case scenario. eBay nightmare with chips, warped spine etc..
DMT's or similar fast cutting hones may help speed up the process.
Narrow hones are great with warped spines.
Don't know what grit you started with but you may be there a long time unless its coarser than 1k.
It's a PITA but as mentioned already well worth the final result.

I have heavy 7/8 W&B wedge and then an 8/8 W&B "true" wedge (ie if you lay it on the hone there is no air between the hone and the blade. I use 2 layers of tape on the 7/8 and 3 layers on the true wedge though there is no science in that.

One thing I find that helps is if the blade smiles or something else, I find it useful to hone in quadrants when I'm trying to remove metal. Ie go after the heel, middle right, middle left and toe end separately. Then kind of "clean up" and smooth it out with the edge first rolling x. and make sure the honing stroke on one of your quadrants matches your shaving stroke, so you are sharpening the part of the razor you primarily shave with.

I also got lazy and used lapping film on the true wedge and that was actually easier. It creates a heavy suction so it's easier to keep the edge down while you hone. like the edge off hones better but film was easier.