Hi everyone. I am new to straight shaving. I am new at this, but I have never seen an edge like this. I picked this up for $20 CAD. Might be due to over honing. I would like to know if this was a stupid purchase.
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Hi everyone. I am new to straight shaving. I am new at this, but I have never seen an edge like this. I picked this up for $20 CAD. Might be due to over honing. I would like to know if this was a stupid purchase.
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Yeesh,It aint good.Might be you could get one of the pros to grind it flat and re-work the bevel,but it's a major job.
Welcome to SRP. That is known as a frown and it doesn't lend itself to smooth shaving. It looks too far gone to my eye but some of the more experienced restorers will no doubt chime in shortly. Check out the SRP Wiki here for tons of great info on all things straight razor related.
A month or so ago there was a guy on the 'bay selling a bunch of straights that he said he bought from a barber (IIRC he was selling 10 or so). Each one was honed with a very large frown. It got me to thinking that these were honed like this on purpose. Perhaps the large frown assisted with maneuvering around the face when shaving another person?
:shrug:
More like too much pressure applied when honing. Check out this barber manual chapter on honing and stropping here in the SRP Wiki for good info with illustrations on how to avoid creating a frown. :tuQuote:
Originally Posted by rsrick
Quote:
Originally Posted by rsrick
Its for shaving chins, the blade is placed in a North/South direction and moved East to West or vice versa depending which hand is dominant.;)
Man, that has to be the biggest frown Ive ever seen, and on such a beautiful piece of steel!:cry:
There are not of us that do stuff like that, I would take it on, but would never, ever, Guaranty success on the outcome.... That is one of those, well, lets see what happen type of projects....
Seraphim and Spazola have the knowledge/talent to do that work also but I don't know if they do that work for other people... You would have to ask them yourself...
Another thought just stuck me upside the head , do you guys realize just how picky we are when it comes to our razors??? Somebody was shaving this razor, at sometime, in that shape!!!! :eek:
Not saying that honing a frown is proper, just found it odd that the guy was selling so many from purportedly the same "retired barber" and all were honed with a big frown (I tried to find the original set of listings but haven't come across them yet). Made me think that this particular barber honed them on purpose that way (or just didn't care how the blade looks as long as he could shave someone with it).Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
Just because the guy was a barber that doesn't mean he knew how to hone properly. I am a professional tattoo artist and I know a couple that have been earning a living at it for thirty years that can't tattoo a lick. :shrug:Quote:
Originally Posted by rsrick
Point taken.
From a copy of a barber's manual I have saved (Jimmy - I didn't check the link you provided .... I suspect it's the same manual):
"The average barber has a tendency to hollow out the cutting edge of his razor, due to the fact that as he takes the honing stroke he instinctively exerts pressure along the center prtion of the cutting edge and unless this tendenct is corrected the edge will soon take on the shave illustrated [frown]"
So I guess the prior owner would be "average".
{Sry Matz, didn't mean to take your thread off topic .... } :HJ
Cheers,
That is the manual I was referring to. I get a lot out of it. Enough that I printed it out and have looked at it frequently.Quote:
Originally Posted by rsrick
That is a sobering thought.Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
For $20 you've already spent, try this:
Tape the spine.
400 grit sandpaper on a flat stone or even a counter top - put the edge down like you are cutting bread and then instead of sawing parallel to the edge go at about 45°.
Grind away the frown.
Hone it up starting on the 400 grit.
Worst case scenario, you've just wasted $20.
Mark
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Originally Posted by 0o.Mark.o0
I wasn't going to into this repair in the thread but since you opened the door I guess somebody is going to have to explain why that will not work, or rather, not work correctly... obviously from this pic you can shave with just about anything, really....
Take a piece of paper and use the edge placing it on the computer sceen over the pic of the blade and get an idea of just how much metal there is that you have to remove, first.... Then take note that the the spine is slightly curved which means that the edge should match that curve in a smile to be "correct".... Also note that the barbers notch and the shoulders are going to have to be re-ground to eliminate the problems there... Now after all that is done you are going to have to re-cut an even bevel on a smiling blade, then actually hone said butter knife dull re-cut bevel to shaving sharp....
Like I said this would do it correctly.....
This is a good possibility especially if the guy honed it on the edge of the stone. Another possibility is that there was a problem somewhere along the way and the center of the blade overheated and annealed making it softer and more prone to wear. The ultimate question though is can you shave with it? It's kind of cool looking really!Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
John
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Crowley
Excellent point here !!!! Didn't even occur to me that the blade might have been bad to begin with....
