Disapointment

A couple of weeks ago I bought a wedge razor at the flea market. It was an "R. Hibbard." It was pretty rusty so I cleaned it up. What a job. It has so many pits that I could never get them all out. Anyway, when I was done I tried to sharpen it.
First thing I noticed was that it was not very hard. Not heat treated right. Well I thought I would just have to dull the edge a little and try to re heat treat it. I have done that on hundereds of knives and even though a razor would present some new problems with the thick spine and thin blade I was going to try it anyway. Until I looked at the edge where I had started sharpening it. The dang thing is bent. Not so you could see it but it is there. The edge is only hitting the stone in two places on one side and one place on the other. Oh well. I just finished it out and put a handle on it and will just keep it as part of my new collection.

Mack you can sharpen it anyway.
Push it over the edge of the hone or use a very narrrow one.
Happens with a lot of old blades.

Curious to see how it will turn out.

Good idea, I will use a narrow stone and I will tape the blade. The edge where it is sharpening is almost 1/8" wide. I could be that it has been honed a lot but the blade is still 8/8" wide.
This is the first wedge I have seen. Man it's as heavy as a meat cleaver.
( just a minor exaggeration )

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mackie

Good idea, I will use a narrow stone and I will tape the blade. The edge where it is sharpening is almost 1/8" wide. I could be that it has been honed a lot but the blade is still 8/8" wide.
This is the first wedge I have seen. Man it's as heavy as a meat cleaver.
( just a minor exaggeration )

---

That's why they call them a meat choppers, or choppers for short.
For sharpening you can try the side of your synthetic stones, if you do not have a narrow hone.

You sure the rust wasn't simply deeper in some areas than others?

If it was your sanding would have produced a wavy blade that could easily be trued with some time on a belt sander or low grit (but ideally wide) stone/leveled paper.

If it is warped, I wouldn't bother trying to fix it (it will never cut right after a warp imho) unless you were really desperate to shave with that razor.

You guys are great. There is so much info on here.
I haven't sanded it that much yet. I just got the surface rust off ans sanded it a while I saw that the pits are pretty deep. I have sharpened hawk bill knife blades over the edge of a stone like that. I just didn't think about that with a razor. "When I said what a job", I meant ahead of me. Thanks, Mack

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mackie

You guys are great. There is so much info on here.
I haven't sanded it that much yet. I just got the surface rust off ans sanded it a while I saw that the pits are pretty deep. I have sharpened hawk bill knife blades over the edge of a stone like that. I just didn't think about that with a razor. "When I said what a job", I meant ahead of me. Thanks, Mack

---

About sanding the blade are you doing it by hand or with tools?

Lansky style knife sharpening hones work well for setting the bevel on really warped blades. I have used small hones then pasted strops with success on warped Sheffield razors.

If you search for mparker762 old post, he had some pretty brilliant post on small hones and pasted strops.

Charlie

I must be missing something, but warps can be honed around, or through..

You can use thin stones or even drastic measures like Charlie just pointed out with the Lanky or even Crock Stix... to get a bevel set...

Some more imaginative techniques on any stone will work too, one thing to always keep in mind that takes a ton of mystery out of honing the tuff ones...
Every single part of the edge must move across the hone equally and evenly to achieve a shave ready edge ... It really is just that simple in theory :) in practice the warped ones can be a ton of fun :rant:Just get used to watching the wave of water in front of the edge as you hone...

Many of the older Sheffield's have a warp in them, it just takes time to work around that, and the normal 15 different bevels, to find the shaving edge buried in there...


All that aside you need to make sure of solid steel on any razor that has pits before you even start restoring it.......

Wouldn't hurt to mark the edge with 'magic marker' and do some strokes to see whether the stroke/hone combination you're using is making full contact with the hone. :gl:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Wouldn't hurt to mark the edge with 'magic marker' and do some strokes to see whether the stroke/hone combination you're using is making full contact with the hone. :gl:

---

Or pick up a cheap 100x microscope (toystores have em ~$10-15) and learn to identify each hone's scratch pattern. That plus the water wave Glen mentioned is how I tell if I'm affecting the toe and heal of the smilers I've been honing.

I believe what you have is an old, unground razor blank - at least it is possible it's an old unground blank that had not yet been hardened.

Calls for some corn bread :D

Very good thought there John