Thread: Razors with Uneven hone wear at point

May have been what it took to correct the spine to edge relationship. Neither looks bad to me. YMMV.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of people prefer a smile at the toe. In fact some of the barber's manuals explain hone to deliberately hone a smile into the razor. What some consider to be the result of bad honing others would consider to be excellent honing. Keep in mind these razors were simple tools, to be used and modified as needed in order to get a simple task done as quickly and as well as possible. Their owners were not worried about the their re-sale value a century later.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Another thing to consider is that a lot of people prefer a smile at the toe. In fact some of the barber's manuals explain hone to deliberately hone a smile into the razor. What some consider to be the result of bad honing others would consider to be excellent honing. Keep in mind these razors were simple tools, to be used and modified as needed in order to get a simple task done as quickly and as well as possible. Their owners were not worried about the their re-sale value a century later.

That's what I'm talking about! Didn't know manuals advocated this, but it seemed like it was on purpose, and the result was good. So this totally makes sense.

Originally Posted by loueedacat

Here's my question: what honing stroke was the seller using that unevenly wore the point? I don't think I could replicate what he did on those two razors if I tried, and they were in such great condition otherwise I'm wondering if he did it on purpose.

That is what happens when a barber uses a barbers hone held in his hand and uses a swirling motion to hone it in a hurry. Barbers hones are relatively small and when held in the hand it only allows the front half of the blade to be honed. Barbers viewed a razor as a replacable tool and were more interested in expediance.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

May have been what it took to correct the spine to edge relationship. Neither looks bad to me. YMMV.

I'm a butt head. I measured them again tonight under better light and they aren't actually narrower at the point, so they really aren't too bad LOL - the extra honewear/wider bevel on the edge at the point created the illusion it was narrower to my mediocre eyesight (and the mild sway on the helje doesn't help).

When using an X-pattern you risk overhoning the toe, especially if you use a finger of the other hand to stabilize the blade on the hone.