Thread: "Wedged" In

Curious as to the opinions of others...

If you have a true wedge grind razor, and use tape on the spine when honing, do you still consider it a wedge? or have you just created a "near wedge"

I'm not talking technical terms here, I'm talking opinions and "point of razor pride" gut feelings and first impressions.

Pure true wedges cannot be honed without tape unless you 'hone' it on a hanging pasted strop. But that would generate the same effect.
If you hone a razor that has wide bevels (over a mm) you're already spending much time honing away enough metal to get it sharp. That is why it can be such a bother to hone a normal wedge razor. There is just a lot of metal to remove.

A true wedge would have a bevel that is as wide as the blade itself. It would be impossible to hone. Even a tiny micro-chip would require you to hone away an entire bladeface.

Well, I think whether it be tape or a shim or whatever, a wedge is a wedge. All you'd be doing by using those kinds of things is enabling it to be honed, as Bruno said. It would still be a wedge.

You know, if you think about it there is no rule that says you must hone a razor by laying its spine on the hone. It's just that if you don't it will most likely get messed up somewhere along the way, being as they are so delicate compared to say a knife and I doubt anyone has hands that steady. So with that idea in mind (that you theoretically could hone a razor with the spine off the hone if you were good enough), I'd also say that a wedge is still a wedge!

James.

Wedge refers to the grind not the bevel.

Oh excellent explination Bruno

But also as explained by Bruno, if it IS a TRUE wedge, the entire blade IS the Bevel!

But if you have some etching on the blade of a true wedge, would you lay that face on the hone? I wouldn't, believe me

After all, "wedge" and the other words to express the shape of a blade section are not synonimous to "bevel". So I use to put tape on their spine as I do with any other razor. Also because, if honing a wedge through the decades of use you pass from a 6/8 to a 4/8 or a 3/8, doesn't it become too thin?

Hehe, if anything adding a layer of tape is making the edge more "Wedgie" you are actually increasing the bevel angle by about .65 of one degree with each layer of 3M electrical tape on a 6/8 razor... So in general taking an average 16 degree bevel (which we found by asking people to measure their razors a couple of years ago) and adding 1 layer of tape you now essentially honed the razor at 16.65 degrees which is "Wedgier"

Did that make any sense at all ???

Here is a true Wedge razor. 90% of that shine is from steel on hone stone.
Yes, it is a TRUE wedge. (wasnt always that way) I tried to shave with it flat to my face like I do with my full hollow singer, and it stuck to my face! It gave a good shave otherwise So I thought it might be considered some sort of sacrilege to tape it up. So, it is now taped, 3 layers for the bevel (making a smiling blade shave ready is trickier than it looks!), and 2 layers at 4k to give it a nice Japanese kitchen knife style "haze" Which really didnt look so nice after all. I will re-polish the whole thing again later after it needs a new honing, and I will reduce it to 2 layers of tape.

Originally Posted by Magpie

But also as explained by Bruno, if it IS a TRUE wedge, the entire blade IS the Bevel!

Yes by design not by necessity.

hey Magpie -- I'm too tired right now to think about wedge angles and such -- but I did want to say I was to pleased to see you posting again. Frank