Thread: How frown out?

I have an average 4/8 razor with a mild frown. It's too dull to use. How do I get the frown out? Can it be honed out (I only have a Norton 4/8K and I'm a newbie) or does it have to be re-ground by a professional?

If it were me I would pitch it. By the time you get the frown out it will be a 3/8ths or worse, a sharpened spine. But if you are bent on doing this wether it be for fun or adventure, I would make the following suggestions. Use a layer of tape along the spine and change it repeatedly until you know the frown is removed. Use the lowest grit honing medium you can find to start and make quick work of it. Have as many intermediate grits available as possible and keep that tape handy. God bless/help you.

Nun2sharp has good advice.

Measure the width of the narrowest part (center) of the blade. That's how wide the _whole_ blade will be, after you've removed the frown. If it's wide enough to suit you, then . . .

[what worked for me was:]

Use tape on the spine, and buy some 400-grit and 1000-grit and 2000-grit "wet-or-dry" sandpaper (cheaper than a 'razor-quality' hone). Find a flat surface (glass plate, part of a marble tile, piece of thick acrylic plastic), and attach the sandpaper to it.

Wet-hone the razor until the frown is _gone_, starting at 400 grit, ending with 2000 grit. You'll know "gone" by the pattern that the water makes as the edge pushes it over the sandpaper, and by looking at it with a loupe. A loupe will ensure that you're honing the _whole length of the edge_.

After the sandpaper, you should be able to go to the 4000/8000 Norton and complete the job.

. charles

PS -- see also http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ning-edge.html for my story (with a happy ending). I decided to take the wise advice offered by several members:

. . . Don't buy razors with a frown.<g>



You should be able to go from 1000-grit sandpaper

You say you are a newbie...is it to shaving or honing. If you are new at shaving, leave the honing along for a while until you get it down. Slow down and learn one thing at a time...your face deserves your full attention. This way you will know more of what a true shave ready razor is for when you do progress on to hone. Learning to hone is at times frustrating and I'm not sure if I would recommend trying to add blade corrections in with trying to hone. I would set this one to the side until you have a few razors under the belt...and as mentioned above, tape the spine while you are learning to hone. I still use tape while making blade corrections myself...

@jbtusa, please pay attention, you are getting the good stuff!

I got frustrated with trying to hone the frown out. So I put the razor face edge straigght down on an old knife carborundum stone and ground the h.ll out of it! The frown is gone but now the edge is as dull as the spine... flat steel! It'll take a bastard file to put a bevel back on, that's how dull it is. Now what?

(I won't touch my good razor to a stone until I learn how to hone.)

Well...you've got a lot of work ahead of you on it now. If you think you were frustrated before, making a clean bevel out of a breadknifed edge will probably kill you

Basically toss some tape on the spine (or maybe not, it might even be a good idea to let the spine wear down a bit to correct the geometry--of course that starts to get into a whole new argument) and just hone away until you've got a bevel again. It's definitely going to take a long time, and I don't really know how to cut any corners here.

If nothing else, you'll really be able to practice your honing strokes.

Originally Posted by jbtusa

I got frustrated with trying to hone the frown out. So I put the razor face edge straigght down on an old knife carborundum stone and ground the h.ll out of it! The frown is gone but now the edge is as dull as the spine... flat steel! It'll take a bastard file to put a bevel back on, that's how dull it is. Now what?

(I won't touch my good razor to a stone until I learn how to hone.)

a) you can do everything you need to do with stones or wet-or-dry sandpaper. It may take longer than a bastard file, but it's much more controllable. 200 or 400 grit (sandpaper or stone) can take off quite a bit of metal, fairly fast.

b) IMHO (I don't usually give psychological advice):

. . . . until you develop patience, don't try to hone razors.

. . Charles

This is a good lesson. I'm spending 1/2 hour per night working on the edge. It's an antique store junker that I bought just to learn how to hone on. So if I ruin it, no loss, but worth the money for education. Tonight using a knife carborundum, I got the bevel started again. That Norton 4/8K is sweet... 3" wide to play on. Yes!