Thread: True wedge

My understanding of a true wedge is that if you tried to hone it without tape, the hone would cut the entire surface of the blade. Is this correct, or are even true wedges slightly hollow?

I'm no expert but from what I've read, true wedge means a triangle of steel. If it's slightly hollowed that would make it a near wedge.

Originally Posted by ANelson

I'm no expert but from what I've read, true wedge means a triangle of steel. If it's slightly hollowed that would make it a near wedge.

Assuming it was practical to hone, the entire blade face would be the bevel then, right?

Again the warning that I'm not an expert, but that is what raw logic would suggest to me, the entire blade being set at the same angle. I'm terribly interested in wedges lately, but have yet to use one at all and still send my razors out to be honed. With luck someone who IS an expert will jump in and let us both know for sure.

I've had wedges from the stub tails through to the customs made by contemporary artisans and I've yet to see one that was a 'true wedge' in the sense of a absolute triangle that would hit the hone all along the leg. The maker had to hone it and knew that the end user would too , so there is always that bit of concave between the bevel and spine.

True wedge would be impossible to hone without some clever attachment to lift the spine off the hone. I have tried a very worn out near wedge with a lot of hone wear and it sticks to the stones to the point it can't be moved on the surface.