Thread: Wedge guys enlighten me....

A really well honed and very good quality wedge or other heavy grind is a superb shaver and holds an edge extremely well. I've been honing steel for decades and it still took me some time to get the hang of setting a bevel and properly honing a wedge. The tendency it to quit with the coarser grits before you get a completely clean, new bevel. So you need to lean on it a bit more than you have to with really thin, flexible blades. And that's OK because you CAN lean on a wedge pretty heavily while honing because of the very stiff blade. I think they're actually easier to hone than very thin hollow ground blades once you get the hang of it. They're much more forgiving of pressure variations.

What I think happens with people new to wedges is that they get one used that isn't well honed or even with an edge that needs a full geometry restoration. They'll hone it until some part of it is sharp enough to cut hair and move on to the finer hones, leaving parts of the blade not nearly sharp enough to be a good shaver and it's hopeless to try to use a finishing hone to complete the bevel. So part of the blade will shave OK and part won't shave well at all and pull. It will shave... but it won't be comfortable.

When they're just right, they're awesome and can provide one of the smoothest, most comfortable shaves imaginable. I prefer them to full hollows. You just have to get one that's got good steel and a really good edge and you'll understand then. It took me awhile to "get it".