Thread: Another Ebay Butcher...

I just picked this up off the Bay. I like the horn scales, they look like they will clean up nicely. Hope I didn't pay too much, what do you guys think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160240675237

I wouldn't have gone much higher than that but I don't think you overpaid. I'll bet it makes a fine shaver.

Good to hear. I was wary about spending $20 on it but I figure if it cleans up and shaves well than that's not too bad of a price to pay. The RAD has hit me bad.

The hone wear on the edge looks difficult, and hard to tell what's going on at the spine. I am toying with a blade with some similar issues - I hope you can get it shaving the way you want!

Well I just received the razor in the mail. As far as I can tell it's a full wedge and the scales are beautiful. The hone wear is bad but it'll be fun the get it up to speed. The problem is that the edge doesn't lay flat on the hone, the heel is a bit raised. This is why the wear is uneven, the bevel at the toe end is massive and tapers down towards the heel. This will be a good chance for me to practice the rocking-X hone or whatever you want to call it. I'll post pics and progress reports in the Workshop once I get started.

One thing for sure is that it is an oldie. You can tell by the small tang plus the horn scales. If you want you can tape the spine until you get the edge where you want it and then remove the tape and hone with both spine and edge on the hone. This type of blade that has a fraction of an inch bend in it, hence the variance in width on the edge, are more difficult to hone than one that is perfectly straight. You are right it will challenge you in you honing skills. The rocking X will work but may be a bit slow if you have to remove a lot of metal. I have, with some success honed this type of blade by using my 1/3 pattern. While pushing the blade across the hone I will put two fingers on the blade near the heel and push down pretty hard for a few strokes and then put my two fingers near the center of the blade and push down pretty hard for a few strokes and then do the same at the head of the blade. This removes more metal in those areas and tends to get the edge in shape quicker. You won't be able to get rid of the difference in width due to the configuration of the blade but it will shave OK. You need to do this on both sides and also use the same amount of strokes as you do each 1/3. After this you can do the X pattern which will blend all of the 1/3 pieces together. I have some razors with the exact same pattern on the edge as this one and they shave fine it is just harder to get them keen.
Jeez I hope this makes sense.