Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I should have advised you to reprofile the heel first, so you would have had more control over the edge removal as in photo 1.

But now you can still reprofile what is left of the heel. It will not be much of a radius and probably more like a 45-degree cut, but it will move the corner of the edge away from the stabilizer and tang. Photo 2

As it is now, the only way to hone the heel is to place the corner of the stone right up against the stabilizer and carefully hone it. If the radius on the stone corner is too great, it will not reach the corner of the heel.

So, cutting the heel at an angle will move the corner, (Yellow Arrow) away from the stabilizer about a ¼ inch more, the (blue arrow).

The green arrow is where it has ridden on the tang. This is the cause of all your issues.


Attachment 320984Attachment 320983

Many thanks!

I am aware that heel work is an area where I need to refine my skills. As a general principle, would you say that the heel profile should be settled first, before re-profiling the blade? I have generally approached it the other way, thinking that the heel profile can only be settled once the final profile of the blade is apparent. It seems there is something missing from my methodology, because I do not find it easy to deal with this type of issue.

I do see that the tang had ridden onto the hone at some point in this razor's past, in what way does this cause problems?

In any case, I am reasonably clear on how to proceed. Despite the inelegant appearance of the heel, the bevel set was easy enough, with a bit of care when honing close to the stabiliser. I do not anticipate any great issues completing the honing. Famous last words perhaps!

Yes, the heel should be reprofiled to give you access to the heel corner, where the straight edge ends and the curve begins. Other wise when you hone the heel will be off the stone.

In your case it is a double whammy because the corner is so far back, and the width has been reduced so much you have very little heel.

Had the heel been reprofiled first you may not have had to remove so much of the blade, hard to say.

Even once you reprofile a heel, regular honing will reduce blade width and move the heel corner back towards the stabilizer. So, it may need to be touched up again. Especially when removing a chip or any edge correction where more steel is removed from the edge.

Most of the razors I see, are in need of some heel correction. If you make heel correction part of regular honing, it is just a few swipes on a 1k diamond plate or stone.

That pipe razor is looking pretty good! Get it to where you want it, not where we want you to get it! You'll be just fine!

Still experimenting with JNats and the King Pelican. This time, an Ozuku...



And sealed this Nakayama with some spar urethane since I couldn't source any cashew lacquer...

Craft Acrylic clear sealers, are inexpensive, easy to find and apply. They dry quickly so multiple coats can be applied in a day. It can also be tinted if you want the Cashew look.

Brushing on applies thicker coats and offers more protection.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Craft Acrylic clear sealers, are inexpensive, easy to find and apply. They dry quickly so multiple coats can be applied in a day. It can also be tinted if you want the Cashew look.

Brushing on applies thicker coats and offers more protection.

Exactly! Three coats in one day, and Bob's your uncle! I think it looks pretty good, though I am not sure I like the glossy I used... maybe a semi-gloss would be better next time.

Gloss is way harder than satin, but if you like the satin look just top coat it with satin and you will have the best of both worlds, although in this case I’m not sure it matters much,

When I think, "I can work on this for a few minutes while my daughter is preoccupied."

So I got another haul of wood and materials here. My local woodworker friend who made my walnut hone base for that huge Arkie made all of this from the walnut cut-offs, and threw in a bunch of other ones while he was at it.
Some walnut blanks and brush handles he turned for me:

He had some ambrosia maple to work with too:

Finally, he had some cutoffs from his cutting boards and pepper mills, which he does a lot of in laminate:

He wouldn't take a dime from me for all of this; he just wants a matching straight and brush in the laminate, which is one of his signature styles as in the webpage here: https://www.ballewwood.com/mills. Consider it done! (I'm pretty sure I'll need to epoxy that laminate to a G10 liner for stability).

Any of you who like to make wooden scales should befriend a local woodworker-Woodworkers always have cutoffs! (It probably helps that we've bought a good half-dozen of his cutting boards for wedding and Christmas presents. Anyways, now I'm stocked up on wood blanks again!

Righteous!