Thread: Penny for your thoughts - does this need a regrind or a load of elbow grease on a 1k

Ok, firstly I definitely think this is salvageable so no worries there!

There are a couple of things to consider though:

1) Your Naniwa stones won't be flat out of the box, I have the exact same set (except I have a 3k instead of 5k) and to get them flat you need to get them wet as they soak up a lot of water, and then lap them flat on a DMT or some sort of known flat abrasive surface.
2) The 1k Naniwa is a great bevel setter but it is one of the softer stones so it will tend to wear faster than say a Chosera or Shapton 1k. This can make bevel setting a butter knife edge quite time consuming and trickier! It can be done, but IME it's harder on that stone compared to others. The blade also looks to be a heavier gring, further compounding this issue. The edge you're aiming for off a 1k is being able to shave arm hair at skin level. If you can't do that, stay on the 1k.
3) There's a fair amount of spine wear on this blade so I personally would stick a layer (or even two) of electrical tape on the spine. This will do two things; One, prevent further spine wear while you bevel set, and two, alter the edge geometry back to more like when the razor was new. This should hopefully speed up the bevel setting process.
4) There's also a bit of a smile to that edge so you'll need to have a good circle and rolling X technique to ensure you get good coverage all the way along the edge.

Is this your first attempt at honing?

The reason I ask is that there are a fair few things about this blade that are going to make it tricky to get right, I'd be much more inclined to start with a hollow ground blade that's in reasonable nick rather than an older wedge type blade with spine wear and a smile for your first go..!

Where are you based? There might be someone in your area who can walk you through it one on one. I'm just south of London myself and am happy to help if you're nearby!

Good luck with it!