Re-pinning precautions

Everyone here is no doubt aware that when your concentration is on a part of the razor other than the edge, both you and the edge itself become vulnerable. I re-pinned an already honed razor today and to avoid potential harm to myself or the blade, I covered the edge with electrical tape – thinking that this comparatively soft material wouldn’t damage it.

After the re-pinning I peeled off the tape, cleaned up the residue with alcohol and took the blade to a finishing hone for a touch up. The blade didn’t feel right on the hone so I dried it off and had a look with a 10X loupe. It was apparent that the edge had been rolled in several places in a similar manner to that produced by inexpert stropping.

The main lesson from this seems to be that if you have to re-pin a razor that already has a sharp edge, be prepared to do a re-hone, i.e. from at least a 4k upwards – I went back to the 1k just to make sure. And of course, don’t start any kind of adjustment to a razor without making damn sure that the blade is protected so that: (a) it can’t bite you, or (b) get badly dinged while you’re working with it. 20 minutes on the hones seems a minor inconvenience to prevent either of the above.