Is there anything left to hone?

Being a newbie (disclaimer), I was more concerned with getting a nice looking blade than paying attention to its amount of use. I finally received my Wade & Butcher.

I am concerned with the blade edge. It looks fairly short at the toe (which is difficult to notice in the slanting away perspective in the eBay photos). Also, the edge tends to shorten in the middle (see arrow), lengthening slightly towards he toe.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...1/Edgecopy.jpg

I only paid about $30, but I would like to shave with this. It is taking forever to hone ... with my skill level. What should I do?

You have a slight "frown" shape on the edge. If you do not have a diamond hone then you can do the following to remove the frown and start establishing a bevel.

1. Tape the spine with electrical tape, this will reduce the amount of hone wear on the spine. Replace as necessary.

2. Purchase 2-3 sheets of 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

3. Cut the sandpaper to fit on top of the hone, wet the hone and sandpaper and place it on the hone.

4. Start honing using a small amount of pressure. When the sandpaper starts to wear out then replace it with a fresh piece. This will not be a quick honing. Several hundred laps will be required.

5. When the frown is gone then you are done.Then move to the 4K hone. Attempting to hone the razor until the blade has an equal width is a waste of time unless you have a grinder.

BTW, those are good razors.

Hope this helps,:)

That's good advice. If I were to level the cutting surface by grinding, I would end up with a really narrow blade. I will see what happens with some more honing to take the frown out. It is actually getting better.

I have an old diamond hone for sharpening kitchen knives, and it feels super smooth to the touch. Unfortunately, nothing is written on the hone to designate its grit. Still, I thought I would try sharpening it a bit on the hone. It does not seem that much metal at all was removed though.

I will buy some sandpaper today and see where it goes.

Okay, I have been honing for the last 2 hours, and cannot see that anything has changed. The frown is still in there. I used the sandpaper and another hone I found laying around the house (looks old ... box says "Carborundum Double Grit No. 109")

You may want to "profile" the edge by "squeegeeing" the edge on the sandpaper or course grit hone (hold blade at 90 degrees to the hone). This may sound radical but its a quick way to get the edge shaped the way you want it, such as; remove that frown, give it a nice smile or a dead straight edge... its up to you

You could hold it at 45 degrees instead of 90… achieves the same result, just takes a little longer.

Go slow and take your time, you don't want to over do it.

After you get the edge shaped the way you want it, you can start setting the bevel (again), make sure to tape the spine while setting the bevel, you will be doing a lot of honing, and your bevel will end up wider that it is now.

And while you are it check that the blade is not warped… that frown could return if you have a warped blade.