Thread: Working on a frown

I picked up a blade in pretty bad shape to practice my honing skills. Things are progressing pretty well. There was a slight frown in the blade: about three eights of an inch long. Most of the frown is gone and one side of the blade is developing a pretty good bevel but on the other side where a hit of the frown remains the blade is not contacting the hone.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Worse case I can still use this to practice the light back and forth of honing.

Thanks.

I would take it down to your lowest grit and get the entirety of the frown out of it. This can be an agonizing chore at times but it has to be done. Re set the bevel once the frown has been completely removed and then progress upwards through the grits.

I can't quite understand how you can have a frown on one side and not the other. How bad is the frown ? Can you post a photo ? If it is slight it is one thing but if it is severe that is another. With a severe frown I hone it like a pocket knife with the spine off of the stone until I get the profile more or less like I want it. If it is slight I wouldn't go to that extreme. I would hone it normally on a bevel setter and maybe do more strokes.

Use some marker on the edge and see if you can find a stroke that works to make full contact with the hone. This is putting magic marker on the edge, do a couple of passes. If the edge is making contact the marker will be removed and you know you're making contact. Might be a 45 degree heel leading stroke or a rolling x. You can see it in the SRP Wiki honing section.

If one side is ahead of the other it may be from the previous honer working the blade unevenly or it may be the blade has a warp. You will find some will have a wider bevel on one end or the other, one side or the other or a variation of the two. Sometimes you can work one side to correct it if it is due to uneven honing but if the blade is a bit warped you would have to do circles until the spine is worn to correct the bevel/spine relationship. In some cases it is just better to do the rolling x or whatever and let the bevels be asymmetrical. Just IMHO.

I honed a number of them with frowns. Anymore I pass on them in that condition unless I really want that particular razor because of the brand or whatever. Now even then I pass and look for one in better condition.

Many thanks to both JimmyHAD and nun2sharp for your advice. I've never taken a photo of a blade for posting. I'll read the thread and get one posted asap which may be a few days as work is going nuts.

Again, thanks.

FWIW --

If the blade is warped, it'll hone on one side as though it had a smile (center of the edge touches the stone, the ends don't), and hone on the other side as though it had a frown (center doesn't touch the stone, the ends do touch).

I fixed my one frowning blade by going to low grit, and sharpening until the edge made contact with the stone along its whole length. After that experience, I understood why several other posters said:

. . . "I don't buy razors like that any more."

Charles

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Use some marker on the edge and see if you can find a stroke that works to make full contact with the hone. This is putting magic marker on the edge, do a couple of passes. If the edge is making contact the marker will be removed and you know you're making contact. Might be a 45 degree heel leading stroke or a rolling x. You can see it in the SRP Wiki honing section.

I've never posted a pic before. Hope this works and that you can see the section of the edge not contacting the stone. I'll stick with the advice and just keep working this until I get the profile I want. Thanks again for the advice.

Hard looking at the photo to see the frown. Is that dark line above the shiny portion of the bevel the marker ? Forward of the heel is the darker part on the shiny bevel shadow or marker ? The razor looks like it has been honed a fair amount and smiling if anything. If the darker spot is marker on one side only that is a PITA. I use a narrow hone and a rolling x for stuff like that. A bit of a warp at that spot if I'm seeing it correctly ?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Hard looking at the photo to see the frown. Is that dark line above the shiny portion of the bevel the marker ? Forward of the heel is the darker part on the shiny bevel shadow or marker ? The razor looks like it has been honed a fair amount and smiling if anything. If the darker spot is marker on one side only that is a PITA. I use a narrow hone and a rolling x for stuff like that. A bit of a warp at that spot if I'm seeing it correctly ?

I think the real problem is a warp. There is still a very slight "frown": an area where the edge is not perfectly straight. I'll keep working the edge down and see where this goes.

Can a blade with a slight warp really be made into a good shaver?

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Qatsats

Can a blade with a slight warp really be made into a good shaver?

Thanks again.

IME yes it can. You have to figure out how to go about honing that individual blade. Experience helps but just use the marker to figure out what works and stay at it until you get it.

One option would be to use Hi_Bud_Gl's taping strategy for such issues. You would put a piece of electrical tape on the spine ONLY in the region in which the edge is not touching the hone.