Thread: W&B Near Wedge - small chips appearing during honing

Got my fingers crossed for ya !!!

Shave update........
Good news and bad news. She shaves but shes a bit rough, had to finish with the Dovo. Will have to bit of work to get the edge where it needs to be but I am confident that it will get there in the end.

Thanks again all.

Stu

Good on ya Stu! Sounds like you're close. I always find a loupe or microscope helps me see what's going on at the edge.
Sometimes a few light strokes on a CrO pasted paddle helps with those critters but hang in there.
If you use the synthetic Nagura on the Chinese stone be ultra light when rubbing, you don't want large chunks breaking off & scratching things up in the end game.

Originally Posted by Str8Raz0r

I'm having some problems honing a recently restored W&B. It came up reasonably well, however during honing I noticed that small chips started appeared on the edge. I kept going and just about removed the first chip and another small chip near the location of the first appeared.
...snip...

Difficult to tell... try a couple layers of tape on the spine
and a lighter touch. It is possible that modern hones are trying to place too
fine an edge on the steel. Older steel might have a soft
spine and hard as heck edge steel. Over time the angle could
have closed too much with spine wear. Steel razor edges run
from 12 degrees to 18 and knives as much as 30 degrees. Measuring
the edge angle can be inaccurate but a couple layers of tape and
a small secondary bevel might be diagnostic and it is easy to try.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

Difficult to tell... try a couple layers of tape on the spine
and a lighter touch. It is possible that modern hones are trying to place too
fine an edge on the steel. Older steel might have a soft
spine and hard as heck edge steel. Over time the angle could
have closed too much with spine wear. Steel razor edges run
from 12 degrees to 18 and knives as much as 30 degrees. Measuring
the edge angle can be inaccurate but a couple layers of tape and
a small secondary bevel might be diagnostic and it is easy to try.

I have been using two layers of tape already, is it possible that I should only have one? I haven't given Oz's idea of using a CrO paddle yet. Might grab my pasted balsa strop and give it a go.

You really should get a close up look of the edge. Even if you don't know how it should look you will at least "see" the edge giving you the current results. Then look again after any correction to see what's changed.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

You really should get a close up look of the edge. Even if you don't know how it should look you will at least "see" the edge giving you the current results. Then look again after any correction to see what's changed.

Okay, will do. Where would I pick up a loupe?

I just ordered one of these Uxcell Products Search
but they have a variety of cheap ones that work ok. Don't worry about the power so much 8-10x is fine & large lenses are good, 30-35 mm.

This was my first from them & served me well. It's only 8X but still tells you a lot when used correctly
Buy Cheap Optical Dual Lens Magnifier Magnifying Glass, Jewrly Loupe

[QUOTE=onimaru55;796707]I just ordered one of these Uxcell Products Search
but they have a variety of cheap ones that work ok. Don't worry about the power so much 8-10x is fine & large lenses are good, 30-35 mm.

Just ordered one, thanks.

Stu

Originally Posted by Str8Raz0r

I have been using two layers of tape already, is it possible that I should only have one? I haven't given Oz's idea of using a CrO paddle yet. Might grab my pasted balsa strop and give it a go.

Tape lifts and effectively concentrates the honing effect only on the edge.
If you remove the tape you will need to reset the bevel. One rule of thumb
I have not yet verified is that a layer of tape is 3/4 of a degree. Two layers
is quite a bit no mater the number.

Go with the balsa hone/strop and see what that does. A magnification
glass and a bright light inspection can tell a lot. I often walk to an open
window to get "better" light.