Thread: Blade tolerance

How much tolerance is given for a blade to sit flat on a lapped hone. I don't think any blade is perfectly flat on both sides, so there must be some tolerance? What's a good rule of thumb? Is this why the x-stroke is used on honing, to make sure every part of the blade hits the hone surface given that it's not perfectly flat?

every blade is different no tolerances.
use magic marker to find out what stroke works best for the job.

Originally Posted by mainaman

every blade is different no tolerances.
use magic marker to find out what stroke works best for the job.

Thanks Stefan,

Do you have a rule of thumb to know when a blade is too far gone?

Originally Posted by carazor

Thanks Stefan,

Do you have a rule of thumb to know when a blade is too far gone?

do you mean too worn to hone?

Originally Posted by mainaman

do you mean too worn to hone?

Either too worn or too warped.....

Originally Posted by carazor

Either too worn or too warped.....

I have not seen yet a blade that is too warped to not be able to hone. Honing warped blades may require technique adjustment but I have not seen one that can't be done yet. Determining if a razor has too much hone wear to be worth honing comes more with experience IMO. In general when you are buying razors try to pick ones with little hone wear as possible. When you see some hone wear that does not mean the razor is not worth it either.

I personally don’t mind hone wear, in my mind it means that the razor has been used over a period of time which usually means that it’s a good shaver.

With regards the warped blade like has already been said it’s about getting the edge to hone evenly by using a magic marker. Because I don’t mind a little bit of hone wear sometimes I will try to even the spine out while I’m honing the razor. However this has more than once resulted in a lot of hone wear to the spine.

With regards the blade gone too far when the hone wear hits the edge the blade is finished anything else is just cosmetic IMHO.