The nick that made a man go crazy

[WW243]

I stopped in an antique store and saw a beautiful C.V. Heljestrand razor that seem perfect in every way except one (zero hone wear). It had a triangular nick out of the blade about 1/16" deep and maybe a 32nd of an inch wide at bottom to the point (towards the spine of the razor). I decided to pass on the razor not knowing the amount of work to bring the blade to shave ready. Was this a rational decision? Because now I am feeling slightly crazy.

[Bruno]

Without pics it is hard to say, but it sounds like this would have been fixable without too much effort.
Of course, it depends a bit on the width of the razor. Taking 1/16 off a 6/8 razor has very little impact, but taking 1/16 out of a 4/8 razor is a different story of course.

[WW243]

Right, I think it was and 11/16 razor. The Razor was inexpensive....It had that curved tang which seems to sit perfectly in your thumb...thanks for the answer even though it was the one I was afraid of.

Without pics it is hard to say, but it sounds like this would have been fixable without too much effort.
Of course, it depends a bit on the width of the razor. Taking 1/16 off a 6/8 razor has very little impact, but taking 1/16 out of a 4/8 razor is a different story of course.

[ace]

I would have honed it, left the nick in it and gone for a bit of a stripey shave. That seems to be all the rage these days.

[eod7]

Only if it was crazy cheap.

[mdarnton]

I bought a dubl duck goldedge, cheap, that was like this that I guess everyone was avoiding, honed out the nick, and it's fine. No one will know if you don't tell them.

[pixelfixed]

A small chip is one thing,a triangular chip may also lead to a crack,just hone it out is bad advice,pics are needed (good ones)
Only the O.P can know if whatever was a rational decision.

[gssixgun]

This is something that doesn't get mentioned much around the forums


Take a 7/8 hollow grind razor, as you hone over the years that razor doesn't change all that much for about the first 1/4" of the edge. Now if you go higher then that you are getting into the belly of the blade and the entire feel of the edge changes, you can see this simply by looking at the grind in the face of the blade.. It is also obvious from looking at the grind chart in the wiki

The straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Each grind changes differently as the edge is worn higher into the steel..

So as you can see a 7/8 honed down to a 5/8 is a bit different then a true 5/8 besides the thickness and heft of the spine and tang (which is a clue to the original size) , when it is done in one day because of a chip it changes things even more drastically...

[carlmaloschneider]

Glen, the more posts of yours I read on honing the more I realise I don't have a bloody clue!

[gssixgun]

Glen, the more posts of yours I read on honing the more I realise I don't have a bloody clue!

So does that mean you want me to go into the possible differences in hardness also, or just leave that for later Muhahahaha