There is so much variations with straight razors that I can safely say “that’s why they are so interesting”. And this is especially true for vintage razors.
In those old days, most of the manufacturing was labor intensive, from the making the steel, to forging, heat treating, grinding and handling there was bound to be some variation along the production line… in fact it was very common.
There are a few things to take in consideration
Check the blade size VS the spine width. 5/8th to 6/8th should be around 3/16 inch. 7/8th to 8/8th should be around ¼ inch….
For example, you may have a blade that is 6/8th with a spine a little less than 3/16th inch when ideally should be a little over 3/16 inch. This makes the bevel angle lower than normal resulting in an edge that is “sharp” but thin for the hardness of the steel. When the edge meets the whisker it may buckle just before cutting through the whisker. This is not true for all blades, but it’s something to take into consideration. If you think this may be the reason you may want to reduce the size of the blade by a 16th and then reset the bevel. Most folks don’t want to make a blade smaller, but if the thing doesn’t shave well and you are confident about your honing skills then what choice do you have?... but removing material is “one-way” so you could try a layer or two of tape, reset the bevel, polish and test shave to see if it gets any better.
Some blades may have very hard steel and the edge will tend to chip easily (seen under microscope) when honing or shaving. You could try a different hone or paste and see if this makes a difference.
OK, so you may not have 1000 different hones (like some folks that hang out on other forums… no Ralfy, I am not calling any names), there is no shame if you send it to one of your comrades… two heads/hands/hones are often better than one (gee, I wish I had someone to send my problem hones for evaluation).
Last but not least… the steel may be one of those rare ones that was not heat treated properly at the factory, OR during the restore, was polished on a buffer and the temper is lost in a few places on the edge (it’s happened to me)… how to tell? It feels different on the hone. When the edge is dull, hard steel almost “slides” on the hone, but the hone will “grab” steel that has lost its temper… the effect better felt when the edge is dull than sharp.
How do I know? Polishing a razor with the Dremel on high speed, and noticed the steel was blued at a spot on the edge, I ignored it at the time and convinced myself that it was the old polish that stained the blade in that area, I quickly ran the wheel again over the spot and cleaned it up.
When it came time to hone, I could tell something was wrong, whenever that spot came into contact with the hone, I could feel the momentary “drag”. And when the razor was “shave ready?”, that spot never passed the HHT no matter how hard I tried… and I won’t bother to mention the shave.
Hope this helps some.
