Honing Old Blades

[tat2Ralfy]

I have noticed that when honing old razors it is important to take into account both blade width and spine wear, we are aiming for about 17.5 degrees on the old bevel, and older blades that have been breadknifed to remove damage, frowns etc, and are also suffering from spine wear just are not going to hit that straight on the hone, to make matters worse our beloved Coticules dont seem to take kindly to cutting large area's of Razor steel, so the large bevel makes for very hard work (one reason the 2nd stage of the unicot method works so well)

What I do now with the older Razors is to use Sir Bart's Bevel table, as if they were wedge's, and Bingo! the old girls now hone up easier, the bevel is wonderful and the edge is oh so keen. Gleaming!

So if you are struggling to hone up an older razor, that has been reworked and suffers hone wear, why not give it a go? its surprising what a difference taping the spine can make, oh yeah and you may want to make a few notes because when honing time comes around again its a ball ache when you forget and watch the bevel grow and grow, until you realise you taped the spine before.

 

[garyhaywood]

Ralfy i found older wider bevels come up much easier just by adding a layer of tape they reach keeness alot quiker ,

 

[tat2Ralfy]

Gosh Gary you are an early riser!
Yeah a LOT quicker, before I sussed this I could spend hours trying to get the edge right, sometimes I would have to try again the following evening
Now that can get rather frustrating

 

[justin]

I just used Bart's spreadsheet for my new Boker wedge (first wedge!). Works great, granted I used a ruler and not calipers. : I first gave it a go without the tape, lets just say I was going nowhere real fast. :thumbdown:

 

[mitchshrader]

Eavesdropping on ya'lls conversation is the painless version of going to class.

I'm as yet a non-straight user, starting out by rehoning one to learn how. It was overhoned or partly repaired, the first 3/4 of an inch was missing, about 1mm at the point tapering back to nothing at 3/4 inch. So, I'm honing out the angle, making it an arc, and removing metal towards the middle until i have a smooth even arc from point to heel.

it'll take some time because i'm not starting with a coarse stone, but getting extra practice is more important than hurrying. Using slurry would also speed it up, and I'm keeping it on water anyway, but at least i'm up to using the x strokes now.

I put 50 on with the 6x2 to see how it acted and it's a cutter, but I'm going to lap it on the DMT plate before I try it again. it looks flat, but doesn't feel that way.