Those damn wedgies, they are fantastic shavers, perhaps better than full hollows in my opinion (and let me say this one more time… In My Opinion).
The trouble with wedgies...the bevels grow to un-manageable sizes in short order. When that happens it may take several orders of magnitude more effort to get them sharp again (good luck if you have to hone out a sizable chip) no wonder the advent of the “extra” hollow and full hollow spelled the death note of the wedge and near wedge blade.
So be prepared to do at the very least, three times the number of laps as would be necessary for a hollow ground blade… of course it would all depend on the size of the bevels. Compare the size of the bevel to one of your hollow ground blades and you may get an idea (if they are the about the same size then it shouldn't be long to get it sharp). Remember, you are removing steel from the bevel to get the edge sharp. And at final polishing stage or touch-up, if the bevel is large will require more still more laps.
Tape is a good idea when it comes to wedgies. There is something about this in the Unicot Method… If the blade was previously honed with a single layer of tape, and you now want to touch up the edge with a single layer of tape, then you may get it sharp, but you will also be widening the “small” primary bevel. Adding another layer (now 2 layers) of tape will only crate an additional bevel in front of the primary bevel (will still get it sharp, but mot the best solution).
What you want to do is make the primary bevel smaller, so hone without tape with heavy slurry, this will remove material from the larger secondary bevel which will make the primary bevel nearest to the edge much smaller, then when you are about to give up (it will take some time but not long), place one layer of tape and you can now get the edge sharp quickly because you will be working the now much smaller primary bevel.
Try that… you have nothing to lose… except maybe some of the spine.
