Thread: Uneven bevel on one side (picture) need advice

Good day to all

I recently noticed a significant chip in the middle of my previously “best shaving” razor. It was delivered to me shave ready so I can’t say to its former spine condition, or edge for that matter (the shave was excellent)

Anyway after I honed out the chip I noticed that the heel on one side wasn’t showing any sign of a bevel forming. A subsequent check with a black marker revealed and uneven bevel on one side (fading out from the center) and ok all over on the other side. If I apply circles and or a heel forward 45 degrease stroke, the toe on the uneven side gets contact too.

My first thought was to keep doing circles and even the spine out on the problem side. After about 30min on the 325 DMT the spine is getting considerably wider and not real sign of an improvement. The other side remains fine from heel to toe.

Should I keep going with the spine correction?

Should I Push down on the heel? It’s a hollow ground so it doesn’t take to much force to make it touch.

Here is how the bevel forms with a “normal” x-stroke without any extra pressure (the red area is an approximation of how the black marker is removed)



Edit: I'm a novice honer so don't be affraid to give me basic advice.

And thanks to gssixgun for this most helpfull advice "make sure you have a bevel before you restore a razor"

With regards
Yohann from lava land

It looks to me like you are placing the shoulder of the blade on the hone and this causes the heel not to make contact. Check out this post in the wiki for some tips to help New to honing, Read this - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Glenn

Hi Glenn, thanks for the quick reply

Could be, thought I had ruled that possibility out, but I will go back and reexamine it. Should the blade not cross the first vertical line (the one perpendicular to the start of the curve) ? I can only feel the hone hitting the shoulder if the blade slides to the second vertical line.

One additional note, I became awere of this proplem first on my coticule, which is only 4cm wide, I felt a clear sign of "uneeveness" in the area closer to the heel, but not so far (I my opinion) as to be touching the shoulder. When I moved the heel away (middle and toe touching) the stroke felt smooth, as did the entire stroke on the other side.

Originally Posted by sharp

It looks to me like you are placing the shoulder of the blade on the hone and this causes the heel not to make contact. Check out this post in the wiki for some tips to help New to honing, Read this - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Glenn

Use magic marker to see what stroke allows to contact the whole bevel on the stone.
I would start with heel leading stroke at 45 degrees to the stone side,that will produce straight bevels.

Thanks for the reply, but I wrote that I did this already

Originally Posted by mainaman

Use magic marker to see what stroke allows to contact the whole bevel on the stone.
I would start with heel leading stroke at 45 degrees to the stone side,that will produce straight bevels.

Originally Posted by 4beez

Thanks for the reply, but I wrote that I did this already

Keep on going, an alternative would be to do some acrobatics with heel to the stone and rolling the stroke to contact the rest of the bevel as you are moving on, but that is not so easy to do especially when you get to the higher grits where the pressure has to be very light.

Originally Posted by 4beez

Hi Glenn, thanks for the quick reply

Could be, thought I had ruled that possibility out, but I will go back and reexamine it. Should the blade not cross the first vertical line (the one perpendicular to the start of the curve) ? I can only feel the hone hitting the shoulder if the blade slides to the second vertical line.

One additional note, I became awere of this proplem first on my coticule, which is only 4cm wide, I felt a clear sign of "uneeveness" in the area closer to the heel, but not so far (I my opinion) as to be touching the shoulder. When I moved the heel away (middle and toe touching) the stroke felt smooth, as did the entire stroke on the other side.

Correct the hone should only touch from the first vertical line forward on the spine. If you angle the heel forward at 45 degrees while keeping that portion of the spine off the stone you should make contact. Mainaman has given good advice to use the magic marker test, it will clearly show you where the stone is and isn't touching. Give it a shot and keep us posted. Best of luck
Glenn

Thanks for all the advice, both in this thread and others on this most excellent forum 
I’m happy to report that the razor is “back in action”. I used the marker pen to guide me and ended up with a “heel forward stroke” circles and a “rolling X” strokes. The bevel on the problem side is uneven but the entire length of the edge is sharp. I used HHT to gauge my progress and paid attention to the water displacement on the hone.
After all 4-pass shave I’m satisfied with the result.
The honing progression was a 325 DMT, 1k naniwa and a La Veinette coticule using the diluting slurry method.
Will write a another article later when my honing/and shaving technique gets better.
Happy shaving to all.
Yohann

Originally Posted by sharp

Correct the hone should only touch from the first vertical line forward on the spine. If you angle the heel forward at 45 degrees while keeping that portion of the spine off the stone you should make contact. Mainaman has given good advice to use the magic marker test, it will clearly show you where the stone is and isn't touching. Give it a shot and keep us posted. Best of luck
Glenn