Thread: Reverse Honing?

OK, so here's the deal. I have two "code 3" razors in my drawer. One a Tonsorial Gem and the other a large Frederick Reynolds chopper. Once upon a time they would both give at least passable shaves. Then I touched them up. That was the beginning of the end. I couldn't get them sharp. The more I failed, the more I tried and now, I believe the problem is likely over-honing. So for my next trick I'm ready to try the spine leading multiple laps trick. So I just tape up the spine and use the same motion as on the strop except I'm doing it on the hone, right?
Will the blades become noticeably sharper or am I simply returning the blade to neutral at which point I need to go back, set the bevel and smooth the edge until it's good to go?

How many Spine Leading laps should I plan on doing? I've heard numbers up to a couple hundred, is this right? My tried and true method for touch up hones generally works like a champ. Not really sure what made these two razors jump the shark so horribly but I'd really like to recover them and put them back in the rotation if possible. As of now, they are both about "really dull pocket knife" sharp and it sucks. Of course I'm not attempting to shave with either but it sure would be nice to recover one or both and start. Of course I have plenty of serviceable alternatives but hey, it's the principle of the thing, you know?

I wished I was there to see your blades. What kind of stone did you use to touch them up.

Sounds like you need to go back to the 1k , and work back up . When I touch up a razor I do about 5 laps .

What leads you to believe you have overhoned the razors?

I think you'd be better off just using conventional circle and X-strokes on a 1K. The circle stroke is essentially a conventional honing stroke combined with a back-honing stroke.

Why would you put tape on the spine, were they honed with tape? If you're using barber hone take a look at the honing section on the barbers manual, there's a copy in the wiki.

But if you're just doing a shot in the dark and assuming it's overhoning, without having any evidence for it you're most likely not going to make much progress. You have to figure out what's wrong with your edge first, that is what determines how to fix it.

Originally Posted by gugi

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But if you're just doing a shot in the dark and assuming it's overhoning, without having any evidence for it you're most likely not going to make much progress. You have to figure out what's wrong with your edge first, that is what determines how to fix it.

^ that.

One approach might be to use marker on the edge and take 3-5 very light laps on your finest or medium hone. The edge should then show what part of it you are actually honing.

Knowing what kind of hones you are using can help the helpers, too.

1OldGI

I think you should move to Missouri. Overhoning is a felony in Missouri.....!

Originally Posted by mrsell63

1OldGI

I think you should move to Missouri. Overhoning is a felony in Missouri.....!

Right now its only a misdemeanor! But we're working on it. LOL

Since you're not sure of the problem and figuring it out takes more guess work than evidence, I'd sugest a 'radical' solution: take a short cut and dull the edges on a glass or bottle so you're sure that it is dull, then rebuild the bevel carefully from there.

In doing this, use all the help you can get: magic markers, loupes, thumb pad test, thumb nail test and be sure to check regularly, after every set of 10-20 strokes. After setting the bevel, I generally don't test (maybe the odd HHT) until it's time to finish. But then again, I have no idea how synthetic hones behave or how many strokes you need per stone in a progression. So I'll leave this to others.

As the Reynolds chopper is probably a near wedge, I'd suggest taping it up to increase the angle slightly, reducing your bevel width. Just personal preference though, since pretty much all blades have some concavity to them which prevents the entire blade face being the bevel. I always tape, to increase the angle and to prevent hone wear, but that's just my preference.