Honing a wedge

Professor Blighty

Professor Blighty

Joined
Thursday September 16, 2010
Is the technique different for honing a wedge?

I've just acquired a 7/8 full wedge, and was wondering if the honing technique varies at all, never owned a wedge before. I usually shave with 5/8 or 6/8 hollow grinds.

this is the beast...

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Yes, it's different, it's harder to hone and you need to use more force, but the edge should hold much longer aswell.

Looks like a nice razor Prof!
 
pugh-the-special-one said:
Very nice Martin, looks to be in excellent condition. from what I see of it the bevel looks very good as well. where did you pick that one up from?

Jamie.
Click to expand...

I got in on ebay for £20, I think I got a bargain!
 
Professor Blighty said:
Is the technique different for honing a wedge?

I've just acquired a 7/8 full wedge, and was wondering if the honing technique varies at all, never owned a wedge before. I usually shave with 5/8 or 6/8 hollow grinds.

this is the beast...
Click to expand...

It doesn't look like a full wedge (aka true wedge) to me, but a 'near wedge' with a slightly hollow grind. You can tell if it has any hollowing by holding a straight edge on the spine and bevel - if the sides aren't in contact with the edge all the way but have a clearance in the middle, then it isn't a proper wedge.

The bevel looks a bit unequal too - nothing wrong with that per se, but it could be indicative of a slightly meandering grind (hollowing).

It looks like it has a bevel to me, too, so it should sharpen just like any other razor.

You can have a bevel on a true wedge too - it's easier to tape the spine to produce a bevel - far easier than honing the whole of each face each time. Full wedges that have been honed without tape have no distinct bevel, because the whole of each face of the razor is, in effect, the bevel.

Regards,
Neil
 
That's exactly what I was thinking, if the razor is a true wedge that would mean you would hone the entire blade surface, unless which would be a good idea to use one or even two lenghts of tape on the spine to create a bevel, as a carpenter with all my chisels we have a grinding angle, then a cutting angle, just in case you sould need a quick sharpening up much easier to lightly touch up the cutting angle than the whole of the grinding angle, in the same way if I owned a wedge I certainly would use tape to give myself a bevel rather than try to remove that large amount of metal from the entire blade.

Jamie.
 
You're right guys, I held the spine and bevel flat against the polishing stone, and I could just make out the tiniest gap between them, around about half a mil. So there must be some hollow to the blade sides.
 
Just out of interest, has anyone come across a true wedge? Neil most likely has, but I reckon that to all intents and purposes they just don't exist. The only flat sided "razor" I've got is a microtome, so that's halfway there, and then there's loads of near wedges around. My guess is that the really old blades (200 years or so) were ground on big sandstone wheels, 2' or more which is why they seem to be wedges until you offer them up to flat surface. That's also why those razors often have huge bevels of 1/8" or more if they've seen plenty of action.

If Blighty's razor is 7/8" from arris to edge and shows about 20 thou of relief, that implies a wheel diameter around 9 3/4", that's all.

With regard to honing technique, why would it be any different? If there's wear on the blade the bevel will get longer more quickly (assuming you're a masochist and don't use tape), can't think of any other difference.
 
I spent some time honing this, and managed to get a lovely edge on it. Shaves beautifully, though it's taking me a bit of time to get used to the exta weight and blade width. It feels like a meat cleaver!
 
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