A Problematic Razor

Use a straight. You know it makes sense.
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drmoss_ca
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A Problematic Razor

Post by drmoss_ca »

Here's a story for the education of the innocent. By 2010 I was thoroughly tired of the forum politics that had seen forums come and go, with schism, heresy, betrayal and every other feature of human frailty. I rarely looked at what had morphed into straightrazorplace.com in those days (and I'll have to give the aside that the straightrazorplace.com of those days is now sharprazorpalace.com, and that straightrazorplace.com exists again as a separate entity. Don't ask; it's complicated and I don't care.) Anyway, in 2010 I clicked on the wrong bookmark, and saw what described itself as a 'mini-razor' made by someone in Germany. It looked adorable, and I asked immediately if one could be made full-size. The maker was new to the trade and I knew that. He indicated he would be happy to make one, money changed hands (I don't recall how much) and I received a new razor, which was pretty and pleasing to the eye, but would not shave. I worked on it for a bit, and got a shave or two from it by using pastes, but never with hones alone. I did not twig to what that meant, to my shame. The razor got placed in a display case as there were many other razors to play with, life involved other demands, and eventually I got sick and had to concentrate on other things entirely. With the leukemia relapsed, I've been trying hard to distract myself from reality, and that has involved taking out long-neglected razors and enjoying a few shaves with them. Hence, the 'Interesting Razor' series. Well, this one came up from the stash, and my eye was drawn to things I had not noticed ten years ago. As for example, the edge having a dogleg in it. I don't like 'smiling' razors. I don't buy them, and certainly don't order them as customs. But if a custom maker tries to make a 'smiling' edge, I assume he would do so with a curve rather than a dogleg! It's not immediately obvious:

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No? Try this side:

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Well I had managed to overlook it for ten years, so don't feel bad! How about I place the edge on a mirror:

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Now you see it! There's an elbow, an angle, a dogleg two thirds of the way from point to heel, and it sure stands out once you know it's there. So I sent a private message to the maker on what is now sharprazorpalace.com. I didn't want to embarrass him, nor did I expect anything after ten years. He had gone on to become a darling of the Custom Build and Restoration section, but hadn't posted in four years. No answer. So I asked advice from another custom maker with whom I feel I have a good relationship. He advised me on how to proceed if I wanted to try to save the razor. So I spent an hour with a coarse and super hard hone (Spyderco medium) scratching and scraping away the apex in the edge. It was very noisy, with the most tortured squeals coming from the blade as I abused it horribly. I think I got about 95% of the prominence out. Next came a couple of hours trying to cut a bevel, and my advisor had hinted it would be the width of Texas by the time it appeared, as he had noticed something I had not yet cottoned on to. He had suggested using a DMT 1200, and using one layer of tape to save the spine(s) from XS wear (well, many pieces of tape, each replaced as the hone ate through it) but half an hour in and no sign of a bevel at the site of the prominence, I went nuclear. Norton 220, then Norton 1000. Eventually, after two hours, a tiny thin reflection of light indicating something happening where the prominence had been. I was whacked and gave up for the day.
After:

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Today I took it up again, and decided to extend the usual set of hones, and started with Naniwas at 1k, 2k, and 3k. From there I went through a series of finer natural stones, something like 4k, 8k, 10k, and 12k. The edge near the point didn't feel bad, but the section where the dogleg apex had been was still awful. For fun I used some pastes, starting with the infamous Flexcut Gold and working up. You could shave with the front half of the blade, but that's all. It became more and more obvious as I went on that the blade had more than a dogleg to hide. The growing width of the bevel at the point, compared to the tiny bevel at the dogleg, plus a tiny wider portion at the heel tells the tale. This blade is twisted in some fashion:

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And this is some of the story:

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Ignore the drilling error when the scale hinge pin hole was drilled - it doesn't matter a bit. The spine on one side is clearly lower than on the other. This means that, if nothing else is wrong, the bevel on one side of the blade will be narrower than it is on the other, as the angle from spine to edge will be different. A razor could shave OK like that, and likely all hand-forged, hand-ground razors were like that. Maybe a bit smoother one way, a bit less the other. But it's not just that, given the variation of the bevel width on the front of the razor ('front' meaning the marked side, with point to the left and scales to the right). And it can't be that the blade has a curve when looked at from above (looking down on the spine), as then the 'back' of the razor would show equal but opposite uneven bevel, being wide in the middle and narrow at point and heel. I believe the basic geometry of this blade is acceptable - it is more or less straight. I think the issue is that the hollow-grinding was uneven on the front of the razor, with the part of the blade at the dogleg significantly thinner than that at the point or heel. Hence the appearance of a massively wide bevel near the point, and almost no bevel at all where the dogleg was.
Now I have never ground a razor, but I can imagine a shape in 3D space as well as anyone. I think this razor might be saved with enough honing on the front of the blade. It might end up with a remarkably varying bevel width. I have used a micrometer to check the width of the spine, and it does vary from 5.4mm to 5.8mm. I don't know if that's enough to matter, but I doubt it. Pierre Thiers forged a lot of razors, and I'm fairly sure he didn't use a micrometer. I doubt he kept tolerance to <0.4mm, and yet they still shaved. But there remains this possibility: the razor started out straight, but unevenly ground. Honing removed metal first where the blade was thickest, and eventually caused the point to wear away, and to a lesser extent, at the heel. This left the prominent dogleg in the edge as a secondary effect of the uneven grind. I know I have not honed the blade enough to get close to that state. So I looked back at the photographs on the maker's website of the blade before he sent it to me:

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It was made that way. Well, it was only his first or second razor. What can one expect? I don't want my money back, nor a replacement. I feel I ought to have noticed at the time. It would be nice if he replied to my PM, but since he hasn't posted at sharprazorpalace for four years maybe he doesn't make razors anymore, or maybe he was run over by a tram, or whatever it is that happens to people. The only moral of this tale is caveat emptor.
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
EL Alamein
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Re: A Problematic Razor

Post by EL Alamein »

Holy mackerel that looks like a bear to hone.

Indeed sometimes you just get something that can't be helped. Best to accept it and move on.

Chris
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Re: A Problematic Razor

Post by brothers »

A very disappointing custom. Reminds me of a similar experience that I'd long ago forgotten. There are probably several things we can learn about custom made razors and their makers.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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drmoss_ca
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Re: A Problematic Razor

Post by drmoss_ca »

Perhaps the best reason for sharing these unsatisfactory experiences is to advertise the buyer beware aspect. I don't really like saying 'Look at me - I was daft enough to buy a deformed and expensive custom razor that cannot be honed!'
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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drmoss_ca
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Re: A Problematic Razor

Post by drmoss_ca »

Eventually I heard from the maker. He reckons it will hone just fine with a couple of layers of tape. As I said, caveat emptor.
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
brothers
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Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Re: A Problematic Razor

Post by brothers »

:roll: Hmmm -
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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