Bent Blades Beware

Use a straight. You know it makes sense.
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brothers
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Bent Blades Beware

Post by brothers »

brothers wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:10 pm Yesterday I honed 4 old razors - Rugby, Sheaf-Works, Frederick Reynolds, and Dumas Aine 32 Mediacle Yardy (French, I suppose). As far as three of them are concerned, that's the good news. I used the Rugby this morning, and can't wait to experience the others whenever the mood strikes me.

Bad news: All but one - Fredrick Reynolds - were fine according to the loupe. The Reynolds was a dismal failure. I wasted a lot of time bread-knifing, patiently attempting to set a new bevel, but - long story short - then I found that the old blade is quite bent. There's no amount of honing that will fix that. At that point all is lost and this one is going into the recycling bin. I suspect that's why it was sold (to me and to who knows how many other guys before me). I'm putting this one in a place where no one will ever again be cheated paying good money and lots of effort attempting to sharpen the edge for this piece of junk. On the other side of the coin, I did learn a lot in the process.
Bent Blade 19 April 2021.jpg
Bent Blade 19 April 2021.jpg (3.36 MiB) Viewed 5292 times
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
brothers
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Re: Bent Blades Beware

Post by brothers »

There is a possibility I could have saved this old soldier, but it really felt good to put this razor in the vise and whale it dead on with both hands and a small sledge hammer. I've also done this to a kitchen knife that had a crack in the edge about a year ago. One less screwed up blade that folks don't need to worry about. I'd do the same thing if I had it to do over again. Good therapy! :D

There are some experts who can testify that the bend in the spine/blade may be removed by spending a lot of time fooling around with a coarse diamond plate. I have personally rescued one of my own razors in this manner sometime last year. This time I just wasn't in the mood after I had wasted so much time on this particular bent blade. I've got dozens of other razors that aren't bent, and I can and will use them without issue.
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: Bent Blades Beware

Post by drmoss_ca »

There is an alternative to trying to straighten a bent blade, and that is to use a hone that has a single point of contact on the spine, along with a single point on the edge. Doesn't matter if the blade is bent, the hone will travel along it touching just on either side as it goes. It's easy to visualise with a honing rod as used by some knife aficionados, but there is also the possibility of doing something like it with a convex stone. The guy who runs thesuperiorshave.com was a fan of this system, and has suggested it was standard practice at the large German manufacturers to use convex hones as a way of dealing with imperfectly ground blades (perhaps explaining why some are so awkward when they arrive on a carefully flattened hone in the end user's hands). He sold convex Arkansas stones, and a concave lapping plate for those who wanted to try it out. Sadly, he has been the subject of some extremely childish bullying (example) by the self-appointed honing gods of a certain forum who are unwilling to tolerate any deviation from their prescribed methods, especially if it makes home honing easier and reduces the volume being sent to them for paid honing. Worse, he has removed all traces of convex hones and lapping plates from his website in an effort to stop his detractors sending him and his family such nonsense as in the example above. This is a shame, and disgraceful behaviour on the part of the bullies. If their work weren't so shoddy one might listen to their opinions, though not when expressed through glitter bombs and sex toys in the mail, but my personal experience of one of the main guys is that the work was crap.
I'd rather see free experimentation and let the best ideas win out rather than put up with unintelligent blowhards showing off to their mates.
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
EL Alamein
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Re: Bent Blades Beware

Post by EL Alamein »

Holy Mackeral, that's pretty shocking. I can't believe someone would behave in such a way over someone else's opinion on honing.

Chris
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Re: Bent Blades Beware

Post by jgreenepa »

drmoss_ca wrote: Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:26 am There is an alternative to trying to straighten a bent blade, and that is to use a hone that has a single point of contact on the spine, along with a single point on the edge. Doesn't matter if the blade is bent, the hone will travel along it touching just on either side as it goes. It's easy to visualise with a honing rod as used by some knife aficionados, but there is also the possibility of doing something like it with a convex stone. The guy who runs thesuperiorshave.com was a fan of this system, and has suggested it was standard practice at the large German manufacturers to use convex hones as a way of dealing with imperfectly ground blades (perhaps explaining why some are so awkward when they arrive on a carefully flattened hone in the end user's hands). He sold convex Arkansas stones, and a concave lapping plate for those who wanted to try it out. Sadly, he has been the subject of some extremely childish bullying (example) by the self-appointed honing gods of a certain forum who are unwilling to tolerate any deviation from their prescribed methods, especially if it makes home honing easier and reduces the volume being sent to them for paid honing. Worse, he has removed all traces of convex hones and lapping plates from his website in an effort to stop his detractors sending him and his family such nonsense as in the example above. This is a shame, and disgraceful behaviour on the part of the bullies. If their work weren't so shoddy one might listen to their opinions, though not when expressed through glitter bombs and sex toys in the mail, but my personal experience of one of the main guys is that the work was crap.
I'd rather see free experimentation and let the best ideas win out rather than put up with unintelligent blowhards showing off to their mates.
Doc, one of my good friends, Bill Morgan, a convex honer, and all around great guy was banned from TSD for having the temerity to talk about the benefits of convex honing for wavy blades. Bill is now happily ensconced at the Shaving Cadre, a newer and much more welcoming site for convex honing practice. While I don’t use a convex hone on my straights, I’ve found the edge of my flat hone provides the single point of contact I need for wavy blades.
De Gustibus Non Disputandum
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Bent Blades Beware

Post by drmoss_ca »

And one bully followed him over to another forum just to carry on detracting from his findings. Live and let live is a more respectable approach!
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Bent Blades Beware

Post by drmoss_ca »

I moved your SOTD post to the proper forum - hope that was OK.
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
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brothers
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Re: Bent Blades Beware

Post by brothers »

It makes me sad and a bit angry that the gent finds himself and his family shamed and bullied relentlessly for his expertise and skill with his stones as related to defective old razors. Regarding the razors and NOT the workman, maybe a hundred years ago more or less, the guys who shaved themselves or the barbers who used their razors constantly simply were forced through necessity to find a work-around for making a bad razor cut whiskers. There must have been thousands of old razors that had bent blades and as a result were eventually burned in the trash barrel, discarded at the city dump, or at best tossed into the junk drawer where they'd be abandoned for decades. Eventually finding themselves for sale at a flea market.

Buyer beware! The innocent but interested prospect buys the curiously displayed razor from a seller who clearly had absolutely no knowledge of razors, and makes no guarantees what-so-ever. The guy proudly takes it home and hits the hone. The razor won't cut! Money wasted on a gamble! That could have been me 12 years ago. It becomes clear that the reason the razor was still around was that somebody found it and innocently made a couple of bucks as an antique curiosity instead of a functional shaving tool. It goes back into the dark drawer until the buyer eventually learns that a non-shaving blade perhaps can be salvaged and used. Somebody sold a piece of trash and somebody bought a pig in a poke. Lessons learned at a cost. Secretly, those of us who buy an obviously abandoned old razor know full well it might not cut, but because we love these old relics, we want to be able to actually sharpen it and use it if the blade is straight. Nobody forces us to buy these old razors.

New razors that won't cut due to a manufacturing mistake are a completely different story when the factory makes a dishonest decision to sell it as suitable for shaving and maintaining over the years to come. My blood gets a bit warmer when I read somewhere recently that a dishonest razor factory would knowingly take a brand new crooked razor and bootleg a fake edge and sell it as if it were a good razor. That's fraud and it enrages me. It might provide one or two shaves if any, before it inevitably fails.
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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bob r
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Re: Bent Blades Beware

Post by bob r »

drmoss_ca wrote: Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:26 am There is an alternative to trying to straighten a bent blade, and that is to use a hone that has a single point of contact on the spine, along with a single point on the edge. Doesn't matter if the blade is bent, the hone will travel along it touching just on either side as it goes. It's easy to visualise with a honing rod as used by some knife aficionados, but there is also the possibility of doing something like it with a convex stone. The guy who runs thesuperiorshave.com was a fan of this system, and has suggested it was standard practice at the large German manufacturers to use convex hones as a way of dealing with imperfectly ground blades (perhaps explaining why some are so awkward when they arrive on a carefully flattened hone in the end user's hands). He sold convex Arkansas stones, and a concave lapping plate for those who wanted to try it out. Sadly, he has been the subject of some extremely childish bullying (example) by the self-appointed honing gods of a certain forum who are unwilling to tolerate any deviation from their prescribed methods, especially if it makes home honing easier and reduces the volume being sent to them for paid honing. Worse, he has removed all traces of convex hones and lapping plates from his website in an effort to stop his detractors sending him and his family such nonsense as in the example above. This is a shame, and disgraceful behaviour on the part of the bullies. If their work weren't so shoddy one might listen to their opinions, though not when expressed through glitter bombs and sex toys in the mail, but my personal experience of one of the main guys is that the work was crap.
I'd rather see free experimentation and let the best ideas win out rather than put up with unintelligent blowhards showing off to their mates.
that's kind of how I found this forum lol. the shaved in is kind of a joke with two or three people that have to chime in on everything all the time. if you ask a question they think is stupid LOL they are ridiculous there are a ton of good people like you and that's what brought me here looking for that to get away from that nonsense that you described

thank you for renewing my faith in mankind. I was starting to have some serious concerns LOL. I did find a couple other forums that was lacking that nonsense but even then I ran into the same type scenarios. I would post something in an old Post and someone would say that person is not here anymore LOL
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Bent Blades Beware

Post by drmoss_ca »

Welcome, Bob. Like all forums, these days SMF is pretty quiet. Some of us don't care for Facebook-style interaction, and when all posts are shown consecutively it makes it hard to really dive into a topic without distraction. There's a ton of information here and we intend to preserve it, and even if, one day, this becomes inactivated, it will still be here to read. There have been all kinds of shenanigans within and between forums, and some stories that would make your hair curl.
Anyway, please feel free to join in as much as you like here. Straight shavers are always welcome!

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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