Thread: Newbie and a wedge

Hi all, my first question.
I have to say thank you to this site as I have obtained some great information regarding honing, restoration and shaving techniques, none of which I am very good at but I have at least had a couple of reasonable shaves from razors that I honed, a great feeling.
I'd like some advice if possible on honing a Joseph Rodgers wedge, (I hope I have attached a picture of the toe end). This thing is a brute! Chop down trees I would think). But I may be getting a bit ahead of myself with regards to ability in honing, (please tell me if I am). The test shave I had with the razor was pretty good but hard to tell with a doggy technique. It did take about half an inch off my sideburn without batting an eyelid.
My question is in regards to taping the spine. Reading (as always for me after the fact) some articles on honing wedges suggest that tape should be used on a wedge. I even downloaded a spreadsheet and I am sorry I don't have the link now, that allows the measurements of the blade and spine to be entered and the correct number of layers of tape is suggested. My trouble is my wedge doesn't seem to fall within the measurements of the spreadsheet. The blade measures 15.40mm wide (to the edge of the honing mark nearest the blade) and 5.50mm wide on the spine.
Should I tape this razor??
The spreadsheet seemed to indicate that I wouldn't get a correct edge bevel even without tape, which is how I honed it.
Any suggestions much appreciated.

Hi Nickster (what a great call name)

I've never honed a wedge, but I have a full hollow, a 1/2 hollow, and 1/4 hollow, and they are progressively more difficult to hone. The reason is as the grind approaches a wedge, the bevel gets increasingly large, so you have to remove more metal at each stage of honing. The purpose of the tape is to make the bevel smaller so there is less to hone. You could always start out with 1 layer and give it a go, and add tape if it is not working. Worse would be to add too much tape at the get go as resetting the bevel on that thing would be a chore.

If this is your first razor then you'll have a tough time deciding if you need to add more tape-- I'd probably look for a full hollow practice razor and work on that for awhile so you know what to shoot for, then try to tackle that thing.

Happy honing,
-Chief

That spreadsheet is based on the assumption that the optimum bevel angle is 17°(+- 2°). That may or may not(!) be correct. Just fill in your data, and the spreadsheet will do the calculation for you.

Welcome to SRP,

The angle of the razor is 20.5 degrees and taping the spine will increase it a bit.
To make it to the so called optimal angle you will have to remove metal from the spine, if you take of 1mm it will have 17 degree angle.

If the razor shaves well I see no reason to change the bevel angle to something else. It is true that most razors were made with angle around 17 degrees, but that doesn't mean much.
According to mparker, the feather blades have 25 degree angle.

One hundred-and-fifty years ago men didn't have electrical tape to apply when they honed their blades. Seems it would be better on a wedge to not use tape unless you are afraid of scratching the spine/side. Either way, as long as you always do or always don't use tape you will maintain the angle in the future.

I just finished a Frederich Reynolds wedge this evening and 2 TI's in the last week. One of the TI's I did without tape, at the owners request. The other two I used 1 layer of tape.

I prefer to use tape on wedges because the spine will get a tremendous amount of wear while setting the bevel if you don't. I have seen wedges where the spine wear is more than 1/4" wide. I personally don't like that on my wedges and I don't think it would make anyone happy if I returned their wedge with that much wear on the spine.

One layer of tape is only .007 and I can't tell the difference in the shave between a wedge that has been honed with a layer of tape and one that hasn't. I was able to test that out on the two TI's.

I would tape the spine and hone the blade till it is shave ready. Lather up and give it a try. You just might like it!

JMHO

Enjoy!

Ray

For me, when I use tape, I like to have a specific reason. It is normally not an I do this on all except, when I have a Damascus or Pattern on a spine that I want to protect or when I have to either hone or grind out a larger chip from the edge. You are not necessarily removing a ton of spine every time you set a bevel, so It really depends on the condition of the razor and the amount of work you are doing. This same analytic process really should go on when every you approach honing a razor. Which hone to start with? Restoration possibilities, tools, media, etc....

I have seen a large degree of personal preference when it comes to using tape and some significant discussions regarding bevel angles. My recommendation is to simply try it on a couple razors and determine how it works for you.

Have fun,

Lynn

Wow, Thanks Lynn for your reply to a virgin newbie. And everybody else, thank you very much. Great advice and I'll try to store it along with all the rest I'm trying to remember. I suppose I got a bit tangled up with detail when I read a few posts on taping wedges. Thanks all again very much. I am working on hollow grounds as suggested, love ya work!