Is Slight Upturn At Toe End on Edge of Used SR a Defect? Improper Honing?

Is a slight upturn at the toe end of the blade a defect? I'm referring to about the last 1/2" of the blade edge--when it looks like it's been honed away a bit more than the rest of the edge.

In other words, the edge is straight for most of it's length, but starts to angle up in a curved fashion on the last 1/2" or so. I'm thinking it is improper honing that creates this upturn. I'm not talking about the radius at the toe end which is the way the blade is normally manufactured.


Here's a link to a straight razor on eBay that illustrates what I'm asking about. This link will probably only remain good for 6 months or so, which is why I tried to describe the condition above also.

Whether it was 'improper' or 'intentional' doesn't really matter. The real question should be 'can I make this shave' and the answer is yes.

Essentially what has happened is whoever honed this razor applied more pressure at the toe of the blade throughout the honing process. This example doesn't look too bad though. A slight smile to the blade is actually kind of beneficial and preferred by lots of shavers for a number of reasons. I personally don't love straights razors that have a perfectly straight blade profile; I find them less maneuverable.

Most razors get that effect. Simple reason? If you are honing fast and sloppy on a new razor, the toe gets the least wear and so the edge lags behind the rest of the blade there. People compensate by either adding pressure at the toe or lifting the tang at the end of the stroke. Of course this overcompensates and creates this curl at the toe like you describe. Is it bad? Not really. It just means you have to continue their toe-focusing technique when honing or else you won't affect the toe at all. Essentially what's happened is the toe has been honed more than the rest of the blade. This usually gradually evens out about 5-15mm in, and beyond that the razor is evenly honed (baring some other unusual hone-wear).

Depending on the severity of the effect, there are cases where I've just decided to ignore the toe and let it dull out (when it's only a couple mm or so), rather then continue a severe arc that will eventually dead the toe completely (increase its grind angle to the point where it's not an effective razor... basically grinding it off in effect). If you rely on the toe of your razor for detail work (I don't) this isn't an option... but it's rare that someone has arced the tang up THAT seriously in honing that it's really a concern.