Opposite Fat Toe/Heel

Hi guys!

So, I am relatively new to straight shaving, and razor honing. I have a lot of experience honing Chef's/Kitchen knives, but this is a bit of a different animal, with the spine dictating the angle.

I have purchased 3 straights (all Dovos), so far...may be a disorder. 2 of the 3 arrived with factory edges, which had even hairline bevels on both sides. Neither was tree topping arm hair well, but shaved arm hair fine. I test shaved them with decent results, then honed on Naniwas (1K, 5K, 8K, 12K). They both tree topped arm hair, and shaved better afterward; less irritation, smoother movement ATG, etc.

The third one arrived "professionally" honed (not sure if I can say where I purchased from, but it is a well known vendor here). I inspected it when it arrived. The bevel was wasn't wavy, but it was slightly fat on the toe of one side, and fatter on the heel of the other. The heel also looks to extend more, like a slight hump. It also has scuffs on the stabilizer. It did arrive sharper than the others, though, and was tree topping hair easily. It shaved well, too.

I assume this fat heal/toe issue is an issue with the spine, but would love some confirmation. Also, any advice on technique for rectifying this (cosmetic?) issue would be greatly appreciated, too!

It's called a "frowning razor". It's rarely actually a problem with the spine, but it could be. Usually it means the honer presses down on the center of the spine to drive the razor while honing. That one doesn't look very severe, so it wouldn't take a lot to fix it, but it's not possible without rehoning it, as you'll need to remove depth from the toe and heel, and doing that on a finishing hone is effectively impossible. Rather than trying to fix it yourself, I'd say your decision is whether it bothers you enough to complain to the vendor and return it or if it doesn't, since you say it shaves well, just keep it as is, until you decide it needs to be rehoned for some reason and have it fixed then.

Could be a factor of the spine... But stuff like that can be corrected with proper honing at the bevel set stage

Thanks for the replies, guys.

SliceOfLife said:

It's called a "frowning razor".

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It doesn't bother me too much, and I can live with it. Is it a "frowning razor" if the heel is fat on one side (not both) and the toe on the other (not both)? I had thought pressure as you describe would cause fat toe/heels on both sides, and thought this might be a slight warp in the spine or blade.

I think you are correct that a perfectly balanced bevel (size) on both sides of the blade is function of the trueness of the spine. I have a few high end razors that have bevels that are not esthetically perfect, but they are still beautiful and save wonderfully. I have several Dovos and they seem to be a little prone to uneven bevels. I love them for shaving though. I'm probably not much help, but I think your razor looks fine. I also find it hard to hone my razors without slightly scuffing the stabilizer.

Georgia Straight said:

Thanks for the replies, guys.



It doesn't bother me too much, and I can live with it. Is it a "frowning razor" if the heel is fat on one side (not both) and the toe on the other (not both)? I had thought pressure as you describe would cause fat toe/heels on both sides, and thought this might be a slight warp in the spine or blade.

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Yeah, that sounds like a curve to the blade. Will make it a little more difficult to fix, but not terrible. The bevel's gonna look wacky when you're done though.