First GD mod- a work in progress

I recently bought a GD 66 from Amazon to play around with and to eventually practice honing on film. The one I got came with a pretty big smile and uneven spine:





I roughly ground down the shoulders with that cheap, under powered mini Dremel knockoff from Harbor Freight and started to grind down the smile on a 4 sided HF diamond hone.

Unfortunately, it looks like the spine, not the shoulder, is getting in the way of honing one side.



How should I deal with this issue? Dremel the spine flat or put in some heavy diamond plate honing?

This has been a fun but frustrating experience. That mini knockoff Dremel is extremely slow. Thankfully, though, it hardly generates any heat.

Thanks!

It appears you also ground down the spine? Comparing the 1st photo with the 3rd. It appears there is quite a bit missing along the tip. If so , that is what is keeping the edge from laying on the stone . The smile too appeared to be within acceptable limits. But now removing the blade width you've increased bevel angle. On one side though it looks like you did wear the spine but the opposite side shows little. That changes the symmetry of the edge as well.

Somewhere around here (sticky???) I have a tutorial on checking GDs prior to grinding them
up to find where , if any, problems are with these blades.

Thanks, mycarver. I've read your tutorial a few times and found it very informative. As you can see, though, I just winged this one for some reason. I'm usually pretty methodical but have been known to experiment and learn by mistakes. But now that I've actually played with a Dremel and a razor, I'll take a re-read and see if your instructions sink in further. I did hit the spine on a diamond hone trying to even up the gap shown in the fourth picture. I can't find my calipers so I can't take any accurate measurements.

Wouldn't the smile have ground away if I used straight honing strokes on film? I have another razor coming that I'll be more careful with.

I see you're from the Lehigh valley...I went to college in Center Valley back in that 90s. Spent a lot of good weekends in Allentown and Bethlehem...I just wish I could remember them better

Thanks for the response!

I'd guess DeSales? My father designed it. Lots of colleges around here. Beautiful area. But it's quickly becoming a shipping hub for the NE due to proximity to NY and Phila.

You got it! I was in the area recently and was surprised by all the development. There was nothing but corn fields 20 years ago.

IMO they need nothing to hone! Uneven spines, heavy heels etc are no problem! Now as far as modding goes for looks, have fun man!

Arghhh... That looked pretty decent in the first pic.. Too much...

The pic in post 2 looks off, the razor should only have the spine and edge on a hone, it looks like you have the scales in the angle somehow or something like that.

Yes it started out just fine.
but I believe the edge lifting in the second post is due to the heavy grinding on the hone line near the tip as seen in the 3rd photo. Scales maybe but that spine grinding would certainly cause it. The spine was crisp and fine in the first pic. Now on the facing side it's gone. That and the amount of blade that was ground away. Compare the shoulder vs. Edge in the photos. And the curve of the spine in the 2nd photo has no bearing on this at all.

Thanks guys. I probably should have checked with the forum before hitting this hard on some diamond plates but I got carried away pretty quickly. My goal was to be able to hone it without a heel forward technique and the spine needed a lot of metal removal. Finally set a good bevel yesterday but the razor's not pretty. I have some film on the way (accidentally ordered polishing paper) and will update if I get this shaveable. I have another GD waiting that I'll take better care of

In the interim, I've been using a shavette since I spoiled the edge on my Buca GD, probably from poor stropping.