Thread: Why kill an edge

Originally Posted by Gasman

Mashal, im dealing with almost that same thing. I put it down and will come back to it. But i got two irritating type shaves from a razor i love and use a lot. I took a good look at it with a loupe and found the tinyest chips. Close to the heal. Killed the edge and started honing back at 1k. Chips got bigger and more of them. Them killed the edge again and again and the chip kept multiplying. I put it down and will hope i can get it under control. I really enjoy this razor but if its going to crumble apart on me, maybe i should just put it way for looking at.

I havent given up on it yet. Will try some more times to get it squared away but its not looking good for it.

Should we rule out an uneven bad heat tempering? Just a thought.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Mashal, im dealing with almost that same thing.
....
Chips got bigger and more of them. Them killed the edge again and again and the chip kept multiplying. I put it down and will hope i can get it under control. I really enjoy this razor but if its going to crumble apart on me, maybe i should just put it way for looking at.

I haven't given up on it yet. Will try some more times to get it squared away but its not looking good for it.

The temper might be a bit hard or uneven for the blade to chip like this.

Try honing with one or two layers of electrical tape on the spine.
If you have a way to measure the razor, figure out the bevel angle.

If the spine is too thin the steel angle might be too thin and fragile.
A very hard temper will have steel a brittle as glass but hard.

No DMT in my experience they chip hard steel.

Perhaps no hone coarser than 2K.
Light strokes.
Circles and "japanese" strokes -- ten back and forth strokes without flipping without adjusting the spine and edge.
Flip and ten on the flip side, ten, ten,ten, ten, five, five, five,five,two, two, two then normal slow
deliberate smooth finishing strokes.
By keeping the razor on the hone I find I can get smooth but rapid strokes with light pressure.

Always rinse and wipe the hone and razor so no coarse bits are on the surface.

Chips are frustrating be gentle.

Originally Posted by Legday69

Thank you all for answering I'm just trying to store info , I don't hone yet , I was advised against starting to soon so I'm just trying to learn for later

Good advice, learning to shave with a straight can be hard enough and is not for everyone. Concentrate on good shaving and stropping technique, you can easily get 50+ shaves before needing a re-hone once you sort that out.
Jointing an edge is not always necessary, more for troublesome razors or ones that haven't seen a hone in a long time.