Thread: I use pastes...

Here is a question for you gentlemen. The metal polish I use as a sharpening paste is called Peeks. Queenie uses it ! God bless 'er.................!
It is powder/baby blue in colour (US=color)
Whats the abrasive in it?
BTW It doesnt improve the edge on My Cornwall Co, made in the USA French point razor???????????STRANGE.....It works on all my others?
M

I'm a great believer in setting a good bevel at the start.
When I look through a 10 X loupe I see a great "FLAT" V shape.

The next check point is when I feel a blade going blunt. Usually when I look through the loupe I see a curved bevel.

Time to put the V back.

Now what you do in the middle can be with hone or pastes or with linen or strop but loss of a V edge will kill the comfort and sharpness.

But I can guarantee you looking at edges under high powered magnification will not help you at all.

It won't even tell you why, one hone is smoother than another, or why one paste is smoother than another.

V equals sharp.
U equals blunt.

I wonder if a slightest bit of rounding is not the difference between those who feel a blade is too harsh, too sharp and a more comfortable feel.

Originally Posted by English

I'm a great believer in setting a good bevel at the start.
When I look through a 10 X loupe I see a great "FLAT" V shape.

The next check point is when I feel a blade going blunt. Usually when I look through the loupe I see a curved bevel.

Time to put the V back.

Now what you do in the middle can be with hone or pastes or with linen or strop but loss of a V edge will kill the comfort and sharpness.

But I can guarantee you looking at edges under high powered magnification will not help you at all.

It won't even tell you why, one hone is smoother than another, or why one paste is smoother than another.

V equals sharp.
U equals blunt.

But what I found was that it did matter what they looked like.

Small, tiny teeth to the edge=less comfortable shave, not as close a shave

Smooth as can be edge=easier on the face, and whisked away the whiskers.

I don't intend to monitor all of my razors edges each and every time I hone them, but I did/do want a point of reference for what is going on with the edge for a particular honing progression, HHT feel, etc. Overall going to the scope just adds to overthinking what's going on, and getting compulsive about things. But it does have it's place as a reference.

And I'm not refering to a U shape, but more of a pointed arch, like a gothic arch from a medievil church or something.


Apparantly this is nothing new, as a quick search shows up that this is a common bevel type for Japanese katana. (thus the kanji noted above...)

My new modus operandi is that since I maintain my edges vis a vis a flexible medium with some give (ala leather strop), to best match that geometry, perhaps I should hone it that way too (ala pasted hanging strops)

Seraphim, I was thinking about this just recently - you have convinced me to try it.

I see where you're coming from. I have sharpened/polished a few production katanas and can attest to the sharpness of a convex edge. It is also a stronger profile & as the sharp edge is supported by more steel, may be good for those razors that tend to microchip.

Seraphim,

Point take. I'm wrong again. My apologies.

I'll have to increase my magnification.

Seraphim,

I like your thinking, and like to share what little experience I have with using pasted strops.
I've used Chromium Oxide on a loom strop quite a lot. I've found out two different ways of using it. The first is tightening the strop real taut and taking light laps. It polishes the edge a degree further, but does not produce significant additional sharpness. Allowing a bit more slack to the loom strop and putting a slight bit of pressure on the razor, convexes the edge, gaining additional sharpness. It's easy to overdo and create an edge that looses it's level of keenness with one or two shaves. (On a side note, I still believe the mere fact that the edge is a result of backhoning, makes it less durable, but if I recall correctly, we disagree about that)
I also found that it takes considered concentration to keep the curve in the strop constant, throughout the successive strokes. If not, the edge is rounded rather than convexed, and I have noticed the difference while shaving.

I'm wondering what might happen is someone would intentionally create a set of matching curved balsa strops, in order to rule out the possible inconsistency with the use of hanging and/or loom strops.


Best regards,

Bart.

I think Seraphim is 100% on the money. Smoother shaves result from smoother edges.You can make a scary sharp edge,that will cleave hairs all day long-on a coarse hone,but that same edge would turn your face into hamburger.

I just received a Joe Chandler razor. It came with the sharpest edge I have ever touched to my face. It is MIRROR smooth and SCARY sharp yet it gave me a shave that ranks with the best I have ever had-AND that was the first time I used it.

Under 10x magnification,there are no serrations to speak of. As a result, I am definitely going to reevaluate my honing. I "thought" I had experienced a sharp edge-until TODAY.

Lt. you can normally see serrations at 10X?

Bart I have already made a set of curved balsa strops, hrmmm only thing is they are 3x3 inch or so.
(sorry to keep mentioning those delightful little devils)

they use the natural cup of the board, perpendicular to the edge they are pretty flat. I don't think it is the concavity of the strop, but the pressure that you are noticing the difference- make it tight with pressure and loose with a light touch an I believe you find the pressured edge sharper. Don't go a put your shoulders into to prove me wrong. with a loose loom and pressure i would assume the pressure was not too much or the strop would have rolled up and dubbed the edge(i think)

A convex bevel, Moran edge, katana hiraniku, blended bevel/ whatever you want to call it is not by geometric principle sharper than a thin flat bevel. The following statement is not meant to be all inclusive...but, typically the use of convex bevel is intended to strengthen the edge by putting a little more meat down low as compared to typically flat. Both could theorectically meet a zero edge dimension only the conves blade has an increased cutting angle.

A good comparioson might be to put finest paste on a hard surface and see how that compares to a pasted (soft substrate leather) strop.

Seraphim you use 0.1 micron? How does it compare to 0.25? Is the edge durable enough to get a weeks worth of shaves out of a good blade. With the 0.25 I get about 7 days with my beard and then my shaves become "GOOD" not my usual "GREAT". I am at a crossroads here and was hoping to come up with a stone that would be as good as the 0.25 paste but I know deep down that it will probably never happen. I strop about 100 times off the 0.25 paste and it just gives me such kickin shaves that I can't see that off a stone. When I do the math there is just no stone that comes close to the 0.25 grit. I was hoping that it is just more than math.

Thanks,
Richard