Thread: Help !!! ATS 34 putting a whipping on me :- (

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I'm going to come back with my shield or on it so to speak. I'll try it with the Shaptons again.

Go get 'em Jimmy! Man that stainless is tough!

You could try setting a bevel, polish it up as smooth as you can, then do one of two things:

Go back through the stones that you consider polishing or finishing stones and do a progression that increases the strokes as you move up the grit levels (because it'll get harder and harder to make progress as the grit gets finer). For me this would be a Coticule and an Escher or Nakayama w/slurry, then without. This will show whether you just needed to refine the bevel a little more or whether your issue is setting the bevel.

Or add a layer of tape and hit one of those nice Eschers of yours for as long as you feel necessary to make a difference, followed by the finest stone/paste that you've got.

If neither of those work, you either have an improper bevel or the steel's microstructure is too coarse to support an edge as fine as you desire.

Thanks for the input Russel. I have set the bevel on this twice and I have honed it with various combinations of hones. When I got home from work tonight I gave it some laps on a borrowed D8EE diamond plate and followed that with the 15K and 30K Shapton pro stones. In the morning I will strop with one of Lynn's felt strops sprayed with diamond paste and test shave before I go to work.

I usually try to avoid pastes and get what I need on the hones but I have made an exception with this one since I am having such a tough time with it. I have shaved with it three times and it gets better and better but it isn't up to the level where I would like it to be. I have a 30X scope and I have checked the bevel as I went. No micro chipping and the bevel is correct. I didn't really need to set it after the first time but I went through the motions anyway out of frustration. I'll get it eventually if I haven't already.

Obviously I need a Nakayama.

Got a great shave with the ATS 34 this morning. What got me over the hump was the new Lynn Abrams felt strop with the diamond paste spray. The shave was smooth as silk. It was like a different razor. I am a believer in pastes now. Here is a pic of the razor albeit a poor one in the SOTD thread. Thanks to all who gave me some advice.

I have some knives made out of ATS 34. I think it's a bad steel for a razor, because while it can get very sharp, it forms micro-serrations and chips at the microscopic level. I don't think the shaves will be as smooth as other metals. Well, paste on strop may prevent the micro-chipping for the time being, but over time they will come back. I want a razor made out of a finer grain stainless steel like CPM S30V.