Thread: I need advice on a crumbling edge.

I spend a lot of time on the scope monitoring progress of honing--it's still fun for me to watch the process, but then again, I'm tickled every day when I check the temperature of my compost pile! Anyway, I have seen a lot of chunks come out of the edge of a corroded blade but I have never seen a crack like that is parallel to the edge. Great photo by the way. It's amazing that you caught it in that state.

I'm not expert at the benefits of multiple layers of tape, but if the metal is so flawed, I can't imagine that any degree of spine raising is going to alter the problem inherent in the blade.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I went back and really looked at the pic Bart, The lines you are talking about I can't really make out, but I think if they are rather fine and pretty straight, that Kevin might be right and you are looking at a initial heat treating issue... If the lines are rather squiggly then I think I might be right, and this is a corrosion issue.... After you did the bread-knife strokes and reset the bevel could you see the lines more easily????

The lines are extremely fine, and strikingly straight. I can see them, but they're too fine to photograph (I shoot pictures through one eyepiece of the stereoscope, which is really not ideal). Some good news: In a failed attempt to shoot a picture after all, I have noticed that they are only present near the apex, while they were occurring further up the bevel when I started working on this one. So maybe, I'm almost through the bad steel. At the part that develops well, there are no such cracking lines present. It's a thin straw I'm holding on to here. That blade has a lot of pitting, with higher concentration near the bevel at the problem spot, so it could easily just be that.

Thanks to all for offering advice.
Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

...
That blade has a lot of pitting, with higher concentration near the bevel at the problem spot, so it could easily just be that.
...

That really makes me believe a severely rotted/corroded edge.

I've been trying to find an image of the whole blade as can be seen to the naked eye. Bart will be able to help on this since he has the razor atm, but I *think* the blade is identical to this one on eBay:

WADE & BUTCHER SHEFFIELD AMERICAN RAZOR 7/8 - eBay (item 170310480931 end time Mar-18-09 16:14:43 PDT)

Some things that should be stressed however.

These are NOT the same razor. If you look closely at the eBay pic you can see the eagle shape on the blade. However my one has beenvastly improved and cleaned by the restorer.

This eBay link is purely to give you an idea of the shape of the razor. The scales have been completely replaced.

Perhaps if Bart could provide a more accurate representation of the whole razor people might find it easier to recognize the blade and/or design?

Please Bart?

EDIT: Strangely when I searched the SRP archives I found this post:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...can-razor.html

Which appears to show the same blade. The actual one. But not the same scales. Am I right Bart?

Originally Posted by Sticky

That really makes me believe a severely rotted/corroded edge.

+1

It looks like that small little "island" piece is the one that broke off, causing the rest of the "sheer" to break off the edge. I hope that makes sense. Not sure, but I believe an overly hard steel would simply chip rather than be breaking off like that. It seems like little pieces of the steel are just breaking off of the edge from your pic.

btw, great job of capturing that.

Good luck! I'm trying to get an edge back on a Reynolds Washington commemorative piece, and its not going so well either.

Here you go:

(the spine's still taped and the pencil is mine)

Thanks Bart

Ooo, its like sending your posessions on holiday and getting postcards and holiday snaps back from them. 'This is the pencil I met up with. Ah! What a holiday romance it was...'

EDIT:

With his permission I pass on to you what the restorer has told me about the blades history as he knows it:

"I purchased it on the Big Island of HI in an antique shop south of Kona. It had cracked handles and some rust but nothing excessive nor too deep looking since I was able to sand it out and keep the etching.

I didn't do anything to the blade to blow the temper so that shouldn't be the issue. There was some rust on the blade before I sanded it off but it wasn't excessive and it wasn't close to the bevel/edge."

Originally Posted by Leighton

+1

It looks like that small little "island" piece is the one that broke off, causing the rest of the "sheer" to break off the edge. I hope that makes sense. Not sure, but I believe an overly hard steel would simply chip rather than be breaking off like that. It seems like little pieces of the steel are just breaking off of the edge from your pic.

btw, great job of capturing that.

Good luck! I'm trying to get an edge back on a Reynolds Washington commemorative piece, and its not going so well either.

Yeah, it really looks more like "crumbling" than like "shattering". I really hope for the best.

Tomorrow, I'm going to complete the bevel, remove all crumbling after that , add 3 additional layers of tape and try to cut a second bevel with a Coticule using a very gentle touch. Hopefully that second bevel will stay intact. I so, I can refine and finish it, and see if it survives a test shave.

That's all I can come up with for now.
I'll keep you all posted.

Bart.

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

Ooo, its like sending your posessions on holiday and getting postcards and holiday snaps back from them. 'This is the pencil I met up with. Ah! What a holiday romance it was...'

Perv!

Well, the fact that the original restorer knew what the word "temper" meant is highly encouraging. That's a nice razor, tell Bart to keep at it!

I just noticed in the photo that the distance between the edge and the arrows held by the eagle are drastically different on the opposites ends of the arrow. Bart, is that an accurate indication of the extent of metal removal between the two ends of the blade?