Thread: I need advice on a crumbling edge.

Originally Posted by Bart

I've made another picture.
You guys are gonna have to take my word for it, but the edge was flawless before the test shave. Every damage you see was caused by a few swipes WTG.
The visual shows no discoloration. My pictures does, but it's caused by my small led light source and the fact that I shoot those picture through the eye piece of the scope. Magnification of this picture is 30X.
I initially planned to hone a bit further tonight, but I haven't found the courage yet.

Thanks,
Bart.

Sorry Bart and Sydney. But after seeing this picture... I am 90% sure the edge problem is corrosion. Those pits are pretty deep and very close to the edge. I'm going to have to weigh in on the side of caution and save what you can.

Originally Posted by kevint

on the other side- are those chips or curls?

The chunks are completely missing, probably embedded in my face somewhere.

Originally Posted by Leighton

Sorry Bart and Sydney. But after seeing this picture... I am 90% sure the edge problem is corrosion. Those pits are pretty deep and very close to the edge. I'm going to have to weigh in on the side of caution and save what you can.

Corrosion doesn't automatically equate to an unsound edge or most restored razors would be crumbling.
Bart's pic shows no pits in the bevel. In his words it was a "flawless" edge that crumbled after shaving.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Corrosion doesn't automatically equate to an unsound edge or most restored razors would be crumbling.
Bart's pic shows no pits in the bevel. In his words it was a "flawless" edge that crumbled after shaving.

No, but taking all the evidence into consideration, the probability that the blade has been infected with that SSC? problem seems very likely. Or at least more likely than not. The pits are pretty close to the edge too, thus razor is questionable at best. I would personally leave it alone. But thats only one vote and one opinion. And in the end, my vote doesn't count anyway.

I thought that this might be of interest - it shows how the external appearance of the pits may markedly differ from the extent of pitting under the surface.

The darker material in the base of the pit can hide what is going on beneath it. It produces a kind of micro-environment in which an electrochemical action can occur - the pH value in the pit can fall, become acidic, a cathodic/anodic reaction can occur. If this leads to intergranular corrosion the metal is weakened.

Regards,
Neil

Very interesting Neil. The pit turns out to be like an iceberg in some cases. Worrisome on at least one of the old Sheffields that I haven't gotten around to yet. Those pits in Bart's project could very well be extending beyond what is apparent on the surface. I would have never imagined that could happen.

Bart i had similar problem with razor which belong TO srp member JOKE1167 .it was last year in MO meeting.
i did put bevel and at the end same crack as you see in piccture.'then i tried again and same result in different spot.
I think it could be caused by temlperature and secondly bad quality steel.
In your case i think most likely temperature has done it is damage.
You will get a good result in thicker portion of the blade .i think to get there you will end up using grinder.
Sorry this is what i think.

reading this thread is like a sherlock holmes mystery. hope you can get some use out of the blade but if not put it in a case for viewing pleasure os save the scales and put a new bade in it

Since my last post in this thread I have spend over 10 hours honing in 4 different sessions. I have removed small portions of the bevel with the breadknifing method and reestablished the bevel 3 times already. The only way to see if the edge won't crumble is to complete the bevel each time again, as the crumbling only shows up when the bevel approaches completion. I am now at the bottom of the drawing.
The crumbling has lessened each time I 've recut a bevel, and there's only shallow crumbling at a small part of the edge, toe side near the middle. I've ended up with 3 layers of tape on the spine. I started out with 2, but cutting such a wide bevel takes forever, even with pressure on the DMT 325. It's doable with 3 layers, which dimminshes bevel width by about 1/3 when compared to 2 layers.
I have moved up from the 325 over the 600 to a Coticule with slurry. I am hoping to slowly hone the edge back till the last crumbling is gone. It stayed behind a bit at the very toe a bit, momentarily. I might need to drop back to the 600 for doing some addtional work.
Being tired, I've put the razor away for now. I would not be putting money on the final results just yet, but I've good hopes that it's going to have a decent edge within a few days.

The current bevel angle, with tape and all, is slightly under 20 degrees. I may need to put on a 4th layer when it's time to maximize the keenness of that wide bevel.

Best regards,
Bart.

Sounds like you might just sneak up on it this time. Fingers X'd for the shave test.