Thread: difficult blade

I'm trying to get a Clauss shave ready, and set the bevel at 1K, going on through a standard pyramid with 4K and 8K Nortons, then finishing on a Naniwa SS 12K. I then used .5 Micron diamond spray on wool and, after that, leather for stropping. It cuts arm hair fine, and I'll shave test it tomorrow. When I view the edge under 10X magnification, I see the tiniest little chip, almost indiscernible, in the middle of the blade.

The obvious response would be that the bevel was in fact not completely set. But when I look at that area, the steel just above the edge seems pitted or rough, and it appears possible that the steel itself is not good and that as I hone further into it I'm just revealing inferior steel for whatever reason. Has anyone seen this?

Pitting into the edge is a common problem, and if it's still there, it does mean (at least as I would phrase it) that the bevel was not completely set. A completely set bevel means you have clean steel what will pass whatever your bevel test is all along the edge of your razor.

I get your point, and it wouldn't be a surprise for a newbie to fail to establish a proper bevel. I thought I had worked it pretty darn hard on 1K, using clockwise and counter-clockwise circles, maybe a total of 100 each. But I can reset the bevel tomorrow and find out.

As I look at the bevel, though, what I see is that as I am grinding metal away from the bevel, I am REVEALING pits in the metal that seem to be already there (and are obvious above the bevel line as well). The only way to find out will be with tomorrow's bevel re-set (and that will be a serious one, I guarantee it). But if I do that and run into more pitted steel and resulting small chips, then I'm going to start thinking it is the steel in that area. Time and work on the 1K will tell. And thanks for the response.

I've now gone through two more re-builds with the edge on this Clauss, and the second one resulted in the same issues that the first additional one did. I put on two layers of tape to protect the spine (although the blade is getting so worn away that appearance is no longer an issue), then went through 1K, 4K, and 8K, making sure after 1K that a proper bevel had been set. Under 10X at each stage, the edge was clean and uninterrupted. The edge was shaving arm hair (a commodity I'm getting short on), after 4K, popping it off easily after 8K and was shaving fairly well after 8K. I finished with a Naniwa 12K, then a .5 diamond sprayed strop, 25 laps, and then 50 laps on leather. When I looked at the blade once again under 10X, there were two tiny indentations in the middle of the blade, invisible to the naked eye. I know that the obvious response would be that a proper bevel was never set, but these imperfections in the edge were not there after any of the other stages up to 12K. I still think that taking off steel is "revealing" these imperfections in the blade. I'll attempt once again to shave with it tomorrow, but if it's not great it's back to the stones. At this pace this blade will eventually be a needle and maybe I can start sewing with it.

Originally Posted by ace

I've now gone through two more re-builds with the edge on this Clauss, and the second one resulted in the same issues that the first additional one did. I put on two layers of tape to protect the spine (although the blade is getting so worn away that appearance is no longer an issue), then went through 1K, 4K, and 8K, making sure after 1K that a proper bevel had been set. Under 10X at each stage, the edge was clean and uninterrupted. The edge was shaving arm hair (a commodity I'm getting short on), after 4K, popping it off easily after 8K and was shaving fairly well after 8K. I finished with a Naniwa 12K, then a .5 diamond sprayed strop, 25 laps, and then 50 laps on leather. When I looked at the blade once again under 10X, there were two tiny indentations in the middle of the blade, invisible to the naked eye. I know that the obvious response would be that a proper bevel was never set, but these imperfections in the edge were not there after any of the other stages up to 12K. I still think that taking off steel is "revealing" these imperfections in the blade. I'll attempt once again to shave with it tomorrow, but if it's not great it's back to the stones. At this pace this blade will eventually be a needle and maybe I can start sewing with it.

Your problem is tape.
Take tape out and start all over.
set bevel on 1k and move on.
let us know the result.
gl

Sorry, can't bear to do it. The scratches on the spine from 220 are too much for me to handle. If I had to hone without tape, I'd just sell my stones in the Classifieds and send my razors off for honing.

I tried it with the tape off and the result is an ugly spine.

With tape, I've found a few things.

1. I love making lists with numbers out in front of them.

2. Establishing a bevel on a breadknifed blade takes hour
and hours with no pressure on 220.

3. The tendency is to get bored or impatient and use
pressure, the result being flexing and a tall, ugly
bevel.

4. I have discovered (the blade is showing me) that I
am not as good at holding the blade flat on X pattern
passes as I thought I was. The blade shows that I have
been lifting the scales at the end of the downward
X pattern pass. Because there are so many of these,
probably near a thousand at least, one or few lifts
and the toe is over-worn compared to the rest of
the blade. I can work on that but I'm wondering
whether it wouldn't be better to hold the blade
with both hands and do straight up and down passes
that way.

Have you made any progress with this since your last post? I am just curious about how you're doing. Also do you have a camera so we can see the hone wear you are speaking of?


If you need help you can send me PMs if you want and I will try to help.