Photos of a stropped blade & polished edge

Here is a set of photos showing what an edge looks like after a stropping and during and after a polishing.

After photo #494 the edge had consistant HHT 3 to 4's, a comfortable shave edge range for my beard. With the blade was stropped after #499 the HHT's were 4's but mostly 5's all along the edge.

I taped the spine for these photos to create a micro bevel, this speeded up the whole polishing phase by focusing all of the honing energy on to the edge. You can polish the whole bevel if you want it to look shiny, it will take longer, but lets face it that the edge is all that really counts and I was just looking to take the photos.

You can see that the same medium hard stones for finishing can also be used for polishing if you remove the possibility of any slurry developing. If you have a really hard stone in the level 5+ to 5+++ then you have to work to create a slurry for finish honing but the polishing phases are relatively simple and straightforward. If you have a medium hard level 5- to 5 or below the the slurry part is easiest but the polishing phase takes some effort or method like using running tap water to flush away any loose grit particles.

This is just one way to take a blade to polish, it will take some effort. I suspect that the the polished edge is somewhat less tenacious then a honed to finish edge but maybe someone else has more experience than me as my opinion is just a suspicion and not an acutal shaving trial with the same razor day after day after day until the edge fails.

If anyone wants to send me their razor for some photos I will be happy to oblige.

for what its worth, Alx


http://www.thejapanblade.com/images/microgroup2.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alx

This is just one way to take a blade to polish, it will take some effort. I suspect that the the polished edge is somewhat less tenacious then a honed to finish edge but maybe someone else has more experience than me as my opinion is just a suspicion and not an acutal shaving trial with the same razor day after day after day until the edge fails.

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I've no idea re the durability of a microbevel on a razor but it's not necessary. Simply using featherlight strokes will concentrate the stone to the edge especially when using water. Slurry does tend to polish further up the bevel.
Even at 1k, if you set the bevel with slurry you will see the edge start to shine up on changing to water alone using light strokes.