Dremel Buff Pad Ate Away Blade Edge
Question...
A Dremel buff pad without abrasive removed metal from a blade edge which had spider rust. For those with a lot of experience with buffing and cleaning, can a Dremel buff pad eat away metal from the edge of a blade with quality non-compromised steel?
Skip the rest of my response and, if you have experience with a lot of razors, respond. But, details provided below for those interested.
Problem...
I buffed a blade with a buff pad, without abrasive, using a Dremel. When I viewed the blade using a 100x microscope view, the buff pad had actually gouged away some of the blade edge. Imagine a water dam with water running over the top of the dame for a long time, where the water washed away smooth rivulets over the length of the dam. That is what the blade edge looked like.
The gouging was not visible to the naked eye; under a strong light, no matter how much I rotated the blade to catch the light, the blade looked smooth. That will give you an idea of the small size of the rivulets. Nonetheless, skipping the reasons, the before (viewed with microscope) and the after left no doubt in my mind of the fact that the buff pad ate away metal.
This was surprising to me because in my small amount of experience, I hadn't seen that before. And, it was surprising because of the short amount of buffing time.
Background...
The blade looks good to the naked eye. But, with the microscope it clearly has a lot of very, very small rust spots that are visible on the surface. And, undoubtedly, the blade metal was softer than a typical blade - and it was a quality steel and brand; it wouldn't hold a sharp edge. This indicates, I believe, that the blade was most likely softer due to the extensive micro-level rusting.
