Thread: Crumbling Steel on Practice Razor

I find it odd that you have multiple vintage razors with edges that crumble and without any rust on or near the bevel. The odds of one person winding up with multiple razors all displaying the same issue must be pretty high against.

Could it be what you are honing with and how you hone? What hones are you using and how high a grit do you finish on. I guess it is possible to get a crumbling edge by using too much pressure on a very fine grit finishing hone.

Bob

On edges that crumble I usually raise the spine off a 320 DMT hone by at least 25 degrees and do a series of 1/2 x-strokes until I feel I'm on good steel then add at least one layer of tape depending on the level of hone wear and basically start from scratch on the bevel, this almost always works but I've had a few exceptions

Thanks for the info gentlemen. I set the bevels using an India stone and went through a progression of Arkies. I've tried finishing on Arkies and Cotis. Edge will look great under a scope and tree top like crazy. I'm using minimal pressure after bevel set. I assume a spine wear issue would present itself as an overly wide bevel? I'm not seeing this on all the flakers. No sign of warpage. The 2 that I really want to use are a Landers Frary and Clark universal and a Columbia Cutlery that is not a full hollow grind. I notice the chipping after trying them. I've tried 3 times with the Columbia and edge goes each time. Yes, the Columbia has spine wear which to my untrained eye does not appear excessive. The Landers is really nice and has minimal. I think I'll try taping the Columbia and see what happens. Thanks again, I now have some things to try. Certainly sounds like too thin of an edge.

The India could very well be causing your issue. I have tried using them and they caused chipping for me on hollow grinds. Not as much on a thicker grind but I would recommend either using a different bevel setter or wearing the surface of the India down with some 1000k+ sandpaper or higher grit SIC. Also watch the edges of those stones. If they haven’t been beveled or lapped they can have chips and do some damage to your edge. Without being there or seeing pictures I would bet that is it.

Originally Posted by Steel

The India could very well be causing your issue. I have tried using them and they caused chipping for me on hollow grinds. Not as much on a thicker grind but I would recommend either using a different bevel setter or wearing the surface of the India down with some 1000k+ sandpaper or higher grit SIC. Also watch the edges of those stones. If they haven’t been beveled or lapped they can have chips and do some damage to your edge. Without being there or seeing pictures I would bet that is it.

I also think this is the case, I use my India only on my kitchen knives as it's very aggressive

Steel beat me to it, I was going to suggest a higher grit stone. I have found in some of my vintage blades my 1k is too much and my 2k seems to work better. Not sure what an India oil stone rates in grit but I'd try something a bit finer.

I like to use a medium or fine India with blades with chips or for strong bevel-setting as needed. Like the Arkansas stones, the stated grit rating is relative as they break in and mellow with use. New, out of the box, they're aggressive; but once they've smoothed over, they can be redressed as needed (I use emery cloth to do this). Oil use is assumed during the honing process.

As with diamond hones, it is beneficial to use more of an up-and-down stroke with coarse cutters than an X-stroke or an even more lateral stroke; and to expedite matters with slow-acting stones like these, I use up-and-down half-laps. Use of a lateral stroke at too early a stage can lead to deep scratch patterns running more parallel to the edge that then fall off in chips when an alignment with a similar scratch pattern on the other side of the bevel is met.