Thread: Question for Bart: could these circled areas be quartz inclusions?

This is my 8x3, "La Petite Blanche" layer. Fast cutter, smooth edges! So far, I'm getting great edges with it--my test shave today w/ a super-fussy 9/16 extra-hollow razor was just about the nicest I've had from that blade. No pasting either! This makes me think they may not be quartz--wouldn't they make it impossible to get a good edge if they were?

It's hard to see in the photo, but they almost looks kind of translucent. Could just be an illusion, though. I ran my fingernail lightly across the top & they "seemed" harder, but that's a pretty unscientific test and I didn't want to have to do lots of lapping afterward. The stone gives "jittering" feedback when an edge has maxed out (at least I think that's the reason; it doesn't do it if I've just put the blade on the hone, only after I've done some strokes)--that's how I know when to back off the pressure while honing. And again, the edges I've put on razors with this thing have been amazing... Nothing to worry about or should I be concerned?

Thanks to Bart, for your info here and on coticule.be!

EDIT: the circled areas are showing up too small when viewed initially--crappy digital camera is the problem

UPDATE: I gave the stone a quick lapping (took under 30 seconds). I then tried the double bevel trick on my SRP TI (all my other razors are shaving incredibly off this stone, so I'm thinking it's probably not quartz. (Wouldn't that make it impossible to get a shaving edge? I'd love to hear from an expert on that question.)

The blade-maxing-out- chattering feedback does not only happen in the circled areas, and hardly happens @ all if I've taped the spine, leading me to think it's just normal stone feedback.

Only curious thing: I've finally figured out why that TI is not performing as well as the others--it's generating slurry while honing! None of my other razors do this. This was especially noticeable when I had tape on the spine.

Yeah, probably nothing to worry about--they just look vaguely translucent; I don't feel any sudden jumps when honing, so it's probably nothing.

The chattering I've cut way down by adding a few drops of dishwashing liquid to my honing water. It almost doesn't happen if I'm using tape on the spine either. I sort of try to keep the pressure below the point where it would start to jitter. Seems to work great so far, aside from the TI autoslurry thing. Not sure what I can do there, other than refresh water every 5 laps or so. None of my other razors have done this. I could always sell the TI & get more Sheffield razors...

I have TI's they are harder steel but your coti sounds like it could be medium to slightly soft my 8x3 feels softer than my smaller ones if your creating a proper slurry with Ti it must be softer somtimes i can see a slight mist of slurry on my blade when it drys out after water honing so i think they do create an almost invisable slurry but not milky unless you have a soft one but just rinse like you say buy a little cheap one from bart to compare you can always sell the smaller ones and get your money back.

I can't see it on that picture (Even if I magnify it, it lacks the resolution to offer a detailed view). But based upon your description, I don't think it's a problem. A hard inclusion (such as quartz) really dings the edge. You can feel the edge colliding with the inclusion and witness the resulting microchip in the edge if you look at the edge under decent magnification.

I think, what you (and also Gary with his one) are experiencing are spots that have a slightly different composition and density. The varying hardness causes those spots to be abraded at a different rate, which raises them ever so slightly. Enough to to add some localized draw and cause interference in the feedback. You should also be able to feel that when rubbing over them with the slurry stone.

Try this: use one corner of you slurry stone to work those spots down a bit, as locally as possible. That doesn't need to be much. Just work a bit on the spots, rinse, and try a few strokes with a razor. Work that way till the interference is reduced or completely disappears.
This is something you 'll need to repeat every 20 razors or so.

Coticules are natural rock. They all have a character of their own. I think about them as women.

Best regards,

Bart.

I've cut down significantly on the chattering by adding a few drops of dishwashing liquid to my honing water. I actually don't feel anything over the spots; only the entire hone when doing long strokes. I still tried the slurry stone trick on the dark spots, though.

Weird how I didn't notice the autoslurry on my TI until last time I honed it. I might have to (when I have shaving funds) pick up a slightly harder bout for hard razors like that. (Could this be HAD rearing its head again...?)