Thread: Dear Mr Honemeisters

Originally Posted by Hirlau

It could be like that 3am bar encounter; don't look too close or it can ruin the rest of the morning when you sober up.

Lol, been there before.

But this is the only razor that I have seen this before

The problem is not with your razor but with your loupe. Reduce the magnification and the nicks will simply go away without any additional honing. Just like magic.

I haven't seen shaving or sharpness tests mentioned here. It certainly is true that at certain magnifications no blade "looks" like it is safe to shave with. I don't use anything past a 10X loupe, and that is unlikely to visualize the micro chips to which you are referring. Chips and dents are something else, but how a blade looks at from 30K to 400K is not something I'd worry about.

I bought an 8X mirror to look at my face with. One look was all I needed. Now I don't use it anymore. I'd shave with the blade and diagnose it based upon the results.

Are you sure they are chips & not a ragged burr ?

" A ragged burr we hardly see, yet there that ragged burr shall be, It's ragged an burry as can be, that ragged burr we hardly see" Quote: The ragged burr guy! It is difficult to smooth out the ragged burr edge, sometimes induced by 220's and DMT's. Seems to take a bit of breadboarding and gentle 1k.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Are you sure they are chips & not a ragged burr ?

This is a great point. Many times you will see sparklies for lack of a better term when you are done honing and look at the edge under the scope. These basically are remnants just hanging on to the edge and can resemble micro chipping or even a burr. I can be quite common to see them especially if you don't finish using a ton of strokes on your hones. In many cases, a good stropping on your webbing followed by leather will remove them and then present a very nice crisp edge under the microscope. Your razor may actually be honed very well, but seeing this will throw you. It will also throw you if you test shave with the razor in that condition as it will want to grab vs. just cutting.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Are you sure they are chips & not a ragged burr ?

I would not know the difference. To me they look like chips but I am not sure. But makes me think I should only check with the loupe until after a strop of the razor. I might be seeing the remnants as Lynn said. I am getting to the point where I am going to leave the bevel setting to the pros. Give myself a few more years before starting to do that.

One way to see is to strop em good on a fabric strop and look again. It might be all or almost gone. You might consider more of the fabric before going to the hones! Some need a gentle touch to bring them in, otherwise, they seem to chip. I does not mean they shall be bad shavers, nor hard to maintain. It is what they need to go shaving. JMO

We're just guessing here. Can't you give us a picture or 2? IIRC very cheap USB mikes are available at Radioshack. As you are interested in learning how to hone and check your edges under magnification you might just as well invest in a cheap and cheerful mike rather than send it to a honemeister.

My $ 0.02

Originally Posted by Mephisto

I would not know the difference. To me they look like chips but I am not sure. But makes me think I should only check with the loupe until after a strop of the razor. I might be seeing the remnants as Lynn said. I am getting to the point where I am going to leave the bevel setting to the pros. Give myself a few more years before starting to do that.

You can lightly run the edge on a glass or thumbnail. If they disappear they are a burr. If they don't they are chips.
Of course you will need to continue honing the edge after that test.

A persistent burr even at finishing stage is often a symptom of uneven sized bevels due to warp etc as one side gets more honing if each stroke is not in perfect contact.