Thread: The Mysterious Missing Slivers of Edge

By making sure the edge is holding strong do you mean putting the loupe on it to inspect for a shattered edge or do you mean something else?

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Not sure if I have this correct, you had no issues until you went to a 20k finish on it ??? when you had just used the 12k Naniwa (assuming that is what you actually meant above) you shave comfortably for more then a few shaves ???

You might want to throttle back down the grit range and double check as you go back up, making sure the edge is holding strong

Tarkus told me, when he generously gave me a small Escher, that Sheffield Steel loves the Escher. I like the Escher a lot and have been looking for a larger sized one since the first time I used the one that Darl sent down. It can sit in your palm and I guess I haven't developed enough finesse to really take advantage of the stone....I keep thinking I'll have a lapse of attention and remove some flesh above the surface of the stone....it takes a lot on concentration to make a J stroke to get the whole blade on the stone......but it is my dream finisher...the SG was the affordable 2nd choice for me once I saw the Eschers go off the map on EBAY.

Try setting the small stone on a single layer of damp cloth or that rubber stuff you put in shelves to keep stuff from moving (I don't know the proper name), then set it all on another bigger taller stone, that should protect your hands and be stable enough to hone with. I've done this with a small Coticule before.

Originally Posted by WW243

Tarkus told me, when he generously gave me a small Escher, that Sheffield Steel loves the Escher. I like the Escher a lot and have been looking for a larger sized one since the first time I used the one that Darl sent down. It can sit in your palm and I guess I haven't developed enough finesse to really take advantage of the stone....I keep thinking I'll have a lapse of attention and remove some flesh above the surface of the stone....it takes a lot on concentration to make a J stroke to get the whole blade on the stone......but it is my dream finisher...the SG was the affordable 2nd choice for me once I saw the Eschers go off the map on EBAY.

Originally Posted by WW243

By making sure the edge is holding strong do you mean putting the loupe on it to inspect for a shattered edge or do you mean something else?

Fairly certain he ment for you to start over, hone thru the 12k, strop and shave. See how the edge holds up!

Originally Posted by WW243

Tarkus told me, ........

Tarkus Smarkus! HAR! (A great, no nonsense mentor, seriously!)

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Fairly certain he ment for you to start over, hone thru the 12k, strop and shave. See how the edge holds up!

Yeppers exactly, change one thing then test, sometimes it isn't what you are using either, just the fact that you are now going to pay extreme attention as you re-build the bevel and final edge, that extra attention might correct a problem you have had earlier that you never even realized you had..

Basically right now I think the 20k might be to much edge for that razor - BUT - you might find that it was just how you approached the 20k edge rather then the edge itself.. Does that sorta make sense... ie: sneak up on the final edge

I have noticed the same thing with Diamond plates as Geezer Neil and Sharpton and also with Film. Film is so aggressive, the grit so hard it can cause micro chipping if too much pressure is used in the post bevel setting stages.

Wet paper under 1um and a very light hand can help to polish the edge, but if pressure was used earlier it may chip later. As Neil said, I believe some of the more aggressive synthetic stones can cause this, with pressure and the right steel.

Alx Gilmore touched on this explaining his Ax Method of honing, sneaking up on an edge with fine grit stone as opposed to the use of hard stones. A good read.

You also may want to check your strop. Take a white paper towel and fold into quarters and run it dry on your strop, see what comes off.

sneaking up on the final edge....well, this is a level of stealth I have not attained....I'm thinking it might mean not just following the program of counting circles, x-strokes, pigtail strokes but letting all of it go and possibly go from a formula for sharp to a feel for sharp.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yeppers exactly, change one thing then test, sometimes it isn't what you are using either, just the fact that you are now going to pay extreme attention as you re-build the bevel and final edge, that extra attention might correct a problem you have had earlier that you never even realized you had..

Basically right now I think the 20k might be to much edge for that razor - BUT - you might find that it was just how you approached the 20k edge rather then the edge itself.. Does that sorta make sense... ie: sneak up on the final edge

I still wanna know what a sliver is. Is it one of those flat spots in the edge like where you might have bumped a fingernail during the shave ?
That was my first thought.

Nope, more like a shard of glass, a couple of micro thin, ah, slivers. Pieces of the edge missing.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I still wanna know what a sliver is. Is it one of those flat spots in the edge like where you might have bumped a fingernail during the shave ?
That was my first thought.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I still wanna know what a sliver is. Is it one of those flat spots in the edge like where you might have bumped a fingernail during the shave ?
That was my first thought.

Hell, I wanna know where the slivers ARE? Stuck in his face?