Thread: Microchips

Moved to Honing forum.

Check that damaged area for rust. The tiny chip looks like what happens when a rust pit pops out. If that was the case I'd go thru a full progression starting at 1k. It would take no time to clean up.

I would think ATG those chips would give you weepers.

I have had nightmares with microchips under a scope.

If it's not visible through a loupe the it should be ok.

Maybe try joining the edge on a 3 or 5k then bring it back up. Not as extreme as breadknifing and might be enough to straighten the edge out. Just be careful of pressure when joining so you don’t have too much work to do bringing the apex back.

I posted this in Hone of the Day recently.

It was popping arm hairs like only my best honed razors. However, I took one more look at it through my loupe, and I saw almost exactly the same uneven chips in the bevel at the heel.

These were not the kind that caught light like other chips I've dealt with previously.

A quick retape job and some passes on the 1k has resolved them, and I now have a nice straight bevel. Back to the progression from here.

The chips I've had in other razors previously that could catch light reflections took considerably more work to resolve.

I'm newbie to honing, so I don't know if resolving this uneven bevel was completely necessary. However, knowing myself I'd probably want it as close to perfect as my 30x loupe will reveal.

I have a couple of blades that have a tendency to microchip. When honing those blades, one thing I have tried is using a felt block to test the edge. Although some of the shaving vendors sell felt blocks for this purpose, I just purchased the felt pads you use under lamps, chair legs, etc. If you try to pull the blade across the edge of the felt, the blade will snag if there are any chips large enough to cause a problem shaving. If the chips are minor, a few pulls though the felt might improve the edge enough to make it acceptable. More significant chips, however, will take some judicious work on the stones.

Looks more like a foil edge than a chip, perhaps why you are not feeling it.

Enlarging the photo, shows deep stria at the site, that was not removed in the progression, indicating part of the bevel is not making full contact and/or not enough laps to remove all the 1k stria.

A good practice is to ink the bevels when you first set the bevel. The first stroke will tell you where the issues are. Lightly running a sharpie along the edge tells you where chips are and will ink both side of the edge.

The benefit of using tools like magnification and ink, identify problem areas, so you can adjust your technique to hone to the edge.