Thread: can you over polish

Spend a bunch of time on a Shapton 16k then transition to newspaper for hundreds of passes and you should see those scratches disappear. I should have qualified that the max magnification I go to is 80x using my stereo microscope and most often I just stick to 40x. I would guess that the scratch free mirror polished bevels at those levels would probably yield some scratches if viewed at stronger magnification?

Needless to say I don't hone the way I've described above anymore since I found as others have that it's counter productive. The excitement of pursuing ultimate sharpness vs. a well balanced longer lasting edge has waned quite a bit.

Chris L

my razor still removed stubble but like i say it hurt especialy agtg and i wonderd if this was down to lack of strenght in the edge. i will stick to no more than 20 on my 8k from now on. I did use the 12k kitiyama befor my bbw and yellow i think it may of been over using 12k kitiyama because thats when i noticed a deteriation in shave. May be i over did the bevel setting stages as i did repeat this 3 times in all.

dylandog harshness was as you described a shaved but felt scratchy and against the grain hurt like hell but did not pull and because of this i tryed smoothing the blade out with belgiums but it did'nt make much differance.I think i must of over honed on either 1k or 4k i realy did give it a good going over on 1k beaing in mind the razor is only 2 months old and it was'nt realy dull. The thing is how do you get rid of that edge they say back hone but i tryed that and it realy did'nt make any differance. It was only untill bart said i could set bevel with yellow on coticule with slurry that i did this and that seemed to get rid of that bad edge but i carn't say for sure.

I won't go near a 1K anymore unless a razor needs large chips removed or is as dull as a butter knife and needs a new bevel. For a razor with a proper bevel that needs sharpening I would stick with the 4K and maybe do pyramids with the 8 before moving up the grit ladder.

Originally Posted by Chris L

I also used to strive to achieve mirror polished bevels; bevels that had no or virtually no scratch patterns under magnification. They were a sight to behold and it was fun getting there. The edges were wicked sharp. However, IME they didn't last.

I visualize minor scratch patterns on bevels to be micro stabilizer bars adding integrity to the edge.

Jimmy's findings with Lynn's edges support this as well; fine scratch pattern vs. mirror polished bevels yields a better overall edge.

Chris L

I'm wondering if this is the problem I've been having. I've been finishing my blades with the Spyerco Ultra-fine until I can see a truly polished bevel. The blade will do a HHT without problems but will last one or maybe two shaves at most before it is noticeably dull to shave with. It's been driving me nuts having to return to a stone after almost every shave.

My belief is that at the end of the edge is a fin or something. Maybe its a very fine malleable bit of steel.
After honing on say a 12000 grit hone, its quite a wide fine. Polishing is undertaken with 50,000 grit pastes and I think that at that level of fineness, the fin erodes as you polish. When its gone, the edge is no longer comfortable.

So polishing effectively reduces the life of the fin and the interval between the need to rehone.

I've stopped polishing and using Chromium Oxide or pastes for this reason. My blades will shave for a minimum of a month before the need to re hone whilst with paste, sometimes I would need to touch up after only three shaves.

Just my observations although I know fins don't exist.

Originally Posted by English

My belief is that at the end of the edge is a fin or something. Maybe its a very fine malleable bit of steel.
After honing on say a 12000 grit hone, its quite a wide fine. Polishing is undertaken with 50,000 grit pastes and I think that at that level of fineness, the fin erodes as you polish. When its gone, the edge is no longer comfortable.

So polishing effectively reduces the life of the fin and the interval between the need to rehone.

I've stopped polishing and using Chromium Oxide or pastes for this reason. My blades will shave for a minimum of a month before the need to re hone whilst with paste, sometimes I would need to touch up after only three shaves.

Just my observations although I know fins don't exist.

My findings mirror yours. After about three or four shaves, stropping on linen first-then leather, the scratches are all but imperceptible at 15x mag and the edges last a long time.

A pencil sharpened on sand paper going from tip to root is stronger. Or so my technical drawing tutor used to say

PuFF