i'm at war with my SS blade! any suggestions?

so i was honing my SS Puma that has been a son of a b@#$h for some reason. it had some significant pitting right on the edge originally that is all gone and i have a great bevel set that is now very sharp. i found less and less pressure worked better and better. so i had it up to the 8k and was on the last stroke when i went to talk to my g/f a the same time and sliced my finger pretty good. i got some silver water on it and thought i would go to the 12k chinese and since it is a little narrow it was a bit awkward not holding it (as i had a bandaide on my finger) and on the one stroke i slice the next finger over on the same hand (not nearly as bad though). so another bandaide and i was set to finish up.

i shaved with it and thought the bevel looks great and pops hairs the shave wasn't great. my guess is i might not be used to something this sharp, though my carbon blades always pop hairs just as well. i did some extra laps on the CrOx to see if it smoothed things out. i will try again tomorrow but any suggestions would be great.

also, i know the SS problems have been posted before but i thought my slicing story was funny. :D

I think you need a leather glove for the off-hand. Be careful. I doubt the blade is too sharp but you could strop with a slight sag, maybe an 8th of an inch, and smooth the edge up and dull it slightly and see if that helps.

Chances are it just needs more work on the finishing hone along with every other stainless blade on the planet.

Be careful.

i can get my other razors shaving quite nicely but i am no honemeister. i too doubt that i could get something too sharp.

BTW the cuts weren't really serious, just stupid. the one still has a bandaide on it and was fairly deep but is healing very quickly. silver water is amazing stuff.

i will hit the 12k some more and see were i am at after that.

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Originally Posted by chee16

i can get my other razors shaving quite nicely but i am no honemeister.

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Join the club!

I've never really been all that impressed with most 12K especially against stainless edges. Lets see how it goes. Don't get discouraged though. A stainless blade requires a different approach.

so maybe i will try going from the 8k straight to the CrOx? it is worth a try right. i am going to shve with it tomorrow morning and see where i am at. the thing is sharp though and i couldn't get it that way before. this thing has taken forever to hone. it seems to be a lot more sensitive then my other blades.

my fingers are crossed. thanks

Yeah, go straight to the Crom Ox. I was not impressed with the amount of laps the 12K required to get anything accomplished.

The important part is setting the bevel, which it sounds like you accomplshed. You may have to go back to the 8k a little if you aren't progressing, and then back to the Ox.

Hit up the Ox until it doesn't just pop hairs, but cuts them in two silently.


Then shave:nj

I'm thinking that I might be looking at the OP in a different light.

*disclaimer** I am not a honemeister**

If you're going from "light pressure" to "no pressure", that might be your problem.

I had trouble honing early on when I would use light pressure on the lower grit to establish the bevel then use lighter pressure (to zero pressure) on the finishing hones. The problem was that the "light" pressure was slightly flexing the blade so that the edge would be in contact with the hone (due to the pressure) and a bevel would be established. Mission accomplished :)

The problem was that by using less and less pressure on the finer hones I was not flexing the blade in the same way and the actual edge was losing contact with the hones. So by the time I got to the 12k and had alleviated the pressure on the blade the actual edge had lost contact at a much lower grit (either the 4k or 8k point).

I finally realized that the pressure was causing the problems, and I haven't had the same problem since (both both HC and SS).

I hope that makes sense (it's hard to talk honing), and helps a bit.

so i shaved this morning with it and got a smooth shaved. a little irritation though. the strange thing is the blade felt different and it sounded like it was pulling, like a scrapping sound but it didn't feel like it was pulling. it was weird. it was a decent shave but still needs work. i think i will go back to the 8k and the CrOx the crap out of it. ha! see where i get.

thanks for all the suggestions and posts. any more would be great too. i will keep trying it out. i am making progress but it is slow.

Chee16, do you have a microscope to look for microchipping? That's been my problem with my stainless blade. I got it shaving well (in fact, it's my most comfortable shaver) in spite of the microchips, but I'd *really* like to see how well it would shave with no chips in the blade. :)

I am going to assume this is a Norton 8K???
If so try letting the stone go to almost dry as you hone out for the finish edge, and at zero pressure....
You can get a little more out of a Norton 8K by doing this, then go Cr and 50 linen and 100 leather then try the shave....

Hope that helps...:gl:

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Originally Posted by FloorPizza

Chee16, do you have a microscope to look for microchipping? That's been my problem with my stainless blade. I got it shaving well (in fact, it's my most comfortable shaver) in spite of the microchips, but I'd *really* like to see how well it would shave with no chips in the blade. :)

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i have a cheap one that claims 100x mag. when i look at it the bevel is really nice, very even and no deep scratch pattern, i have been working on this thing for a while so it should be nice :D

so would i be able to see the micro chipping with 100x and if so how big will the chips be in comparison to the bevel width (sorry i know you haven't seen this particular bevel but a guess would be great).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

I am going to assume this is a Norton 8K???
If so try letting the stone go to almost dry as you hone out for the finish edge, and at zero pressure....
You can get a little more out of a Norton 8K by doing this, then go Cr and 50 linen and 100 leather then try the shave....

Hope that helps...:gl:

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You know you've really got it bad when reading a great post like this gets you excited! I can almost feel the great shave already!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chee16

i have a cheap one that claims 100x mag. when i look at it the bevel is really nice, very even and no deep scratch pattern, i have been working on this thing for a while so it should be nice :D

so would i be able to see the micro chipping with 100x and if so how big will the chips be in comparison to the bevel width (sorry i know you haven't seen this particular bevel but a guess would be great).

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I probably have the same cheap-o microscope as you. At 100X, microchips in the very outer portion of the edge make the edge look ------------u----------------v--------------. If, at 100x, your edge is ------------------- from heal to toe, I'd say you're in good shape.

Man, I hope you're able to whip that Puma into shape. There's a good reason you don't find them on ebay very often...they are fantastic shavers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FloorPizza

Man, I hope you're able to whip that Puma into shape. There's a good reason you don't find them on ebay very often...they are fantastic shavers.

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i have another one that is identical but the scales are broken and the strange corrosion is deeper into the blade unfortunately. it is next and i think i will give it some aluminum scales as i have some aluminum sitting around. maybe bead blast a neat design into them, something simple though. BTW i broke the scales, not on purpose but they were pretty warped so i was flexing them back just to see how flexible they were and bam the one broke. totally my fault, but i figure considering the amount of material i have to take off to get past the corrosion the thing won't be a huge money maker as far as sales go, so i might as well use it as something to play around with rescaling wise.

unfortunately my beard doesn't grow fast enough to have used it again yet, i am going to go back to the 8k and then the CrOx and then hit the linen (which i don't always do) and then the Leather. i don't think i have any micro chipping from your description. i can't wait to get this thing going.

so i went back tot he 8k for about 50 laps in total and then the CrOx and then the linen and leather. i have been using 2 layers of tape, simply because i originally used one layer to keep the hone wear down and when i was having troubles i went to 2 layers to see where i got. i have thought about resetting back to one layer as i am now much better at honing (not saying i am good but definitely better) but thought why reset it if things will work as they are. but i took the opportunity to put a double bevel on it since the circumstances fit. i did about 50 on the 4k with one layer and under the scope it looked about right. the shave was much better, though not perfect. it was good and pretty even with my other blades smoothness wise but i can't help but think that this thing has more to offer. ha! so i think i may go back to the CrOx for a bit and see if it smooths things out even more. other then that it is good. definitely good enough for me, now my skills need to take over :D if i can find them.

thanks for all the posts on this one as they really did help.

Wes

Well, if you ever get tired of that darn ole obnoxious Puma, just lemme know. ;)

Like an earlier post I had a few problems with some SS blades, maybe Im repeating earlier info...but i found that I just couldnt get my edge shaving sharp...
After too much time on the hones I consulted joe chandler.
To cut a long story short, i ended up using my TOS and an escher in a rotation type pyramid using slurry with both and without slurry on both, the idea that was presented to me was more of polishing the cutting edge, and bugger me it worked..Im not saying that everyone needs a TOS but it did help me out ALOT.

I doubt that this may help anyone but it certainly helped me.

regards,simon:tu

so i shaved today with my Puma and it was really nice, though i did cut myself twice because this thing is so sharp :cry:. but the rest was so good i don't even care. i ended up doing about 200 extra laps on the CrOx just for the fun of it, then 20 on the linen and 50 on the leather before the shave. i needed very little pressure and kept the skin taught and it is nice and smooth.

this thing will be in my regular line up now for sure, plus i think i can now put what i have learned (thanks to the posts on here :D) to use in refining my Carbon steel razors.

thanks again

Excellent, chee, glad to hear it!