Thread: Advice for killer edge on friodur

Very interesting thread. My experience as a Tool and Die maker was that SS never had as high a hardness on the Rockwell "C" scale as any tool steels. If a higher hardness was possible in stainless it would have been used regardless of the cost in the last place I worked. Stainless was always a bear to cut regardless of the method. Band saw, drill, tap, mill and especially grind. It is a very tough steel that resists abrasion.

The difference results between honing on a stone with a very fine grit and stropping w/paste or CROX is that , stating the obvious, the hone is hard with no give or spring as the strop w/ any type of paste being leather, balsa or paper will have some spring to it even if ever so slight. The metal particles that are polished of the blade have no place to go on the finer homes so they rub back on the blade where on the strop the particles of metal are pushed slightly below the stropping surface and have less pressure on the blade. Due to the toughness of the stainless theese stainless steel particles have a different effect than tool steels, again due to the toughness of the stainless steel and it's higher chromium content.

Going from the 4000k to a blue belgian, Thuringian or some sort of paste sounds logical. Since I am into a Friodur rotation I will try this tomorrow.

Ironically, I did a Friodur last night and I just did Hess SS this evening. I use a microscope at each step. I will only hone until I get the desired effect. I also did a number carbon steel blades both new and antique along with these SS blades. The the Hess took one layer of tape on the spine and the Friodur took three. Both came out scary sharp. They took no more time then the carbon blades. I used the Friodur for this mornings shave and it was great. For me it is boiling down to going after the desired results and not worrying about number of strokes at what grit.

Originally Posted by cotdt

I just won a Friodur on eBay. It has never been sharpened so I will have to set the bevel and start at the beginning. Are they difficult to sharpen? I notice with my stainless steel knives that the edge chips easily if I use a DMT diamond hone, but is fine with my waterstones although waterstones have difficulty cutting SS. Does Friodur have this same chipping problem?

Was this the 451 that went for 70ish$? I considerd seriously this one but already have a 451 and was looking at a diffrent razor too. Mine has been a real A+ shaver and holds a really keen edge if you look at it wrong it will make you bleed. Mine has not been too bad to hone... its not easy... but I own worse! When you get it right she right for a long time. It is a little noisy though...compared.

Matt

Originally Posted by Vashaver

Was this the 451 that went for 70ish$? I considerd seriously this one but already have a 451 and was looking at a diffrent razor too. Mine has been a real A+ shaver and holds a really keen edge if you look at it wrong it will make you bleed. Mine has not been too bad to hone... its not easy... but I own worse! When you get it right she right for a long time. It is a little noisy though...compared.

Matt

Yep that was the one. It had my initials pre-carved into the scales so that's why I went for it. I want to try stainless, I figure that if it's not as good as my Ducks I could simply sell it.

Thanks for all the great feedback! But it made me a little confused.So SS is harder than CS, but with less carbon????
That is what the Rockwell scale is about,right?

From my understanding of the posts above, the friodurs are not as hard at 56 as the carbons at 61-64, or even the softer carbons at 58-59. I can't base these figures on anything but what i've read here. The stainless is possibly a little more resistant to abrasion though, resulting in the extra honing time experienced by many. The fact that Paysbas has experienced the opposite throws another option in there too. People seem to have gained success with many routes. What is it with these Friodurs?

Hello cotdt,

I don't know if the newer generation of Friodurs is harder in the Rockwellscale

Originally Posted by cotdt

Yep that was the one. It had my initials pre-carved into the scales so that's why I went for it. I want to try stainless, I figure that if it's not as good as my Ducks I could simply sell it.

I see that you had asked that and figured you would be willing to go higher than me.
If you dont like it let me know

Matt

Since I am on a Friodur rotation this week and next I thought I'd try the 1k, 3k, Thuringia hone progression.

Here's what I did:

Razor: 7/8 Friodur Inox Round Point
1) 1200k Chinese hone, water only ubtil water pushed up blade for entire edge/Both sides.
2) Arm hair shave test one hair at a time, toe, center and heel of blade.
3) 4000k Norton w/ same water test.
4) same arm hair test
5) Thuringia hone w/ light/thin milky slurry thinning slurry with more water as I went until mostly water and no slurry
6) Heirloom 2 1/2 strop 25 laps Latigo, 25 laps Horsehide.
7) hot shower prep
TGQ Cavendish Black shave soap
WTG pass, XTG Pass, ATG pass
Royall Lyme AS
Results: Silky smooth killer shave BBS

Note: The edge on this blade was very good to start with and surpassing it's starting state took almost no effort. I did not use any tape on spine.
Pics here for SOTD 01/26/09 http://straightrazorpalace.com/shave...-jan-31st.html

Originally Posted by Kenrup

Hi Kristoffer, Friodurs can be very frustrating. I have experiment with many of them that were sent to me for honing. If I had one that would not cooperate, I would start taping the spine. It seems like it an average of three or four layers of 3M 1700 electrical tape will give an angle that the blade likes. It has been my experience that the stainless steel blades tend to be softer then carbon steel blades. I would tape at the 4000 grit level then tape all the way through 12000, 16000, to 0.5µ to 0.25µ diamond paste on a leather bench strop. I would then remove the tape and strop on a horsehide hanging strop. If it looked good under the microscope after the last stropping, it has usually been a good durable edge. That only stainless steel I have had hold an edge as long as a carbon steel razor has been AT34. I do have a Dovo SS that I use at my gym that will also hold its edge for a longtime; however, it is an anomaly.

I just honed it with 3 layers of tape.Did about 50 laps on 4000/8000, then straight to chro. ox ( To test the german proposition.)for 30 laps.Finished on latigo with 100 laps.Talk about sticky edge! HHT with super thin hair stolen from wives hairbrush all along the edge with no sound! Sadly I have shaved already today,so I will use it tomorrow. Thanks alot Ken, You know your stuff!

Kristoffer.