Thread: W&B edge crumbling at macro level.

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

You have provide great information to us excpet one?
what do you mean Low grit water hone? how low is it?
if that grit below 2000 then your razor is fine. change stone use higher grits and you should be ok.
hope this helps.

Well, it is a cheap Home Depot stone which doesn't state the grit, but it is well below 2000. That being the case the blade still constantly crumbles only in certain areas. Which makes me think it's the steel and not the hone.

I will try to see if I can hone through it. You guys did answer one of my big questions by omission. It doesn't seem that old Wade & Butcher blades are ever just poor quality and brittle.

There could be some elements of the steel and/or heat treatment involved. But I think that would have to occur on a "perfect storm" basis. Old razors were manufactured with heavy emphasis on the ritual aspect of reproducibility rather than necessarily the science that is available today to guide replication of desired results. All that means is that it's possible for a bad razor blade. Rituals generally produce consistent results even if the Why questions are never answered until generations later.

The edge looks clean in your photo, meaning I don't see any lines of corrosion penetrating deep into the steel and down to the areas that are flaking away. Higher magnification may give you a better look at that though.

Without being capable of providing a better honing answer, I'm in agreement with the idea that the wire edge is getting caught in the too large honing grit of the coarser stone. A finer stone is the answer for now.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

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Without being capable of providing a better honing answer, I'm in agreement with the idea that the wire edge is getting caught in the too large honing grit of the coarser stone. A finer stone is the answer for now.

Just to make sure it wasn't my cheep low grit hone I used it to put a bevel on a Electric Cutlery blade that I'm working on and there wasn't any macro crumbling involved. In fact, the blade was sharp enough to shave some whiskers. So now I'm convinced there is something wrong with the W&B blade.

I ended up honing the W&B in front of the T.V. for an other two hours last night (my girlfriend must think I've gone a little soft in the head ), still the same problem. I think I'll end up using it as a practice blade for when I get my greaseless compounds next week.

Thanks, Chris

Originally Posted by Villalobos

Just to make sure it wasn't my cheep low grit hone I used it to put a bevel on a Electric Cutlery blade that I'm working on and there wasn't any macro crumbling involved. In fact, the blade was sharp enough to shave some whiskers. So now I'm convinced there is something wrong with the W&B blade.

I ended up honing the W&B in front of the T.V. for an other two hours last night (my girlfriend must think I've gone a little soft in the head ), still the same problem. I think I'll end up using it as a practice blade for when I get my greaseless compounds next week.

Thanks, Chris

The stone you are using is far too coarse, the HD stone is a coarse/fine alu oxide stone that's about 150 on the coarse side and 320 on the fine side. You need a much finer stone but after 2 hours of grinding with the stone you have you might need a new razor.

Originally Posted by Villalobos

Well, it is a cheap Home Depot stone which doesn't state the grit, but it is well below 2000. That being the case the blade still constantly crumbles only in certain areas. Which makes me think it's the steel and not the hone.

I will try to see if I can hone through it. You guys did answer one of my big questions by omission. It doesn't seem that old Wade & Butcher blades are ever just poor quality and brittle.

Sorry nothing wrong with your blade it is your hone and pressure you use it to hone the blade.
hope this helps.

I had a big, beautiful W&B with this same problem. It ended up looking like a traingle before I was done trying to get rid of the bad steel. In my case, I may have overheated it with polishing compounds, though I thought I was careful with them.

OK. For the people who still think it's the hone and not the blade. I used the HD hone on this crown and sword that had a frown on it. It looks very different than the W&B edge. I appreciate the advice. Sorry the picture came out so huge.

Please pay attention they are different razor and has different steel . they will not act to your stone same.hope this helps

I have a little 1/4 grind Haywood blade that is suffering from the same problem. The edge just crumbles away. Sometimes I can break little pieces off with a little pressure on my thumbnail. I've been using a DMT 1200 but just switched to the 8000 so progress is slow.

Originally Posted by DogHair

I have a little 1/4 grind Haywood blade that is suffering from the same problem. The edge just crumbles away. Sometimes I can break little pieces off with a little pressure on my thumbnail. I've been using a DMT 1200 but just switched to the 8000 so progress is slow.

If you've got a norton then the 4k side is quite good at this sort of thing.