Thread: Dissapearing Edge

Maybe you had a wire edge, or you stropping/cleaning routine dulled it.

You should pay attention to the last strokes when you shave, and determine if the razor deteriorates during the shave, or after, before the next one.
Looking under magnification can be quite telling what is happening.

I am sorry to ruin the parade of some of the posters who are certain they've already figured it out, but there are different things that can occur, and at this point we do not have enough information to differentiate among them. Even if somebody ends up being right about the problem, that's just a coincidence, not based on actual knowledge.

i've never experianced this before. What would i do? i'd probably lightly dull the edge with one stroke on a glass and start again at the 5k goto 8k and i like to test of my 8k and you should get a good shave there at some point. Then i would polish of with 12k and 10 laps on say .5 spray as lynn recomends. so realy just start again for me ,

Gentlemen,

With the help of my microscope, I have found that there never really was a shave ready edge to begin with. I think there were some areas of the edge that were shaveable, and those were corrupted by that first shave.

The edge was quite craggy under the microscope.

So following Glen's advice, I went back to the 5k, 8k, then 12k and doubled the laps. Inspected with my scope and the edge had improved greatly. I did one more full set as described above, and inspected again.
The edge was even and smooth, no cragginess.

Of course I'll have to wait till tomorrow for the shave for final inspection.

So I learned a valuable lesson. I can hone a razor where it is popping hairs, passes the TPT (or at least my TPT) and seems shaveable, and not really be shave ready. That is something I will be cognizant of while I continue to learn how to hone. Also, I need to use my microscope more. For heaven's sake, that's why I bought the thing.

Thank you for all of your help.

David

Great to hear you found the problem.
The scope is very useful tool.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

or I make too much money?

Yes, I would . . .

I hope you enjoy your scope, they tell you the truth about an edge!

If the edge was "craggy" under the microscope and it was a vintage blade that means that you never removed the old, oxidised, weak edge in the first go round on the hones. You may need to go back to that level to get a durable edge.

Removing the weak, old edge is fundamental to developing a strong, new bevel. Pay real close attention if your using a microscope but if your not then may I suggest a minimum of 50 laps on a 1000 grit sanpaper and most likely 100 laps. Sometimes more.
If your using a Norton 1000 then it will take more since it is not as aggressive as sandpaper.

Originally Posted by Alembic

Group,

This has happened to me a couple of times. I will hone a razor and the frist shave is just incredible - like a laser. I clean and oil the blade, come back a couple of days later and the razor pulls like it could use a touch up on the 12k.

Has anybody had this happen? Is it possible that I never really got them shave ready to begin with or maybe some how I trapped moisture on the edge and it degraded?

Thanks for any input.

David

How are you cleaning the razor?

Are you using a strop and if so what strop, pasted strops?

I would review my use of a strop if I had this situation.
It is almost as if you have an ultra fine edge that
is getting rolled. A paddle strop or news paper on scrap
lumber might be worth a try.

Since there are 50 posts in front of me one odd thing
to pay attention to is scale rot from one bad apple in
a box of razors. Ventilation and a dry place is a good thing
if that is related.

Is your body chemistry acidic? Most metals corrode very quickly in contact with my skin.

The reason I ask, is because I experience something very like your phenomenon with my own razors. I believe the edge is degrading in storage because of residual acids on the blade that are nearly impossible to get rid of. If I just hone the razor and oil it and put it away then the edge will be fine for a long time.

Several times now I've repeated an experiment where I took two similar razors (same make and model) and honed them to the same level of sharpness. Then I shave with both, one half of my face with each one. One of them is cleaned and oiled and put away, the other is used every day for the next week. Then I pull them both out, strop, and use them again to get a good comparison. Typically the razor I put away after one use is in comparable or worse shape than the one I was using and stropping every day.

What seems to minimize this degradation is to rinse the blade edge-up under the hot water for several minutes, then strop thoroughly on the linen side of the strop, then oil it well. And I tend to use the same razor day after day so it's always getting cleaned and stropped and I can keep an eye on it as it degrades.