Genco 5/8ths microscope pics part 2, images 1 - 4
OK, here is my promised follow-up posting of a digital microscope image sequence of trying to clean up the chipped/crumbling edge on the same Genco razor I posed an earlier sequence of.
The images were taken with a self-lit Celestron USB microscope at approximately 150X, with the blade laid nearly flat against a sheet of white typing paper. The area covered by the images is approximately 7/64" or 2.78 mm across. All images are exactly as I captured them with no enhancement, scaled down to 600 X 480. The razor is a Genco 5/8ths with considerable staining and pitting. I used a Sharpie marker as a reference to keep me in the same approximate area of the razor edge throughout the sequence.
This is not intended as a tutorial on how to restore an edge, hopefully others could do it a lot better and qucker with a lot less effort. This is just pictures to record my experience. Criticism, suggestions, and comments are very welcome, they're why I'm doing this on a rainy weekend. :popcorn:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2.../01SizeRef.jpg
Image 1: For scale, the edge of a steel ruler showing 1/64 inch increments
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...greference.jpg
Image 2: The Genco 5/8ths razor, starting where I left off in the last sequence, with the edge as it was before starting this sequence. My Sharpie reference line on the blade is the black blob on the lower left.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...3Nani1K300.jpg
Image 3: Same edge, after 6 sets of 50 light circular passes on each side, (total 300 on each side). Each set of 50 strokes on each side was followed by 10 x-strokes. To my surprise, the Naniwa 1K had zero effect on the chipping. I took shots every 50 passes, but only posted this shot after 300.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...7/04DMT200.jpg
Image 4: I gave up on the Naniwa 1K, and moved to a DMT 1200. This is after 200 light circular passes identical to those on the Naniwa 1K, but with much more effect.
Genco 5/8ths microscope pics part 2, images 5 - 8
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...7/05DMT300.jpg
Image 5: After 300 light circular passes (sets of 50 on each side, followed by 10 x-strokes after each set of 50) on the DMT 1200. The edge looked pretty clean to me at this point, so I moved on to a Norton 4K.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...orton4K100.jpg
Image 6: After 100 light circular strokes on the Norton 4K. This looked sound to me, so I decided to move on directly to an Asagi, with heavy slurry.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...07Asagi200.jpg
Image 7: After 200 X-strokes on a Nakayama Asagi 3 x 5", starting with heavy slurry on the first 50-75 strokes, finishing with slurry diluted to almost plain water.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...08Dstrop25.jpg
Image 8: After 25 passes on an SRD hard felt strop with SRD 15 Carat 0.5 micron diamond spray. I normally only use this to refresh razors, but I wanted to take an image of the effect, since I was taking a bunch of images.
Genco 5/8ths microscope pics part 2, images 9 - 11
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...7/09Crox25.jpg
Image 9: After 25 passes on a CrOx balsa wood strop.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2.../10Linen50.jpg
Image 10: After 50 passes on SRD fabric webbing "linen" strop
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...1Bridle100.jpg
Image 11: After 100 passes on SRD 3" Long Bridle strop
After a lot of strokes and removing a lot of metal, the major chipping and crumbling was removed. But micro-chipping at the very edge persists. This may be the steel, my (lack of?) honing skills, or both. The edge easily passes HHT, but I haven't yet shaved with it. It wouldn't be the first razor I'd reach for...