Microchipping

Hi all,

I've been seeing a few threads mentioning this word lately. I have a 30x loupe, which has been helpful with many honing projects to date. However, I have this one that has a few little micro-chips.

First, how does this happen? Too many laps, or too heavy a hand? something else?

What are the recommended steps to remediating these little chips?

Lastly, how can this be somewhat prevented in the future?

I have looked at all of the other blades I have sharpened in my rotation, and only this one (a wedge) has any visible microchipping. All the others are smooth, comfortable shavers.

Thanks for your help. It's always appreciated. :)

It can be caused by too many laps or too heavy a hand, or it can be the stones you are using. I find Sheffield razors dont like high grit synthetics so I reduce my laps there and do more on my natural finishers to avoid micro-chipping. What hones are you using for this razor? How many laps are you doing on each stone?

Can you see that the edge is good clean steel the whole way along? Theres no tarnish or pitting on the edge at all? If there is anything like that you'll need to go back to your 1k to remove it.

Also many times with use a razor will start to develop little chips and other imperfections through daily wear.

Stu,

I've used a 220/1 norton, and a 4/8 norton, and finished with a 12k naniwa. The bevel took forever to set. I think I picked it up and put it down three times because of frustration. One the whole thing was passing the AHT i moved to the 4/8. Two full pyramids beginning at 25 strokes, and finished with 20 laps on the naniwa.

At the end of one pyramid, I gave it a test shave just to see, out of curiosity. It was tugging pretty bad, so I moved back to the pyramid, and tested again. It was shaving, with only a minor tug here and there. I took a look at it under the loupe, and the edge looked clean and a nice straight line. Did 20 laps on the naniwa, and looked again, and it had about 6-8 little chips, mostly towards the heal.

Then I tried a very conservative pyramid to see if I could hone/polish some of them out. A few went by the wayside.

Now I'm completely paranoid of putting more strokes on it......I feel like I'm already well over the limit, compared to when I hone my full hollows, even though I know they'll shape up quicker.

Frustrated....and trying to figure this puzzle out.

Maxi

What works best for me on most wedges is to get them on naturals with slurry ASAP after bevel set. No higher than 4K synthetic. The slurry cushions the edge and prevents microchipping.

Another avenue you may want to try is a microbevel on the higher grits of the stones you already have. This may eliminate your MC altogether and cut down honing time. I use to put microbevels on all my wedges until I got hold of Jnats with success.

If the bevel is very large, they become proportionaly harder to hone. This would be a perfect candidate for a regrind IME so sharpening will be easier.

Thanks Kingfish.

When you put a micro bevel on your wedges, did you use a significant amount of tape to keep the angle the same on both sides of the blade, or did you eyeball?

Tape sounds like a possible option. I've always worked with higher grit hones in order to control microchipping. It's a simple approach but it works well. So, I would recommend more laps on your highest grit hone or two highest grit hones, nothing near 4K though.

Also, as you flip the razor over between strokes make sure the edge does not fall down on the hone, rather it should land like little butterfly feet. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maxi

Thanks Kingfish.

When you put a micro bevel on your wedges, did you use a significant amount of tape to keep the angle the same on both sides of the blade, or did you eyeball?

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I use to add just one piece of tape. Some add two. Make sure your wedge is hollow enough for the spine and bevel to lay flat..
Eyeball is fine unless the belly of the razor is not hollow enough, then you have a different animal. The wear marks in the tape should only be visible on the spine and not the edges of the tape in the hollow.
Also,depending where you start your micro, if you did your homework on the lower grits, it goes very quick on the upper grits.

Just IMHO, I've had razors that were shave ready but had a micro chip or two. I could have started on a 4k or less and honed the chips (micro chips, not visible to the naked eye) but chose to strop and shave. I found that in the couple of examples I did this with the micro chips were inconsequential to the smoothness of the shave. That said, there are chips and than there are chips so YMMV. :)

Microchipping also occurs during shaving. The http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...tml#post681830 thread shows what can happen to a sharp edge with use. Basically, the sharp "V" shaped edge can have a series of folded over "J" shaped regions. Stropping re-aligns those "J"s, but sometimes they break off and this results in a microchip.

There is one possible explanation that has not been mentioned. If this is a vintage razor,and your first time honing it, then maybe you have not removed enough of the old, weak,oxidized steel from the edge. The weak steel will only show microchips at the higher grits, 8K or finer. If the finer stones or slurry approach don't work then try this option.
One other question...what is the blade width and spine thickness?

So after having bashed my head against the wall a couple of times with this same wedge, I talked to Basil who lives in Toronto. He and I met up, and he brought one of his Coti's with him. Really nice guy too.

Anyway, I went onto Coticule.be, and followed some instructions there. I set a secondary bevel with a thick slurry on the Coti, and did about 80 laps past the bevel set with a milky slurry. Washed the stone and the razor. Fifty laps, clear water on the Coti, and then 30 light laps on my Naniwa 12k. Strop and Shave.

Now I'm beginning to understand why some people like wedges. This was actually an incredibly gentle shave, and very smooth. I think it may be time to join the Coti club. Over the course of the last week, I've used Basil's hone to sharpen about 6 razors, and they are all smooth as silk right now.

I've beaten my first wedge. It won lots of the battles, but I just won the war, and in the process learned an incredible amount about honing in general.

Thanks for all the help and tips.

Maxi.