Thread: Microscopes don't lie

Recently I noticed the only carbon razor in my arsenal was shaving nicer than my stainless razors and quickly concluded that I might be a carbon blade guy. I decided on more or less a whim to look at both blades under a microscope again.

Very carefully reviewing the edge I could slowly pick out the problems. I could see the strange inconsistencies, rather unexpected considering all I've done is hone them. I began rehoning the blade very carefully, using all the skills I've picked up over the last few years and more importantly, reviewing each series slowly under the microscopes exacting view.

With the scope dialed up and my new found experience in what to look for I was able to pick up variances even in the .5 arena. I was able to see the exact moment the blade was done. Really neat!

Following this the blade returned to its single pass, WTG shaving BBS quality I so expect from a straight. Afterward, with an incredible shave I was left with some slight embarrassment for letting them go so imperfectly because they "were shaving ok".

I did notice during the microscopes test drive that stropping only 4-6 passes was all that was needed to get the entire edge perfect. Some additional food for thought I suppose.

Very cool, Alan. I wish you had pics (somehow). I'd love to see the comparison of razors and also the progression of the honing process.

John

Alan, that's some very interesting stuff. What kind of a microscope did you use?

Alan,

Cool discovery. I'm starting to think that the conservative approach to honing is good for beginners but that it might mean a lot of us are getting good shaves from razors that could be great.

An edge will still shave even with a lot of funky imperfections. I'm finding that taking a razor back to the 1000-grit stone really helps get rid of junk that the 4K stone wouldn't. Or at least not in less than 16 hours.

Keep in mind that I'm talking about eBay specials here. I haven't yet worked on a brand new razor. But I've had the most success with creating an entirely new bevel on the 1K, then polishing that with 50 to 100 strokes on a 4K stone. I get HHT sharp that way. Then I smooth with about 20 strokes on the 8K and a couple of 1-5 pyramids. And the edge is straight and the bevel looks like ice.

I've just been surprised what some of my edges that pass the HHT look like at 100X. Taking the razor back to a coarser grit almost always results in taking a big improvement in sharpness.

Merry Christmas,
Josh

Yes Josh, very good stuff. Thats one of my favorite things about buying new, no need to rip into it that deep. The bevel is nearly perfect. In fact, without being sharp you can, with the right touch, actually make a lot of shave ready razors shaveable, just by stropping.

I just used a RadioShack microscope, our typical optical love child.

Mrcleanhead, the razor was very sharp but had some microchipping along the edge which being ultra sharp I just assumed wasn't a big deal. I simply corrected the microchipping and went for an ultra smooth, black ice look.

I decided to approach this razor with an ultra high grit oil stone and go very, very easy then finish on .5 paste. The idea being to use the least aggresive approach possible. It was a little different than my usual approach which is to attack with the right hone at the right time. In other words, since I could see the edge getting sharper and smoother using just .5 I was willing to spend the time on it.

The carbon razor needed 10 passes on .5. The stainless needed 20 laps on an ultra high grit stone followed by 150 passes on .5. Now I could've used more laps on an 8K Norton to get it closer, I simply chose not to. Normally, I would have grown inpatient with the .5, but in this case I could actually watch the progression and even see some areas which didn't get as smooth as other areas and I could compensate as I went.

This is great advice Alan. I find that not all razors take to .5 diamond paste and that it actually can cause micro chipping while other razors, particularly TI's love it. Other razors just like the Coticule or Escher to finish. Some like the green paste. The microscope can sort it all out. It is amazing how close a shave you can get with a micro chipped edge and how much more comfortable the shave is without them.

Lynn

So just how smooth? Spent yet another hour on my new Fili 13 trying to get it just so. I've given up on the 100x magnification, but it seems nearly impossible to get it perfectly smooth on even the 60x magnification. I notice that even on blades I've gotten from Joe and Lynn there are still occasional dips in the edge, though most is visually straight.

On a non-visual scale, do you work a grit until there is no extra click feel/sound where I suspect the edge's slight irregularity rubs against the hone? I hope this click does not represent instead an irregularity of the hone, which I believe I have lapped sufficiently.

Originally Posted by OccamsRazor

On a non-visual scale, do you work a grit until there is no extra click feel/sound where I suspect the edge's slight irregularity rubs against the hone? I hope this click does not represent instead an irregularity of the hone, which I believe I have lapped sufficiently.

It might be some grit embedded in the hone, or it could be a high spot. I had a persistent spot like that on my translucent arkansas that I couldn't get rid of by lapping that was solved when a Friodur I was honing took it off, a nearly transparent nickel-sized slice of stone that curled up onto the blade and that was the end of it.

I get that click sound sometimes if I'm honing and test shaving. I've always thought it was a whisker.

I only go up to about 60x and just get it as smooth as I can.

I've found it's easier to ignore the focusing wheel. You can focus the microscope by moving closer or farther away from the razor's edge.

Lay the razor on a table or desk with the edge facing toward you. Get your head down close to it, and hold the microscope in both hands with your forearms resting on the table to steady it. It's pretty shaky, but you'll get the hang of it.

Josh