Thread: Honing nicks

I have a $10 DoubleDuck that has nicks in the blade. Visually you can barely see them, under the microscope they are cavernous. I know some suggest starting at 1000 grit but I hit the 220 for about 100 or so circles. I then went to the 1000 and have put a few hundred circles on it. I see improvement but there are some pretty good nicks left in the blade. I was wondering if there was any other way to start this procedure other than on stones. It appears i still have a good bit of work ahead of me.
I don't mind putting in the time if that is what i have to do but if there is a better way to take out the nicks before starting the bevel it would be good to know.

Thx

Dmts will cut very fast. But after you will most lightly have scratches that need to be removed. To remove a chip I usually use the 325 grit, then 600 then 1200.
Very little pressure or you will be doing circles taking out scratches all day and night. I also dull on glass between grits up to the 4k grit. I have even dulled the edge slightly on the side of the 4k to get those microchips out.

Just a rookie talking here but I just did about 5 razors with chips/nicks the were visible to the naked eye and reset the bevel on a 1K Nani and checking with a hood type magnifier till I could not see them anymore. At that point I considered the bevel set and continued up the honing progression. The worst one IIRC took about 140 passes on the Nani 1k to get to that point and was cutting hair well before that. That said, I wonder if using a microscope magnifies problems too much creating the false impression that there is a lot more work to do. The 5 razors I did now shave well enough for me. Anyway like I said just a rookies two bits worth.

Bob

To remove the nicks with, say, a Norton 220 to 1000 progression (just guessing here), stick with the 220 until just about all of the nicks' presence have been removed. This will take time, and you should use tape to protect the spine here. To expedite matters, you could start out with 2-3 layers of tape, which will be akin to minor, minor yet controlled bread-knifing. The trick here is that as the chip-removal progresses, you can remove the layers of tape, ending with one or zero layers once the chips have been removed and you are ready to set the bevel with the 1000 stone.

If you are using a 220, i would lap it every 70-80 strokes as they dish out very quickly. And rinse the blade well as you don't want to get that 220 grit on your 1k stone. Breadknifing is extreme although I have done it, It doesn't seem like you need to do that in this case.

For nick removing I use a DMT600 (sometimes suehiro400) and rise the spine at 30 deg. angle. That makes the procedure faster and avoids deep scratches in thebevels, though you must stay very light and careful for even pressure.

Originally Posted by Sterm

For nick removing I use a DMT600 (sometimes suehiro400) and rise the spine at 30 deg. angle. That makes the procedure faster and avoids deep scratches in thebevels, though you must stay very light and careful for even pressure.

Absolutely. I do the same. For stubborn or deep nicks, I'll raise the spine off the stone. It does take a steady hand to do so. It will definitely expedite the removal of chips and nicks. I normally do it on a Chosera 1k.

Originally Posted by bill3152

Dmts will cut very fast. But after you will most lightly have scratches that need to be removed. To remove a chip I usually use the 325 grit, then 600 then 1200.
Very little pressure or you will be doing circles taking out scratches all day and night. I also dull on glass between grits up to the 4k grit. I have even dulled the edge slightly on the side of the 4k to get those microchips out.

Running an edge on glass 1x or doing a TNT to get a burr or wire off makes sense but dulling an edge to remove microchips is a form of breadknifing which I find slows down the process. If you simply keep honing, microchips go away & the razor gets sharper not duller . That's my goal anyway .

Even a small nick seems to take a very long time for me. I don't like to use a ton of pressure or raise the spine. So it becomes very tiring and lengthy. Dmt 325 speeds things a bit but even then it's a chore. I just got a shapton 220 because I gave my norton 220 to my brother. . I'm hoping that will make for speedy nick removal.

Michael

Originally Posted by mjsorkin

Even a small nick seems to take a very long time for me. I don't like to use a ton of pressure or raise the spine. So it becomes very tiring and lengthy. Dmt 325 speeds things a bit but even then it's a chore. I just got a shapton 220 because I gave my norton 220 to my brother. . I'm hoping that will make for speedy nick removal.

Michael

Experiment with different slurries on that 220. Coticule , BBW, Carborundum barber hones to suggest a few.

Really depends on the razor & the damage as sometimes even an aggressive 1k will do the job but raising the spine or adding a layer or 3 of tape can expedite things.