Thread: Is this rust? If so, how do I fix it?

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

Whatever that loupe is, did you verify that the edge has deteriorated? The oxidation as shown in the first post didn't seem too severe, just cosmetic, but if it was stored away damp for a spell, who knows... What troubles me here is the strop as pictured--looks like mold on the leather side. I store my razor and strop outside of the bathroom, in a dry location. Use electrical tape if you're taping the spine. Gotta use a clean strop without mold like that (if that's what it is).

the edge looked fine under the microscope. the stuff on that strop is the diamond paste. I only use that for refreshing, thats not my regular strop. I'm going to apply the chromium oxide paste to the cotton side of that strop.

here is my progress so far. I took the first grid off the stone. I'm on a 400 grit paper, so it took longer than the guide said. I expected that with a finer grit sand paper. i'm doing the second round with the pencil grid right now.

rounding the edges, I took a bit more off the stone that I would have liked, but I will learn from that. time to do my 10 laps on this stone, x strokes using only the weight of the blade.

I did my best to prevent bubbling on the tape so that one side wouldn't pop up more that the other.

Okay, thanks for the strop clarification. Do what feels best for you. A refresher on the 12k hone, or on the pasted strop. Both may serve the same end. Or just a standard stropping if the edge hasn't been deteriorated. Good luck, and dry that blade off afterwards!

So I just wrapped everything up. after the 10 laps on the 12k stone, I did 10 laps on the diamond paste, than 10 laps on the chromium paste. 7 laps on a clean cotton strop, than 60 on strops on the leather side.

I didn't ruin the razor! so thats a plus. But I didn't make much difference. The shave was a little better than it was before, but not nearly as good as it used to. the razor doesn't pass the hanging hair test. The shave it self felt really smooth though. even though it failed the hanging hair test, i didn't feel any tugging when I was shaving.

I felt like I did a really poor job on the stone. I didn't want to damage the blade so I was super timid on the strokes. I saw some dark slurry on the stone, but not very much at all. in fact, I'm not sure if it was just the lighting playing tricks on my eyes. I'd like to note that after lapping/flattening the stone, the side I did came out super fine. a lot smoother than the other side by a large margin. I'm not sure if the 400 grit paper was the right choice.

All in all, I think it was a positive experience. I might give it another shot after I have some time to better process everything I just did. Thanks for reading. If anyone has some advise, feel free to let me know.

You have to do what the edge needs, not just X number of laps. When Lynn talks about a number of laps in a video it is just a ball park, you have to do, what your razor needs. And that includes pressure, you may need a little more pressure, just don’t grind it excessively. If you use more pressure lighten up on the final laps.

So look at the edge, straight down on it, looking for shiny reflections, those are chips or where the bevels are not meeting. Then look at the bevel and edge from the side where the reflections were, to see how deep the chips are. You have to hone until the bevels meet fully. with no chips. A12K super stone is more than capable of honing all but the largest chip.

Also it is probably your stropping that is dulling your edge, stropping on diamond may be dulling your edge more.

Look at the edge first, then hone until the bevels are meeting fully. Then strop on Chrome Oxide and skip the diamond. A 12k edge stropped on Chrome Oxide should give you a very nice edge.

Or bring it by and I will show you how to fix it.