Thread: Magnetic straights and honing

Hi all,

While honing the Griffon "Carbo Magnetic" straight I bought, I noticed something interesting. While I was honing, by the time where my carbon steel Sodbuster pocket knife loads up the honing oil and stone with steel particles, the stone was perfectly clear and the oil nearly so.

-I then wiped the blade of oil, and found it very dark with steel. It was the magnetisim of the blade! While I honed, the metal particles were stuck to the blade sides, keeping the oil and stone surprisingly clear. So, I guess there is a slight benefit to the magnetic blade after all.

Regards,
Chaz

Hi Chaz, interesting observation. What stone are you using to hone your razor ?

Originally Posted by ChazH

Hi all,

While honing the Griffon "Carbo Magnetic" straight I bought, I noticed something interesting. While I was honing, by the time where my carbon steel Sodbuster pocket knife loads up the honing oil and stone with steel particles, the stone was perfectly clear and the oil nearly so.

-I then wiped the blade of oil, and found it very dark with steel. It was the magnetisim of the blade! While I honed, the metal particles were stuck to the blade sides, keeping the oil and stone surprisingly clear. So, I guess there is a slight benefit to the magnetic blade after all.

Regards,
Chaz

I have seen this too. Norton 4/8K, C12K, SS12K all seem cleaner
with a magnetic blade....

I wonder about transfer of iron swarf to the canvas of the strop
over time. I do see 'rust' on my white SS12K a couple days
later if I do not clean it 100%. I am not sure this iron oxide
is a problem. The grain size would be right and the hardness
of most iron oxides in the right ballpark to to polish the edge.

Jimmy,

I was really bevel setting and coarse honing, the stones used were both a fine grit silicon carbide Carborundum stone, a soft Arkasas, and 2,000 grit wet/dry sandpaper stuck to the Arkansas. The final edge was put on it with a sheet of copy paper stuck to the Arkansas and smeared with Simichrome polish to make kind of pasted strop. The effect showed on all the steps of honing with the stones and sandpaper, hard to say if it did with the polish or not.

Tom,

I would also think that iron oxide on the strop would not pose a problem, as you said, red polishing rouge is made from iron oxide, so I would think the fine dusting of particles should just polish the edge a bit more, if anything.

-Chaz

I think you may well find that the Griffon Carbo-Magnetic was never intended to be magnetised - I have seen several and none were. Of course any steel blade can be given magnetic properties - a steel rod when given a sharp tap on a hard surface (don't do this with your razor though!) and aligned north/south immediately will become faintly magnetic. Might have happened here - I've also seen the reverse, that is, blades with no 'magnetic' claim that were magnetic to some degree, and one (a dublduck would you believe!) would pick nails up!

Blueprinciple,

That's interesting, mine was slightly magnetic. Interesting thing is, I took a 1/32" nick out of it's edge (was there when I got it) and set the bevel on a belt sander (worn belt and a careful touch, worked great) and it lost it's magnetism! I had never heard about tapping a piece of steel when pointing North/South to magnetize it, odd.

I'm going to re magnetize it with one of those screwdriver magnetizers.

(Also, I think a saw a video of that Dubl Duck, very weird!)

-Chaz

I have a Carbo-Magnetic , and it is definitely magnetic . Magnetizing razors is a gimmick from the past . I think the name "Carbo-Magnetic" came from the high carbon , magnetic steel the razor was made from .

Dave,

Yes, it was a gimmick originally, but as I and others have noted it does help keep hones clean when honing. FYI, the steel was not magnetic steel, there is no such thing. It was a normal high carbon steel that was then magnetized after it was made. My guess would be a simple high carbon steel like 1095.

I also re magnitazed mine today with the screwdriver magnetizer (a magnet set in plasitc, basically). It worked, but I had to fiddle around a few minutes before I got the blade evenly magnetized. If anyone wants to try it, this is how I made it work;

First, I passed the blade (not the tang) through to magnetize it. Then, I de-magnetized the tip of the blade, and the entire tang. Then I passed the whole blade through to magnetize it.

I also have an industrial magnetizer/de-magnetizer and will give it a try when I dig it out of storage.

-Chaz