Originally Posted by
JimmyHAD
I disagree. First of all we are looking a 400x. I think the anomalies that may look like chips to some people at the time stamps mentioned are a combination of reflections, and/or residue from Mastro cutting the dry hair, and shaving his cheek. Add to that skin from the dry shave.
I routinely check my honing with a 40x microscope, and a 30x eye loupe. At that relatively low power I will see residue from the HHT and from the strop. At 400x I can only imagine how much more it would show.
Looking at the earlier scans with the microscope, before Mastro fixed the blade, I am betting the first owner of that blade used heavy slurry and did circles. That would account for the mixed scratches further up the belly of the blade past the bevel. Circles are fine if you are practiced at using that technique but they remove more metal, more quickly, than x strokes, and in an unpracticed and heavy hand may be too much of a good thing. The same with slurry. A little can go a long way. Some guys watch honing vids and end up creating so much slurry they're essentially dragging their razor through mud.
Referring to the video made years ago of Mastro honing a snake razor ....... I dare say if you look at a video of Lynn Abrams honing 5 or 6 years ago you'll see differences in the technique he is using now, as opposed to what he was doing then. Not surprising that Mastro also has more than one way to skin the cat, figuratively speaking.
We come along to SRP and read tutorials, watch videos, and practice honing. We develop some skills and suddenly we are experts and critics. How many razors have passed through Mastro Livi's hands ? Thousands no doubt. I'd say he is more than a craftsman, he is an artist. Great looking blade in those boxwood scales.
