Thread: Identifying a convex bevel caused by extensive pasted stropping

Originally Posted by Catrentshaving

The one question that I would have if I had to touch up on a pasted strop every shave would be the integrity of the steel in the blade etc.

I guess if it works for you then have at it...to each their own. But if I had to run one of my Custom blades over a pasted strop each shave then I would wonder what I paid so many of my hard earned dollars for

Granted, I have 20 some razors in my rotation, but it's been well over 3yrs since I've had to take one of them to a hone or paddle for a touchup. Even then it was only 10 laps on CroOx, otherwise it's just plain linen and leather before each shave

Can't speak for anyone else but I am doing it as an experiment. Just for the fun of it and so far it has done no damage and seems to actually have gotten smoother and I also strop afterwards. Just my 2¢ of whats workin'

I feel like I have stepped into the middle of an argument here.

Personally, I use 0.25 diamond and 0.1 CBN to add a tiny bit of convexity to razors that I have honed on Shaptons and/or the Gokumyo 20k and I find this improves the keenness and longevity . I find I can touch this up once or twice with the 0.25 diamond before I need to narrow the bevel a bit by dropping to the Shapton 8k/16k. To me, this is consistent with the "less is more" concept since I only use paste on a good edge to make it better, never on a poor edge to try to make it good. Also, I find 0.5 micron diamond too aggressive. FYI, my other razors are Coticule honed, always Unicot, never pasted and touched up on the Coticule.

That said, I would like to think I have shown that stropping on submicron abrasive only abrades the last few microns of the edge. The key point is that the equilibrium "shape" is produce fairly quickly and after that, very little steel is removed. In other words, less is already alot and more is not much more. My only reason for entering this thread was to offer an explanation for the OP's observations and Glen's earlier experiment.

Originally Posted by fuzzychops

I feel like I have stepped into the middle of an argument here.

Personally, I use 0.25 diamond and 0.1 CBN to add a tiny bit of convexity to razors that I have honed on Shaptons and/or the Gokumyo 20k and I find this improves the keenness and longevity . I find I can touch this up once or twice with the 0.25 diamond before I need to narrow the bevel a bit by dropping to the Shapton 8k/16k. To me, this is consistent with the "less is more" concept since I only use paste on a good edge to make it better, never on a poor edge to try to make it good. Also, I find 0.5 micron diamond too aggressive. FYI, my other razors are Coticule honed, always Unicot, never pasted and touched up on the Coticule.

That said, I would like to think I have shown that stropping on submicron abrasive only abrades the last few microns of the edge. The key point is that the equilibrium "shape" is produce fairly quickly and after that, very little steel is removed. In other words, less is already alot and more is not much more. My only reason for entering this thread was to offer an explanation for the OP's observations and Glen's earlier experiment.

If there is an argument taking place then I have not noticed

I find this thread very interesting and I think your pics are astounding and invaluable to the discussion so thank you for sharing them. I have a great interest in the scientific side of everything and that is why I was drawn to this discussion.