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I think something like this post was started but was never finished. I kind of shorten things a little and actually did a lot of stropping.. I really just think its cool looking. They are listed in order.
After Honing, After 50 pulls on plain felt, 50 pulls on a latigo paddle shave then 50 more, 100 pulls on paddle shave then 100 more.
figured i would redo this one...
After Honing
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...ter_honing.jpg
After 50 pulls on plain felt
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...after_felt.jpg
50 pulls on a latigo paddle shave then 50 more
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...ave_then50.jpg
100 pulls on paddle shave then 100 more
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...ve_then100.jpg
I will keep this thread updated as I continue to strop and shave... Stropping is king as I have read on here several times... I am hoping to show why..
It's very difficult to tell from photos like that because the slightest change in angle or light makes massive differences in the photos. However, thanks for your efforts they are still cool.
This is a great idea, and I hope to do the same thing soon on my own (I picked up a scope, but not USB. I'm working on a setup so I can take pics with it though).
Can I make one request: Can you make the pics consistent in angle, lighting, background? From the little bit of time I've gotten to play around with my scope I've noticed that the blade looks significantly different under different lighting conditions. Consistency would help to highlight the affects of honing/stropping, etc.
Thanks!
Can you also tell us what stones you used & what magnification we are seeing ?:beer1:
While I do agree with you on the slightest changes, I used my SLR and macro set up for these, and the camera stayed stationery on my tripod and I just slipped the blade on the paddle strop into the image area. and the lighting was from a ring light... Of course I had to crop and zoom in digitally beyond the optical magnification but I shoot camera raw at a high resolution.. I did try my best to eliminate the Murphy Laws of photography...Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
Oh man... I am sorry, I have been pretty scatter brained lately and forgetting the minor details... :gaah: Just only seem to focus when I have that Shaaarp blade to my jugular.. :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by onimaru55
Ok for the Stones: Norton 4000/8000 combo stone (I have a 12000 stone comming and hoped to get to use it in this but it apparently was on back order)
Unfortunately I can't say the magnification though.. this is my super macro set up on my canon 5D in combination with digital zoom in lightroom... I will have to do some calculations though, but it's a 100mm macro lens with a flipped 50mm f/1.2... it is a royal pain to focus but you can see the lips on a fly with this rig.. :borg: Man I love technology... won't snub my nose at the old style (I even have a 4x5 that I use for landscapes from time to time)...
Here is the Next round of photos and the cool thing is I actually comfirmed a few things I have seen on the forum a few times.. Also using felt at the beginning kind of takes the blade a step back a little...
25 felt
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...trop-shave.jpg
100 strop then shave
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...then-shave.jpg
I noticed that the changes were slight and I remembered what I read a few time on the forum about warming up the blad and then working the leather to warm it up too. Soooo I warmed the blade in hot water then warmed the strop with a hair dryer, I did keep the dryer on the strop to a minimum because I worried about drying it out. Didn't really know how leather would react to prolonged hair dying.... This is the result..
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...hair-dryer.jpg
Now I don't know if it was just a direct result of the heat or if it was just because I have been diligently stropping... So I am going to keep up with this one and I have another blade that is in the vibrating tumbler being polished and will track that one from the start with the warming of the blade and strop.. That way I would know for sure...
Also I am using latigo leather and if you look it has a very very mild texure... I will be introducing Cordovan soon, it is said to be the smoothest leather..
Thanks for your posts Nerv. Without any technical basis, looking at the size of the bevel and the scratches on the blade I would guess you're in the neighborhood of 50x magnification. This is based mainly on what I've seen through my scope, and when I get back home (on the road right now), I'll try and post up some pics for comparison's sake.
It may be interesting and beneficial to include the edge of a dime in a pic to give everyone a reference point. I'll have to rig up a way to do the same...if I can swing it...I think I can.
Thanks again for the pics. It's very interesting to see how the blade responds to different treatments. It appears to me, if I'm reading your post right, that warming the blade and strop produced the smoothest finish.
I warm the strop by rubbing it with the palm of my hand, but I haven't tried warming the blade too.
Peace,
With a setup like this you might be able to rest the edgeQuote:
Originally Posted by Nervin
on a snip/ lock of hair. Grab a lock next time you are at the
barber. By using hair you will have a constant for reference.
Too often I see images where it the bevel is in focus but
not the cutting edge. A lock of hair at the cutting edge
might make focusing more purposeful. You can also use an artists
brush, camels hair is squirrel. Much finer than whiskers but
it works as a constant.
To keep the magnification constant keep the distance
constant. Then crop so a screen and and the image have
a 1:1 pixel match. Easy to say hard to do.... :)
Good stuff!
Also add "shave test" notes.
The new light rings are cool as heck.
Great polishing, Nervin!
I think a hairdryer is overkill & may well dry your leather out in time. A simple rub with the wrist or hand is all that's needed. I use my wrist as my hands are not guaranteed slurry free after honing :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Nervin
Very interesting and helpful stuff. Keep it up!
This thread is just going to become more and more interesting. Thanks & keep it up!
Sorry for the delay. I contracted a computer virus and am in the process of zeroing the hard-drive and recovering via time machine. I will have some new images and info up later this evening. Wished I could do it via itouch but alas it's pretty limited.
Here it is now 0dark thirty and I have finally gotten everything straightened out. I think all in all I have discovered quite a few things since my last picture post... So I will start by post some pictures and such..
First I thought I would start with a magnified image of a dulled blade... Now I am not talking ugly dulled with chips and what not, but has not been stropped since it was honed and shave with quite a few times until it just didn't seem to cut hair anymore.. once you see it you will understand why I have come to my conclusion which I will post at the end... Also as requested I put a dime in the pictures...
Dull Blade...
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...69409-dull.jpg
(notice the absence of teeth also I tried to get an overhead of the blade but failed... but on this blade you can see where the very edge is tweaked to one side or another almost like a wire edge)
This one is another of the blade warmed and the strop warmed with my palm...
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...-50pnshave.jpg
Now I want to point out the teeth again.. there is very little to no teeth.. although the edge is polished nicely I will personally state that unless you start with an ATG swipe it will leave the hairs angle cut.
Here is the blade after 50 passes on the felt then another 50 on the strop with no heating at all...
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...nbladeedge.jpg
and again after my shave and 100 passes on the strop with only warming with my palm..
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...aftershave.jpg
(notice the formation of micro teeth.. although the sides are polished if you look closely the teeth are back but very fine..)
This one is of the texture of the leather
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...edgenstrop.jpg
Now so far what I have learned from all of this is the the teeth are very important.. Lynn has a honing PDF on here and it even says that the teeth and the direction of the teeth play an important role. When i smoothed out the blade about as much as it can go, it seemed almost impossible to get a close shave going WTG. Normally when my facial hair is long I can do a one pass WTG and get BBS (unfortunately after this experiment even my prized chin badger no longer exists) Now with that said a polished and sharp blade WILL do a great number on ATG. I shaved half with the polished blade, then the other half after I ran it on the felt then strop again to get the teeth back and there was a substantial difference.. Now with all that said and the talk about the teeth, they grab the hair then cut.. No teeth equals quite literally a pass that just cuts what ever is in its path.
From what I gather the "Sweet Spot" is the point where the sides are nicely polished and yet the micro teeth remain on the edge. I have read where people use pastes and sprays when an edge doesn't seem to be as god any more and I think that they just reform the teeth. I haven't gone to either, but I do use a plain piece of felt and it does seem to bring them back. Even if I polished the edge before. I would almost want to compare a scalpel and a straight blade. I have an Xacto, but you can even see that there are micro teeth without magnification.
So Stropping IS king with out a doubt, but the teeth ARE keen.. If you look at the Dull blade there are no directional teeth.
I have another post in the beginners section about the affects of different stages of a blades edge on the hair itself. and will be putting up some new stuff tomorrow that is related to this thread.
All suggestions and input is very welcome in this too..
Thanks for the posts and the breakdown.
I'd be interested to see the edges of razors some of the more experienced guys have shaved with and think are top notch (maybe not holy grail, but DFSers), to see how they compare on the teeth issue.
I'm also now interested to investigate the teeth of my razors and see how mine compare to yours. As soon as Uncle Sam gets his act together I should have a new hdd for my desktop and be able to get some good pics for comparison's sake.
Thanks again!
Peace,
I definitely agree... Just like i stated before the uniformly directional teeth seems to be what SHave ready Sharp is... I mean yes you have them after you hone, but stropping them down to a smoother side makes a difference too. But once those teeth are gone, then it definitely doesn't shave right. Then just getting it to the felt and then strop again and it's back to a nice clean shaver... And I definitely agree that others should put up their own images too. Especially once they have reached their "sweet spot"
There are some very high mag pics here.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...er-why-10.html
It may be just perception but I wouldn't say there are teeth so much as a "wavy line" as described in the Modern Mechanix article of 1931
WONDER PHOTOS REVEAL UNSUSPECTED FACTS ABOUT Razor Blades and Shaving (Oct, 1931)
Thanks for sharing. The article from 31 is particularly interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by onimaru55
Oh man those are good articles.. thank you for putting them up..Quote:
Originally Posted by onimaru55
IIRC, AFDavis11 posted the 31 article a few years back. Yep here t'is
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...g-article.html
I just call them teeth because that is what they were called on the PDF on here about honing. But all in all I do absolutely agree with the mild honing comment. I noticed when I would run my blade across the felt and revive the lines the stropped on polished it out a little my razor shaved like a champ...
Stropping is certainly the icing on the cake.