Ding a ling

Possibly not 'restoration' as such, but more like corrective action.

Last night I was careless and gave my straight a 'ding' :cry: on the metal taps as I was rinsing it off. I inspected the edge and was pretty pissed off with myself as I saw a slight imperfection under the light on the toe of the blade. Easily discernable with a thumbnail test. Visible to the eye if you're looking for it.

It didn't degrade the shave (even though I use the toe end a lot for upper lip), but obviously I want to put it right.

1. Is this something I can hone out on a Norton combi?
2. Should I hit the 8k first and see if I can hone it out before resorting to 4k?
3. Or should I just try with a coticule first?
4. If honing is the way to correct this, should I hone as if doing the whole blade, or just focus on the toe area?

(I don't possess any other 'tools' like buffers, grinders etc., though I suspect the ding is too minor to require these anyway.)

Thanks for any tips. The simple questions are because I haven't encountred this before and I don't want to take anything on assumption. Especially as its with my favourite blade (Dovo Bismarck 5/8).

Cheers
M.

P.S. Off topic, but I figure while I'm tackling this I'd like to get rid of the water marks on the blade too. In the UK I'm having trouble trying to find Maas. There is a brand of metal polish called Autosol which I was going to try. However, the TI site warns against using this on blades. Anyone tried Autosol polish before with results? (Or, even better, anyone in the EU know where I can buy Maas?)

No biggy, couuple of light passes onn thhe 4k side and a few on the 8k thhen finish off however , paddles strop. you will bo OKYDOKEY

I did the same thing a while back though it sounds like you got off easy. My ding was easily naked eye visible and took a while on a 1000 grit hone before I gave up and sent it to the professional. With a little ding I would try to hone it out on the Norton.

You do want to work the whole blade on the hone to keep the wear even. I would also tape the spine to preserve you favorite a little better. Start with a conservative pyramid and see how much progress you make. From there you will be able to gauge how much work it will be to hone the ding out. Once your ding is gone I would finish up with the coticule as normal because this kind of work will take the fine polish right off your edge.

I have no idea where to get Maas in the Uk but just as a piece of general advice I always assume that when I polish a blade with it that I screwed up the edge a little and it will need a honing, so do this first.

As to the Maas side of your question, if you've got a branch of Lakeland nearby, they stock it. Alternatively, it's available online - http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/!7247

Thanks very much guys.

I'l give it a go on the 4k/8k tomorrow night. And test it out with a shave. (Sod's Law: I've only just got this edge shave-ready -- my first success with self-honing. Ah well...)

Stot -- thanks for the link! Gonna order myself some now.

Will let you know results of Project Ding in due course.

Cheers
M.

I would do circles up and down the edge on a 1k stone until it's all better, then move up to the Norton 4k/8k.

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