Thread: Overheat issues, please HELP!!!

I've never had a problem with a Dremel but I put my figure on the opposite side of the blade when polishing. When I feel heat I dunk the blade in cold water to cool the blade.

The blade in question is toast.

So on a dremel you run bigger wheels because the dremel has a low level of power and they run slower. On the bench buffer you run smaller wheels because it gives you a lower feet per second. Four inch wheels are easy to find although if you can get your hands on three inch wheels that's even better. There is a lot of information in the stickie in the workshop forum. There is also a lot to be said for hand sanding and hand polishing.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html

What the colours mean when tempering high carbon steel:


Faint-yellow – 176 °C (349 °F) – engravers, razors, scrapers
Light-straw – 205 °C (401 °F) – rock drills, reamers, metal-cutting saws
Dark-straw – 226 °C (439 °F) – scribers, planer blades
Brown – 260 °C (500 °F) – taps, dies, drill bits, hammers, cold chisels
Purple – 282 °C (540 °F) – surgical tools, punches, stone carving tools
Dark blue – 310 °C (590 °F) – screwdrivers, wrenches
Light blue – 337 °C (639 °F) – springs, wood-cutting saws
Grey-blue – 371 °C (700 °F) and higher – structural steel

The razor in the first picture has gone well past faint yellow on the bevel. Removing the entire bevel and grinding a new one might save the blade, but it's a big job and not for the faint of heart. You are NOT going to do this kind of work without some serious time on a low grit stone, if doing it by hand. Doing it by machine would be faster, but it is ever so easy to overheat the blade, as has been discovered and thus not recommended.

I know I'm inviting disagreement but whenever I've said this to other straight razor enthusiasts I've only had nods and "Oh Yearhs.

Dremel = natural enemy of the straight razor

There can be many qualifiers to this; some people can manage a Dremel and find it a useful tool - these are experienced people who have had their share of disasters and have learned from them. When a new guy picks up a Dremel and applies it to a straight there can only be one outcome.

Sorry to say but any colour change it's goosed, the colour that you might get away with would be yellow/light straw colour.
There will also be damage from beyond where the colours stop as heat spreads so think of it as the ripple effect when you throw a stone in water.
Time will tell when you try to hone it up, if the edge crumbles away then it's lost it's temper.


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if i have to use a dremel, i always have a glass of cold water near by to dip it in if I detect any heat.

The blade might be toast, but I would have to give it a try just to make sure