Thread: Valuable lesson

I've been working on a fun old bow razor (W&B) for a while, finally got the scales finished and polished, razor polished and pinned, taped it up and soaked my hone. Grabbed my microscope and discovered a micro hairline in the blade. It is micro indeed, I'm having a very hard time seeing it with the naked eye even when I know where it's at, but actually runs close to 3/16 in length if I managed to measure it correctly. Luckily it is close to the toe, I can shorten the blade 1/4 and be in undamaged steel so that's what I'll do. Very close to total loss tho, had the crack been close/closer to the heel.

The worst part is, I know I've seen the veterans here say check the blade first, guess I don't learn easy from other ppl's errors

Just posting in case someone else is a faster learner than I am. From now on, I'll make sure to check bevel thoroughly before I start any restores.