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Quartz Inclusions...

PA23-250

Well-Known Member
As I understand it, these are bad news for honing. I'm starting to wonder if my 8x3 might not have them. It's from the "La Petite Blanche" layer & the figuring carries over to the surface. (It's a select grade.) What could be quartz (3-4 dots, the biggest being 2-3 mm wide)looks almost transparent, but I can't be sure. This hone has a lot of chittering if a slurry has been raised, and it's not necessarily in the area of the big [possible inclusion], but it could be from the others.

I'm not sure if it's due to inclusions or just the character of the stone. FWIW I've gotten a Sheffield wedge to the point on this stone where it leaves absolutely nothing to be desired; it's my best shaver by a fair bit. My SRP TI now shaves well straight off the stone, but it's a finicky blade. One other really troublesome razor I haven't shave tested yet.

I'm just hoping it's not quartz. I think that would necessitate frequent lapping to keep it from ruining edges. I'll post a pic if I can get a clear one that doesn't go over the size limits.
 
A picture indeed would be very helpfull.

Currenty, you cannot upload pictures directly to the website, with the exception of the "Marketplace". A policy I might need to change... It's just that we're not on a very large server hosting plan. Anyway, if you currently want to add a picture to your posts, you need to upload it some other internet spot (i.e. one if those free photograph storage websites) and then you can put the url of your picture in between IMG tags (click the "image" button, 3th from the right in the second row of the post editor.)
You can link to any image somewhere on the world wide web that way.

I'll comment more on topic later, when I have more time.

Bart.
 
Hi, Bart! Still fiddling w/ my camera--I'll probably post it on SRP in the "Hones" subforum & link the pic here.

Just test shaved the super-fussy blade--really nice shave. BBS & passed the Clubman test! (I can count on 1 hand the number of really good shaves I've gotten from that blade; it's my trickiest to get right.) So far, the results from this stone seem to be holding up/improving.

Just for fun, I purposely (very lightly) scratched the surface w/ my fingernail & couldn't be sure if the biggest spot felt harder than the rest. Maybe it did, but I can't be certain.

I'll give it a light lapping to clean it up & try to get a photo up soon.

EDIT: posted the pic on SRP--It got resized to the point where you have to open it again to see the circled areas. http://www.straightrazorplace.com/f...ld-these-circled-areas-quartz-inclusions.html
The camera is old and creaking...:rolleyes:
 
I can't see it on that picture (Even if I magnify it, it lacks the resolution to offer a detailed view). But based upon your description, I don't think it's a problem. A hard inclusion (such as quartz) really dings the edge. You can feel the edge colliding with the inclusion and witness the resulting microchip in the edge if you look at the edge under decent magnification.

I think, what you (and also Gary with his one) are experiencing are spots that have a slightly different composition and density. The varying hardness causes those spots to be abraded at a different rate, which raises them ever so slightly. Enough to to add some localized draw and cause interference in the feedback. You should also be able to feel that when rubbing over them with the slurry stone.

Try this: use one corner of you slurry stone to work those spots down a bit, as locally as possible. That doesn't need to be much. Just work a bit on the spots, rinse, and try a few strokes with a razor. Work that way till the interference is reduced or completely disappears.
This is something you 'll need to repeat every 20 razors or so.

Coticules are natural rock. They all have a character of their own. I think about them as women. :rolleyes:

Keep me updated how it goes?

Bart.
 
Gave it a quick relapping--excessive chattering is gone, but feedback is good! I also quit adding dishwashing liquid to my honing water after reading your feedback article--definitely helps! I'm now positive it's not quartz.

Unrelated question, though: I'm almost sure this is La Petite Blanche, (it has very prominent dark lines running through the side), like the example in the vault, but it's on slate, not BBW.
 
PA23-250 said:
Gave it a quick relapping--excessive chattering is gone, but feedback is good! I also quit adding dishwashing liquid to my honing water after reading your feedback article--definitely helps! I'm now positive it's not quartz.
Great. Thanks for the update.
PA23-250 said:
Unrelated question, though: I'm almost sure this is La Petite Blanche, (it has very prominent dark lines running through the side), like the example in the vault, but it's on slate, not BBW.
Could you post a picture of the side? La Petite Blanche is as good as always naturally bonded to BBW. The layers is so thin, that it delivers only one hone. On thicker layers they can cut slices, and those slices need to be glued to something. If a hone is naturally bonded to BBW and if it has the typical streak of blue (this is not the same as manganese lines, that are black) sort of sandwiched in the Coticule layer, only then this is most likely a "La Petite Blanche". Other determining factors are a very pale color, no visible grain, and a very fast performance with a clear abrasive feedback, still present (albeit much less) on water only.

Black manganese lines are common on various layers. They usually predict a fast cutting hone. There's a mineralogical reason: Presence of mangane plays a key role in the formation of spessartine crystals (=garnets) The black lines testify about an abundant presence of mangane, hence Coticules with black lines can be expected to be packed with garnets. So far, all my empiric data confirms that theory.

Best regards,
Bart.
 
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