I've just noticed this. I grabbed one of my poorly prepared, shelf queen, vintage Norton trans, to touch up my razor and.....I made the dang edge look like a chainsaw blade. Good Lord what did I do now????? It didn't feel anything. My 2 bestest shelf queen vintage trans Nortons have either voids or inclusions in them.
Looking at other vintage Trans Arks on the web, I see this quite often. Those black dots that you see are either voids or inclusions. Voids will fill with lapping material causing problems. I have no idea what inclusions are but I now know they can be a problem. I've seen actual sand pits in softer arks.
I decided they had to go, with extreme prejudice. I grabbed my cordless drill and a tiny, Harbor Freight, flame shaped diamond bit and gave them heck. Stick the point in the void, give it some revolutions. Still black stuff in there, it might float out. I tried electrical contact cleaner... it helped and actually cleaned up some of the shallow ones. There was still work to be done, crud filled black spots all over my very best hones.
Once upon a time, I had bought some Harbor Freight tungsten carbide micro drills. I grabbed a .070mm or about .027" carbide drill and went after the voids still filled with black gunk. That was the ticket! The perfect size, and the perfect drill material, to use on an Ark. Hand turned with my fingers, it cleared a the non translucent material away. Re dressed and ready to try. All cleaned up.
The heck with shelf queen's, I'm putting these 2 beauties to work. Time for them to step up.
Looking at other vintage Trans Arks on the web, I see this quite often. Those black dots that you see are either voids or inclusions. Voids will fill with lapping material causing problems. I have no idea what inclusions are but I now know they can be a problem. I've seen actual sand pits in softer arks.
I decided they had to go, with extreme prejudice. I grabbed my cordless drill and a tiny, Harbor Freight, flame shaped diamond bit and gave them heck. Stick the point in the void, give it some revolutions. Still black stuff in there, it might float out. I tried electrical contact cleaner... it helped and actually cleaned up some of the shallow ones. There was still work to be done, crud filled black spots all over my very best hones.
Once upon a time, I had bought some Harbor Freight tungsten carbide micro drills. I grabbed a .070mm or about .027" carbide drill and went after the voids still filled with black gunk. That was the ticket! The perfect size, and the perfect drill material, to use on an Ark. Hand turned with my fingers, it cleared a the non translucent material away. Re dressed and ready to try. All cleaned up.
The heck with shelf queen's, I'm putting these 2 beauties to work. Time for them to step up.