Finishers, finishes, swarf and carbides?

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LifeByA1000Cuts

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It's well known that some high grit stones (5000 to 10000) will leave very bright finishes (eg superstones), others will be rather matte (eg king 6000) with some being in-between (eg belgian blue).

It has often been mentioned that certain stainless steels lose some edge retention if finished at too fine a grit, because of "carbide tearout".

How is the finish a stone related to what it does to the carbides - intuition would say the brighter finishers grind them down and the matters ones leave them put/grind them out... but is it so? Also, can "ground down" leave them in a state where the bond to the matrix is weakened much due to repeated strain, like a half-loose tooth?

Also, do "torn out" carbides themselves act as low grit abrasives, and does this have anything to do with some steels always getting some new, coarser scratches even on a bright finisher?

Also, what influence does swarf from a harder part of the blade face have when grinding across a hazakai line or hamon?
 
IIRC, stainless steel carbides can range in size significantly...
eg, order of magnitude form 1 micron to 100 microns

so you would need to narrow down a specific type of steel,
at a minimum, to have a useful discussion about carbide problems.

The other issue is that carbide tear out is a function of the % surface area of the carbide exposed.
A carbide exposed on a 20* edge is alot more exposed than on a 40* edge,
and on so on...up to say a 180 edge (eg, blade road)...where it seems perhaps unlikely to have much if any carbide(s) tear out.

But then again, on the same included angle edge, all other things equal,
a 1 micron carbide will be alot less exposed than a 100 micron carbide.

Lastly, even within a specific steel, carbides are a function of heat treatment.
So further circumspection at this level is also needed.

I'll leave it up to the experts to debate the physics and what not,
but the above are general concepts that I believe are reasonable to consider.
 
Does anyone know whether abrasives cut through carbides (assuming that tje abrasive is harder than the carbide of course.)?
 
@HRC64 was mostly thinking of practical, conventional stainless used in everyday cutlery - 420B, AUS6M, 1.4116... these are where most comments to the effect of "do not overpolish, you will regret it" are given...
 
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