Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
It's so great to read what experience teaches!
Several great posts since I was here yesterday. Much appreciated, gentlemen.
John, would you do me a favor and describe, in terms of the strokes I linked earlier, all of which can be copied and pasted if you want to, as images, the stroke you think best on the 8x3 convex?
The little images I posted are clearly of smaller stones. I tend to think, and this may be totally wrong, and just purely both stupid and idiosyncratic, of X Strokes as being somewhat heel leading unless the stone is smaller than the stones I usually use.
On the smallest of my rectangular stones, my 7x2 coticule, I use an X stroke, or what I call an X stroke, but it is at maybe 45 degrees because it sort of has to be to stay on the stone. I tend to use that same 45 degree (or thereabouts, not being precise with the degrees here) on most stones for no particularly good reason.
Just thinking about the convex Ark (which I have only in transit and in my imagination) it seems to me that a heel leading stroke would be best, but that's not what I see being used in the videos I posted earlier. Jarrod may be using a slightly heel leading stroke but not anywhere close to 45 degrees. The woman at Devo, not heel leading I think.
Anyway, what are you saying?
Do you mean straight hones as in the blade is without any heel leading? Are you thinking, as I do, of X Strokes as heel leading.
Mostly I'm trying to establish two things.
Thanks and happy shaves,
Jim
I'm sure they said that.
They also say Arks are not known for their speed. Maybe all the more reason to convex them and speed them up.
Maybe jnats are best when flat. You flatten them every time, as you create slurry. Also slurry would slide off a hemi.
Maybe Arks are best when convex. They need to be sped up. And there's no slurry to slide off. And they are so hard they hold a convexing for a long time. And lapping and burnishing an Ark is evidently a pain in the ***. Best to have Jarred do it once and then never do it at all.
I just sacrificed myself for my brothers on this forum and honed and shaved a second time today. You're welcome.
The La Forme on black Ark finisher, forty laps free hand in the air, water/ballistol, light pressure.
The milky white liquid (water/ballistol) makes it easy to see that that the whole length of the edge is getting attention.
I went slowly, watching the white liquid. And feeling the rise up the hill and then the downhill as the pressure moves along from heel to toe. X strokes.
It was a very nice shave. Yes, there was not much beard because I had shaved this morning. But comfortable and sharp. I mean, nothing is as sharp as .1u diamond balsa. But it was sharp.
I found a problem. The large size of the 8x3 can actually be a trap. It was so wide that I got lazy. I started doing straight hones, not X hones. That was a mistake. As it came down the far side of the hill, the toe was up in the air. Not pushing the milky liquid. Not getting any attention. Not good.
So I went back to X strokes. Then it was good. I could see and feel the length of the edge following the arc of the stone. The heel leading X stroke meant the entire edge, including the toe, received love as I finished the X and the toe slid along the curving arc of the hill.
So the cheaper 6x2 stones have the advantage that they force you to do X strokes. And X strokes are required on convex stones. Now I know.
Tomorrow I'm going to take one of the ten dollar Whipped Dog vintages, hone it on black and try again.
Aloha
John
Several great posts since I was here yesterday. Much appreciated, gentlemen.
John, would you do me a favor and describe, in terms of the strokes I linked earlier, all of which can be copied and pasted if you want to, as images, the stroke you think best on the 8x3 convex?
The little images I posted are clearly of smaller stones. I tend to think, and this may be totally wrong, and just purely both stupid and idiosyncratic, of X Strokes as being somewhat heel leading unless the stone is smaller than the stones I usually use.
On the smallest of my rectangular stones, my 7x2 coticule, I use an X stroke, or what I call an X stroke, but it is at maybe 45 degrees because it sort of has to be to stay on the stone. I tend to use that same 45 degree (or thereabouts, not being precise with the degrees here) on most stones for no particularly good reason.
Just thinking about the convex Ark (which I have only in transit and in my imagination) it seems to me that a heel leading stroke would be best, but that's not what I see being used in the videos I posted earlier. Jarrod may be using a slightly heel leading stroke but not anywhere close to 45 degrees. The woman at Devo, not heel leading I think.
Anyway, what are you saying?
I started doing straight hones, not X hones. That was a mistake.
Do you mean straight hones as in the blade is without any heel leading? Are you thinking, as I do, of X Strokes as heel leading.
Mostly I'm trying to establish two things.
- Nomenclature (which is always an issue, and I don't care about being pedantic; I do care to understand others and be understood).
- What's the best way to use these convex stones?
Thanks and happy shaves,
Jim