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Wyoming Nephrite Jade hone

I must be bored because i picked up a big wyoming nephrite jade piece off the bay for cheap. I’d seen plenty of those 4x2 natural hone jade 10K ads in amazon/ebay, etc. even read this jade thread and some other posts here and there, i saw the jasper guy pushing wyoming recently.

So i found a 7x3x.5” solid rectangle and spent some time yesterday trying to unlock the secrets, if any are to be had.

B8D91D04-9715-4D6B-81EF-AD0FF7B86BF5.jpeg

Worked it through the sic progression to 500 and then some 800 w/d and then finished with the 400 naniwa cleaner stone. No shave test yet, but i can see change at the edge and bevel level, but no swarf at this point.

Anyone have any recent experience or thoughts on continued testing to try?
 
That’s an awesome score! Congrats, and please report back on it!

I don’t know if finishing the surface on jade is the same as Jasper, but for the finishing side of my jasper hones…I have found that wetting it and running a hard Tomo Nagura all over the surface really refined/polished/burnished whatever anyone wants to call it, really bumped up final edge refinement for me!

Vr

Matt
 
I have looked at some of it at my local rock shops but haven't pulled the trigger. I get the impression it will be like jasper or petrified wood. Those things make ultra sharp edges ( and comfortable) when I use them after a finisher. Maybe too sharp, not at all forgiving or maybe I'm just not good enough at shaving. I have to be in the right mood and frame of mind to use them edges, not a daily driver for me.
 
I have looked at some of it at my local rock shops but haven't pulled the trigger. I get the impression it will be like jasper or petrified wood. Those things make ultra sharp edges ( and comfortable) when I use them after a finisher. Maybe too sharp, not at all forgiving or maybe I'm just not good enough at shaving. I have to be in the right mood and frame of mind to use them edges, not a daily driver for me.

Prepping surfaces, honing, checking loupe and testing feels so slow. I think i am doing it wrong.
 
Latest prep was sic 120 surface. kuromakas as synth progression

5k > WyNephJade No swarf from cutting, but definitely looked like a polish was being applied. Shave was pretty good. I was not unhappy.

8K > WyNephJade again no swarf, again definitely looks like a polish.

78BCAE02-EB9F-4FC2-85F1-DBF096D35280.jpeg
 
Are you going to try a higher grit sic?

Vr

Matt
Absolutely, i wasn’t happy with the surface shape previously and decided to reflatten. The 120 interestingly produced a soft surface texture and i wanted to see if it would cut metal more quickly. It did not 😂 maybe it needs to be w/d grit as the sic and jade seemed to get pretty smooth together
 
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I think these stones burnish the edge more than abrade which I can't imagine is desirable, plastic deformation at the apex leads to stresses in the steel and reduced edge retention.
 
I think these stones burnish the edge more than abrade which I can't imagine is desirable, plastic deformation at the apex leads to stresses in the steel and reduced edge retention.

if over 8000, don't i want a polish at the apex? how much more abrasion do I really want/need past that point?
 
I didn't say you didn't want to polish, it's how that polish occurs, then again polish is not a reliable indicator of sharpness or apex 'cleanliness'. Smearing steel around at the apex is a poor way to do it. I doubt any of the abrasive manufacturers are putting dull grit in their fine hones and for good reason. There's a decent literature on edge tool fatigue and it's causes. Even at super fine grits ideally you still want abrasion to be the main mechanical method of metal removal, the polish will still come just from how small the stria are. With a 120 grit lapped surface you'd expect to be pulling some swarf if the hone had any reasonable abrasive power.
 
With a 120 grit lapped surface you'd expect to be pulling some swarf if the hone had any reasonable abrasive power.
Agreed, i just wonder if the way i went about it at 120 caused a less than “gritty” surface based on the density. maybe i overdid the effect?
 
Agreed, i just wonder if the way i went about it at 120 caused a less than “gritty” surface based on the density. maybe i overdid the effect?
Could just be the hone, Nephrite is composed of calcium based silicates which are softer than something like the almost pure silicon dioxide in Novaculite by a whole mohs point which is fairly substantial on a 10 point scale which is more logarithmic than it is linear. I'd think the SiC would be sufficient for getting a nice agressive surface, especially if after getting the stone flat you refresh the grit and then just do maybe 30 seconds of lapping so the grit doesn't break down too much.
 
especially if after getting the stone flat you refresh the grit and then just do maybe 30 seconds of lapping so the grit doesn't break down too much.
I spent way more than 30s on surfacing, so maybe your suggestion would work better. i was thinking that perhaps as i polish it higher perhaps the deformation engagement would be substantially less.

Todays shave (5k > 120 jade) was kind of reminiscent of a coticule edge
 
I spent way more than 30s on surfacing, so maybe your suggestion would work better. i was thinking that perhaps as i polish it higher perhaps the deformation engagement would be substantially less.

Todays shave (5k > 120 jade) was kind of reminiscent of a coticule edge

The quick lap with fresh SiC should leave a much rougher surface so that's when you'd want to look for swarf also. Might also give other honing fluids a try, oil might be better. Sometimes water on those types of micro-crystalline very dense stones won't adequately lift swarf. The one time I tried sharpening with water on a soft ark there was almost no swarf, with oil I get substantial amounts of swarf.

As far as the deformation effect, one of the reasons I stopped burnishing my black/trans arks was because although my razors would get sharp, the edge would drop of noticeably and I'd keep going back to the ark and putting down laps and the edge would drop of again, because by burnishing the stone I'd effectively made the abrasive rounded over and blunt, that constant deformation at the apex was fatiguing the edge and it starts to fail more and more quickly over time. Now I only take a black/trans ark to 400 grit max and after refreshing the surface just running a chisel over for 15 seconds to knock any excessive roughness off. You get the same effect steeling knives, as time goes on you end up steeling more often and at closer intervals because you're just flapping the apex about.

I don't know if going finer with the lapping would reduce the deformation since you'd need more lap to effect the apex. There's some short term value to lapping a stone different grits but I find that natural stones just want to revert to their own native texture.

Just to make the point, I've no doubt that the stone is improving the 5k edge and gives a nice shave, it's just that there are other considerations to sharpening besides edge quality such as edge retention. But if one just likes honing for the sake of it/fun/testing then that isn't too much of a problem and this kind of discussion becomes more academic. Still interesting stuff tho.

There's a whole bunch of different strata of Argillite where I live that I've made multiple hones out of, some are ok, most are ineffective at best, still fun to play with however.
 
I was actually thinking about the ark issue as i read your previous response and tbh, I’m enjoying the honing and testing. I’m in no rush for now otherwise I’d use something easier and known.
 
After 8k, jade polished to 1500 -> its an interesting shave, still comfortable.

Want to up the contrast to 12k and see if polish helps more at that point.
 
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