What did you hone today?
- Thread starter ouch
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I've got smoothed lpb small bout coming in that I'm ready for. It's like a palm stone.
You’re gonna love it
I had one and I love it and I dropped it the first day I got it so it broke in half. It's my favorite slurry stone and the slurry is really fast and fine. It's a softish stone. Probably second softest coti.
Touched the duck on the new kiita with almost water and the edge was just a tad too crisp for me. Why not tame it with a thuri? BD to the rescue. Finished on light slurry as you can see dried on the stone. Maintained it's sharpness but the comfort increased. Great BBS shave tonight.
Gave this new (suspected, it has light red in it) charnley the old college try finally and holy smoke its fast. It is the polar opposite of both my llyn idwal and my charnwood. It's very fast. Very fast. And in 4 laps of circles had a knife shaving facial hair and I hadn't been able to get it to shave arm hair in a long time. I'm curious if the green llyn idwal stones that look similar to Charnleys are just a different layer of the same stone. This is like the Washita version of these two. They all have layers that are very apparent like slate and these all fracture like slate instead of novaculite but they are certainly novaculite. This stone has a flat top but irregular shape and was probably hand cut. This is a great knife stone and I think it put a better polish than the thuri. I got a similar one coming in and I'm interested to see it. This stone is pretty soft for novaculite, a worn diamond plate brought up a slurry as fast as my apex water hone thuri. That one will be fun to try. I bet a hard ark would slurry it easier than my Washitas. Id put it about 8k-10k. I think it'll finish plenty fine enough to shave with but it left an aggressive, very sharp edge on my knives. It seems to cut on my knives the way my vintage la lunes cut on razors. I don't know if this will give the smooth *feeling* shave of my other charnley but I'm certain it'll cut the way a razor +50 laps on a la lune does. Very cool, very old rock.
*added old pics so the red is somewhat visible.
*added old pics so the red is somewhat visible.
Two purple stones tonight. (Or atleast purple in sunlight.)
Testing out a nice purple slate for the first time using one of my favorite tester razors, The humble Tritch Hardware Denver Colorado razor. The purple slate has a slightly raspy feeling feedback even though the stone is quite soft. Not as slick feeling as expected under the razor. The razor had a very nice thuringian edge previously and im curious to see the change. Based on mag and hair tests the stone didnt cause any set backs atleast.
Also worked on a new to me George Wostenholm IXL razor. I was very surprised at how nice the edge looked under magnification before starting. Zero nicks, very clean bevel, and shaving arm hairs easy. Worked it on a raspy coticule for a while but just couldn't get the hair test like I wanted it. Flipped over to the BBW side of the stone which is very tight grained and has some yellow dots peeking through. On this stone the bbw side had hone wear orginally and I can see why, it is much finer than the yellow side. From raspy to silk. With just a few minutes of work the razor was passing my initial hair tests. We will see how the shave goes tomorrow!
Testing out a nice purple slate for the first time using one of my favorite tester razors, The humble Tritch Hardware Denver Colorado razor. The purple slate has a slightly raspy feeling feedback even though the stone is quite soft. Not as slick feeling as expected under the razor. The razor had a very nice thuringian edge previously and im curious to see the change. Based on mag and hair tests the stone didnt cause any set backs atleast.
Also worked on a new to me George Wostenholm IXL razor. I was very surprised at how nice the edge looked under magnification before starting. Zero nicks, very clean bevel, and shaving arm hairs easy. Worked it on a raspy coticule for a while but just couldn't get the hair test like I wanted it. Flipped over to the BBW side of the stone which is very tight grained and has some yellow dots peeking through. On this stone the bbw side had hone wear orginally and I can see why, it is much finer than the yellow side. From raspy to silk. With just a few minutes of work the razor was passing my initial hair tests. We will see how the shave goes tomorrow!
It’s a cold and rainy day in Melbourne today. Perfect conditions for fixing up the new Bengalls. I had a bit of time on my hands so went with a natural progression.
Lily White Washita > Coticule > Trans Ark.
The Bengalls have a really thin, full hollow grind. In the hand they feel extremely light. The geometry on these razor is great. Nice and straight. The ugly one has an upturned toe but I managed to get that pretty well by lifting the heel. I wasn’t overly aggressive in chasing the heel of the pretty one. Got the edge about halfway up the radius.
Both edges turned out really nice. If anything the ugly one might be a touch keener. That may have something to do with it spending a lot more time on the Shapton Glass 1k HR to get the chips out. It’s got a clean bevel now.
Shave test pending. If they pass muster, I’ll send the nice one to the country to live at the in-laws. We spend a bit of time out there in the holidays and it would be nice to have a dedicated kit out there.
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working on tenjyou progression. will move onto meijero then finishing tomorrow.
looks promising already.
br well all.
camo
looks promising already.
br well all.
camo
All the weird things out today...
King 800, King 1200, Old Iyo, Maruoyama Shiro Suita, Silver-Blue ANat.
Mystery Suita, Tavy Stone.
Welsh Slate? La Lune? (Fooked if I know but it’s very good).
King 800, King 1200, Old Iyo, Maruoyama Shiro Suita, Silver-Blue ANat.
Mystery Suita, Tavy Stone.
Welsh Slate? La Lune? (Fooked if I know but it’s very good).
Old Hickory Skinner on a fine Carbo and Translucent Arkansas. Reground this knife from a hollow to convex a while back. This 1095 steel takes a screaming edge on traditional oilstones.
I love soft(er) steels because I love the edges natural stones impart on them. I'm not a stickler about them keeping an edge forever. I'm usually waiting around for something to sharpen so I'm good with them getting dull with use.
I don't know if it the steel being softer or just alloying (or lack of). I've personally found that in simple steels like 10XX, W2, etc, you can leave them pretty hard and they still sharpen fine on something like arks. It's when one runs into high carbide volume steels that naturals tend to struggle. Personally I wish that knife makers would leave their blades harder than they do, something like 1095 should be coming out of quench at around 65 Rockwell C given an optimal HT cycle and a fast quenchant so tempering down to 60 would still give enough toughness whilst being a good bit harder than they leave them now (56 approx) for much improved edge retention. Upside of a softer blade is the ability to bring it back with a steel which is very handy especially if you're doing something like butchering game where a few licks on a steel is more convenient than going to a stone and you don't need to keep the blade and steel quite as clean whereas blood all over a stone would be a bit of a mess to say the least.
Got any experience with the King Hyper 1K?
I haven't I'm afraid, so can't give a first hand comparison, though I know a few experts over on KKF rate it pretty highly. I understand it's notably harder and less muddy than the Deluxe line.
Touched up the 3 knives I keep in my pocket at all times, here's 2 of them. I used a trick today that I learned from @cotedupy. I touched up my knives on this charnwood I got recently, but with a slurry from A very light grey Tam O'shanter stone. I haven't ever given this combo a try before so I didn't know what to expect but the result was awesome. This charnley is pretty fast but not nearly as fine as my older one that is khaki-ish with a rounded bottom it. It was faster with the slurry but it feels like(in touch, look and performance) like the slurry made the edge more refined and much sharper. Without the slurry it leaves very small but fine teeth on the blade, like a fine washita. With the slurry the teeth didn't feel like they were the but the edge was more aggressive(hht hair on my a arm). Idon't know why it's so much better. Maybe because a higher density of abrasives? Either way is like to thank @cotedupy for the insight and inspiration. I just bought another really light Tam because of how blown away I was with the combo. I don't know if this would work with razors but I have to sharpen lots of tools, constantly, and this one is a game changer.
Brand new razor 
This was supposed to be a touch up from the factory edge. Noted defects were a bur a little back from the toe, visible with naked eye. There were more problems...
I started on the 3 micron film and could immediately feel the resistance at the heel and toe and upon inspection, they had new scratches. So they weren't finished completely, great. Worse was what I assume was a carbide pop out, luckily just a slight U in the middle of the blade under high magnification. Well I am not resetting bevels on a new razor, nope...
Out came the 5k, lapped it with diamond and left the slurry on it. Not too much time later I had an even feel across the edge, but longer than I would have liked. Upon inspection, I couldn't find the bad spot and had an even edge. Nice new scratch pattern and moving on...
Back to the films. The 3 micron went smoothly and did generate some swarf. A couple tries going back and forth with the microscope and it was pushing water evenly and I eliminated the scratch pattern. The 1 micron did some strange things so I stayed on it until I had a mirror polish confirmed by seeing black in the microscope.
I put it on the La Lune, but as planned no more than a few light laps. I liked the way it felt at about 15 and stopped. I don't care what it looks like, it's just a finish and is still pushing water evenly so I didn't mess up the 1 micron edge. Good time to stop.
I used my new fire hose strop and was rewarded with some nice feedback from this stainless blade, I could feel something was happening. A few laps on the compound and about 40 or so on leather and I am done. Whether the razor is or not is still an open question. It's silent slicing a few hairs and has no trouble removing hairs above skin level. It feels like it will shave fine, hopefully better than just fine.
This was supposed to be a touch up from the factory edge. Noted defects were a bur a little back from the toe, visible with naked eye. There were more problems...
I started on the 3 micron film and could immediately feel the resistance at the heel and toe and upon inspection, they had new scratches. So they weren't finished completely, great. Worse was what I assume was a carbide pop out, luckily just a slight U in the middle of the blade under high magnification. Well I am not resetting bevels on a new razor, nope...
Out came the 5k, lapped it with diamond and left the slurry on it. Not too much time later I had an even feel across the edge, but longer than I would have liked. Upon inspection, I couldn't find the bad spot and had an even edge. Nice new scratch pattern and moving on...
Back to the films. The 3 micron went smoothly and did generate some swarf. A couple tries going back and forth with the microscope and it was pushing water evenly and I eliminated the scratch pattern. The 1 micron did some strange things so I stayed on it until I had a mirror polish confirmed by seeing black in the microscope.
I put it on the La Lune, but as planned no more than a few light laps. I liked the way it felt at about 15 and stopped. I don't care what it looks like, it's just a finish and is still pushing water evenly so I didn't mess up the 1 micron edge. Good time to stop.
I used my new fire hose strop and was rewarded with some nice feedback from this stainless blade, I could feel something was happening. A few laps on the compound and about 40 or so on leather and I am done. Whether the razor is or not is still an open question. It's silent slicing a few hairs and has no trouble removing hairs above skin level. It feels like it will shave fine, hopefully better than just fine.
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Nice work mate! Though I can't claim credit for the TO'S slurry on a Charnley tip - I got it from @rideon66, works a charm eh
.A few more laps on the Ark for the second Bengall I’ve been working on before it gets its maiden shave tomorrow. I bought a lot of two Bengalls and this one was kind of a freebie thrown in with a nice one. It was a real rust bucket when I got it. I wasn’t even sure if I could get it shaving but I think the edge is on point now. There’s oil on the blade in the photo. I had to work through a fair amount of pitting to get to the good steel. I haven’t managed to get all of the toe sharpened but I don’t think that will matter. Chasing it too much would only make the upturn worse.
With a bit of work I think this could actually be quite a nice beginner razor. It’s a nice size for a beginner with the safety of a round point. The geometry is actually pretty good. It’s a nice straight blade apart from the upturned toe. There weren’t any tricks required to get it honed. Just straight back and forth mainly with a touch of a roll thrown in for good measure. The Sheffield steel was fairly easy to work on. Even getting the chips out didn’t take terribly long. It still has a few years of use in it but no one is going to cry if they trash it. This could be a potential PIF at some stage but only if I am able to get it shaving to my satisfaction.
With a bit of work I think this could actually be quite a nice beginner razor. It’s a nice size for a beginner with the safety of a round point. The geometry is actually pretty good. It’s a nice straight blade apart from the upturned toe. There weren’t any tricks required to get it honed. Just straight back and forth mainly with a touch of a roll thrown in for good measure. The Sheffield steel was fairly easy to work on. Even getting the chips out didn’t take terribly long. It still has a few years of use in it but no one is going to cry if they trash it. This could be a potential PIF at some stage but only if I am able to get it shaving to my satisfaction.
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