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Apache Strata

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I've been playing around with these hones for about two weeks now and find them to be excellent. I've been looking for a simple and quick progression where I didn't have to create slurry and get from one stone to another seamlessly. Japanese natural honing is on average a one hour per razor proposition for me, I minimally do a six nagura progressions not counting Tomos and was looking for an alternative. I figure I'd start with a Chosera 1K, followed by a Norton 4/8K. I prefer natural finishers and my hybridish coticule almost got me to where I wanted to be from a edge aggressiveness prospective and my CF created too big of a gap refinement wise. I tried the Apache Strata and it worked perfectly in this role. This stone is really hard but provides very nice feedback and polishes very well.

I have no stake with the seller of this hone and paid for my Apache Strata. I returned test stones to him and purchased my AS afterward so that we are clear. I received no promotional consideration nor did I ask for any, not my style.
 
Aah, ok. It's a nice thing to be able to get an edge with high refinement levels quickly. My 1k is actually the weak link as far as time goes. I need to spring for a c1k eventually. It's cool that ppl are coming up with new finishers again.
 
So how do you like it in comparison to your jnats?

Also, couldn't a jnat+tomo after a synthetic progression give you what you're searching for?
 
Different animal, my Jnats are markedly more aggressive. The edges from this hone are less aggressive than my Jnats but more aggressive than my hybridish coticule with comparable keenness and smoothness.
 
There was a post that disappeared, I am guessing BC he is not a vendor yet. I lost the link, but they were priced competitively vs what a vintage finisher with pedigree would run in comparable size.
 
Cool stone with a positive review from someone with major experience and success on a variety of stones.
Good stuff.
 
I would guess the hone to compare this to would be the Zulu as they are both new, natural, and priced broadly similar.
 
I really tried to like it but the Zulu never worked for me, I couldn't max out any razor. This is not to say someone else can't.
 
Different animal, my Jnats are markedly more aggressive. The edges from this hone are less aggressive than my Jnats but more aggressive than my hybridish coticule with comparable keenness and smoothness.

Sorry to drag you back to kindergarten, but would you mind expanding on the terms a little. I don't understand your use of the term aggressive and how that compares to keenness. I really want to understand what you are describing. Smoothness I get. Also, what do you think it is about this stone that enables it to take an 8k edge to linen that can't be done with other stones including your collection of JNats? How did the slurry progression compare with Coticule or JNat dilutions? Thanks for you patience with elementary questions.

PS: I realize the JNat can take an 8k edge forward, but with a Nagura progression. What about this stone eliminates the need for multiple slurry stones?
 
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IMO, terms like aggressive, keen and smooth are completely subjective, mean different things to different people and are basically unquantifiable.

What about this stone gets me from 8K to comfortably shave ready by my standards I really don't know, I just know that it does. A Naniwa 12K would get me there as well but not at the sensory level I was looking for. Jnats and the right nagura progression would get me there too but again I was looking for a specific feel based on results I've obtained on my hybridish coticule and my CF.

Jnat and coticule dilutions while executed in a technically similar fashion work completely different.

If my explanation seems vague it is not done intentionally, please understand that I don't hone by numbers in any regard, I let the razor dictate where I go next and where to stop.

In this particular case I was looking to find a stone that would get me to a comfortable shave, without having to slurry anything in the shortest amount of time and this hone does that for me.
 
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