Here's mine. A hard large one and a very hard one. Both very great finishers! I made the case for the large and the top case for the other myself.
Charnley Forest show off your Charnwood
- Thread starter rideon66
- Start date
How do you get your hones to stick to the ceiling like that?
I've got a colorful Charnley - I'll get a photo up soon.
It's flat and does a fine job with oil, and it has some small holes or pits in the surface.
Blades pass over the holes but I was wondering if others have this as well, I don't see any in the other photos posted.
It's flat and does a fine job with oil, and it has some small holes or pits in the surface.
Blades pass over the holes but I was wondering if others have this as well, I don't see any in the other photos posted.
You can see the pits in the second photo below:
I've had CFs in the past with pits, some I was able to lap past and others I was not. The pits did not affect the hone's performance.
- Thread starter
- #27
If you got it like that and never lapped it. Then it may have been inclusions that the previous owener removed.
Very nice unique stone. Thanks for sharing.
Very nice unique stone. Thanks for sharing.
The reddish pits are usually softer parts of the stone, sort of an inclusion.
Way back - Neil Miller had one where a chunk of red stuff the size of a an egg yolk just fell out of the stone.
Way back - Neil Miller had one where a chunk of red stuff the size of a an egg yolk just fell out of the stone.
Not all the time they are like that. Most of the times they are "grown in" not capsulated. The issue with them is that sometimes they can be mixed with other stuff which can make them toxic for razors and other fine edges. However there is not usualy problem with those streaks what you need to look for are thos small caverns like as tehy often contain sand. To lap them off can be timely and sometimes impossible. Trust me have done it in past and after getting 1/2" thick layer of the whole hone face of it was still there decided not to bother further and just gouge them out. I believe Mr Iwasaki has done something simillar to one of his Jnats.
If you are after big sizes there is one in Henks book which is continual 40 metres long rock face of it.
If you are after big sizes there is one in Henks book which is continual 40 metres long rock face of it.
- Thread starter
- #30
Labeled Marples Charnley Forest.Lapping 1/2" of Charn off doesn't sound like fun to me, and I'd imagine the 40m long Charn has a few toxic bits lurking too....
Scoring out toxic lines wasn't invented by Iwasaki, it's a common practice with Jnats. Doing so can leave the surface less than great for razor honing though. Really depends on the line, where it is, what angle its on, etc.
Besides Coticules, I have a penchant for the beautiful green stones from GB. This is my first Charnley Forest. It has more than one green hue and some little pores, real small holes that can be seen with a good loupe. You can see the little grey speckles on the pic. But nothing toxic in this stone, even the brown spots not. Dry in the daylight, it is very dark green, but with LED lighting it is really nice light green. Normally, I use it after my very good Kasumi K12 (8k). It produces a really good reference edge that leaves nothing to be desired. Due to the big dimensions (263mm x 60mm), 60-80 strokes with water after the K12 are sufficient. I think it is one of the easiest stone I have ever used. It can not fail.
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Very nice Charn - very nice indeed.
- Thread starter
- #34
That's a real big beauty there. I really do love these. This makes me wish I had bid on one that went cheap this week.
Thanks, I am glad that you like it.
This is my longest Charn (11,22") and a stone with an happy ending.
When it arrived, I recognized, there is a lot of work to do.
It took me some hours to lap this stone completely flat. When I was finally done, I was disappointed with the result.
I had used 1200 w/d at last but the stone was rougher than my other Charn, the shave was not good. I thought it is probably a tool grade,not useable for razors. Also I had read that CF´s with red stripes are not as fine as pure green ones. I was really annoyed, so much work and the stone was not cheap. Than I searched a bit here in the forum how to lap best a Charn. I read that some people had used a chisel or a hard knife after lapping. Curiously, this worked excellent and after some honed razors, it is very smooth now and one of my best finishers. I think the reason is that it is a super dense stone, it has not the little pores like my first Charnley, not one water- or oil-atom can be absorbed.
Now I am sure, that the brown stribes have no effect. They are neither coarser nor harder or softer than the green stone.
I think it is like manganese in Coticules. I don´t think you can see from coloring weather it is a very fine CF or not.
I have sanded the fine wood, it was very oily and dirty. I think I should buy a woodcare product.
This is my longest Charn (11,22") and a stone with an happy ending.
When it arrived, I recognized, there is a lot of work to do.
It took me some hours to lap this stone completely flat. When I was finally done, I was disappointed with the result.
I had used 1200 w/d at last but the stone was rougher than my other Charn, the shave was not good. I thought it is probably a tool grade,not useable for razors. Also I had read that CF´s with red stripes are not as fine as pure green ones. I was really annoyed, so much work and the stone was not cheap. Than I searched a bit here in the forum how to lap best a Charn. I read that some people had used a chisel or a hard knife after lapping. Curiously, this worked excellent and after some honed razors, it is very smooth now and one of my best finishers. I think the reason is that it is a super dense stone, it has not the little pores like my first Charnley, not one water- or oil-atom can be absorbed.
Now I am sure, that the brown stribes have no effect. They are neither coarser nor harder or softer than the green stone.
I think it is like manganese in Coticules. I don´t think you can see from coloring weather it is a very fine CF or not.
I have sanded the fine wood, it was very oily and dirty. I think I should buy a woodcare product.
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- Thread starter
- #37
I have the labeled one above which is all green and one with red stripes too. I love them both, but actually prefer the red striped one by a hair for shaving. They both work very well but my my red striped one seems to have just a tad finer end result. The green may just need more metal across it in order to catch up on final finish though.
In the end I prefer the red striped looks more too. Although 6" x 3" labeled gives a great surface area for honing.
My red striped one came in a nice wood box too and it is very light colored. I was thinking about trying the stain that comes in wipes form from the hardware store to finish it, but have to do a test on the bottom of the wood first to see how it does.
Lovely stones. You seem to have the same problem as me. I find I like a variety of stones to shave from.
In the end I prefer the red striped looks more too. Although 6" x 3" labeled gives a great surface area for honing.
My red striped one came in a nice wood box too and it is very light colored. I was thinking about trying the stain that comes in wipes form from the hardware store to finish it, but have to do a test on the bottom of the wood first to see how it does.
Lovely stones. You seem to have the same problem as me. I find I like a variety of stones to shave from.
Nice stone Tom! I think I will buy some hard oil. I have tested olive oil with an old coffee grinder, but this does not drying-out completely and so the wood has an affinity to dirt. It is strange, but I am sure my wooden box is mahogany. I think that was not cheaper than today 100 years ago. By the way, sorry for my bad English, I am working on it.
My charnley. Never gotten it out of its box, it's rather stuck in there. I used to use it with water (drop of dishwasherliquid added to break surface tension), which gave a niec edge, these days I use it with oil which gives a sharper and smoother edge.
Measurethingy nextto it in centmeters.
Nice charns. I've never owned one, but Nelson finished my filly on his and that edge is stellar. It's still going strong and that's been at least 3-4 months ago.
