Hey captaincaed, have you sealed the labels on your Arks yet?
Getting from "popping" to "slicing"
- Thread starter captaincaed
- Start date
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- #62
After a major move and a bit more experimentation, wanted to add another entry in this journal. Thanks to all for helping me get on target.
Found out the Gesshin knife stones were leaving much deeper scratches that is helpful for razor honing. After trying some recommended stones (Shapton 1.5k, Naniwa Hayabusa, Naniwa Pro 5k), the edge is so much more refined, the honing sensation feels as it should, and the edges are much sharper. Using the two side-by-side was eye-opening. The Gesshin stones are crazy fast, sandy feeling and toothy, excellent for knives. The Naniwa are smooth, buttery, clingy, with a ton of polishing power, and slower. It took 20” to remove 4k Gesshin scratches with the 4k Naniwa hayabusa with slurry. Same number, very different stones. Different tools for different jobs.
Cutting action is much closer to slicing than popping, although I could still probably benefit from an 8k before jumping to a final finish, the Pro 5k is a pretty incredible stone. I tried jumping up to the Ohishi 10k from the 5k a couple times, and each time I felt the edge went backwards a hair. Each time dropping back to the 5k, things felt cleaner, sharper. Bevel polish was improved with fewer rogue scratches. Polishing action with the 5k is also dead smooth, the Ohishi 10k feels a hair sandy. I’ll need to keep working with that one, but it’s not inspiring as much confidence as it once did.
I had a shave today where the razor felt almost rubbery, rather than scrapey, after finishing on a hard, homogenous coticule. Smooth cheeks, smooth comfortable cutting, little to no popping feeling. Still room to grow, but overall substantial improvement.
Found out the Gesshin knife stones were leaving much deeper scratches that is helpful for razor honing. After trying some recommended stones (Shapton 1.5k, Naniwa Hayabusa, Naniwa Pro 5k), the edge is so much more refined, the honing sensation feels as it should, and the edges are much sharper. Using the two side-by-side was eye-opening. The Gesshin stones are crazy fast, sandy feeling and toothy, excellent for knives. The Naniwa are smooth, buttery, clingy, with a ton of polishing power, and slower. It took 20” to remove 4k Gesshin scratches with the 4k Naniwa hayabusa with slurry. Same number, very different stones. Different tools for different jobs.
Cutting action is much closer to slicing than popping, although I could still probably benefit from an 8k before jumping to a final finish, the Pro 5k is a pretty incredible stone. I tried jumping up to the Ohishi 10k from the 5k a couple times, and each time I felt the edge went backwards a hair. Each time dropping back to the 5k, things felt cleaner, sharper. Bevel polish was improved with fewer rogue scratches. Polishing action with the 5k is also dead smooth, the Ohishi 10k feels a hair sandy. I’ll need to keep working with that one, but it’s not inspiring as much confidence as it once did.
I had a shave today where the razor felt almost rubbery, rather than scrapey, after finishing on a hard, homogenous coticule. Smooth cheeks, smooth comfortable cutting, little to no popping feeling. Still room to grow, but overall substantial improvement.
@captaincaed , I hope you can find a Fuji 8k. I think you're really going to like what it does to your edges coming from the 4k and 5k. I got mine off Amazon.
- Thread starter
- #64
Thanks brother. I was hoping to find something used, but if not, I’llbuy a new one next month when my fun bux refresh
I have both the Fuji and the 8k snow white. I prefer the Snow White over the Fuji. The Fuji does leave a slightly more polished edge, but since I am not finishing with an 8k, I will use the snow white most of the time.Thanks brother. I was hoping to find something used, but if not, I’llbuy a new one next month when my fun bux refresh
- Thread starter
- #66
Hey just noticed this when I revived the thread. Yes! Thank you your comment reminded me to do so. All sealed up now.
I’m definitely no expert, but the closest I got to epiphany moments, i can think of a few.
The first one was when someone showed me a photo of a big chalk stick which had been used to draw on the pavement. The end was very jagged. This was used as an illustration of the importance of using a very light touch on the abrasive to really get the smoothest scratch pattern from it. Made a lot of sense to me.
The next breakthrough came when I realized the importance of surface prep to natural stones.
My Welsh slate needs dressing with a slurry stone after lapping or the face is rough. My coticule too.
I honed an old razor on the slate for 600 or so laps which glazed it slightly and bumped it up many levels. It now blows my jnat out of the water at less than 1/10 the price.
I think my Arkansas stone behaves in a similar way. After lapping I have it at 600 grit and it works beautifully.
My third such moment was realising how important the bevel set really is. @hbradboonshaft sent me a photo or two of how an edge on bevel should look. Once I started getting this right I really improved. At around the same time I was watching @alx gilmore s axe method videos which took the ‘less is more’ idea to a new level.
I also learned about repeated honing , stropping and testing from that’s videos, they’re brilliant.
The first one was when someone showed me a photo of a big chalk stick which had been used to draw on the pavement. The end was very jagged. This was used as an illustration of the importance of using a very light touch on the abrasive to really get the smoothest scratch pattern from it. Made a lot of sense to me.
The next breakthrough came when I realized the importance of surface prep to natural stones.
My Welsh slate needs dressing with a slurry stone after lapping or the face is rough. My coticule too.
I honed an old razor on the slate for 600 or so laps which glazed it slightly and bumped it up many levels. It now blows my jnat out of the water at less than 1/10 the price.
I think my Arkansas stone behaves in a similar way. After lapping I have it at 600 grit and it works beautifully.
My third such moment was realising how important the bevel set really is. @hbradboonshaft sent me a photo or two of how an edge on bevel should look. Once I started getting this right I really improved. At around the same time I was watching @alx gilmore s axe method videos which took the ‘less is more’ idea to a new level.
I also learned about repeated honing , stropping and testing from that’s videos, they’re brilliant.
