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ILR- thoughts?

I know these aren't terribly popular for various reasons. I got one a while back before I knew anything about honing, and got ok edges--comfortable, but not terribly keen. After spending the last few months honing on film and using the balsa method, I decided to pull out the ILR and see what I could do with it.

The razor was my Rugby, an old Solingen blade with lots of pitting and an edge that likes to chip out at the toe. I reset the bevel with tape, starting on 9 micron film and honed it to 3 micron film. Then I went to the ILR.

Previous attempts I had followed the conventional wisdom: hone under running water until it sticks, strop on canvas and hone again under a trickle until it sticks again, and done. This time I honed with water sprayed on the stone, quite a few laps until I could see a hazy scratch pattern on the whole bevel. Then I added a touch of dish soap and continued with x-strokes, alternating between heel and toe leading. I added water until the soap was entirely diluted and finished with as light a touch as I could.

Inspecting the edge under magnification revealed some deeper scratches at a fairly uniform distribution in addition to the finer haze. Because of the direction, I know they were from the stone and not the films. Looking at the stone you can see some "sparklies" that I suspect are responsible for those scratches.

After honing, it treetopped but wouldn't pass HHT. After 50 laps on clean leather, it would HHT uniformly and quietly. The shave was quite nice. No bite and very close after my usual 3 passes. Not as sharp as a method edge, of course, but a little sharper than I've managed to get off 1 micron film and far less harsh than a .3 micron film edge over paper.

The sparklies seem more prominent after lapping and especially after honing. I wonder if, like an ark, these should be knocked down with a knife or a chisel prior to putting a razor on it. The photo below is from after this last honing session.

Anyway, definitely not an everyday finisher in my opinion, but more capable than I realized.

Would love to hear others' experiences. At the moment this is the only natural stone I own, so my frame of reference is limited.
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I use an ILR predominantly over my Coti and Arks. I spent a lot less for my ILR than other two mentioned and it's much easier to use than both the Arkansas and Coticule. The Coticule of course is more versatile stone. I do like the edge more on the ILR in general on most of my razors as finisher. Just my two cents. Although I would like to try a really high quality Jnat one day for comparison.
 
I like my ILR.

I had to lap it once, but since then I've just let my razors polish it.

I think that by doing what you did,
staying with one stone for a while and being thoughtful about using it,
you've probably learned a bit of what can't be taught about how to push it further.
 
My ILR leaves some scratches on the bevel but they don't seem to affect the shave. I last lapped it with 400 grit, and it has been polished with use. It is starting to gloss a little. The scratches seem lighter now that the stone is polished, but that's not a scientific measurement, just my old eyeballs and a cheap microscope. It was the first stone that I got a "Holy Cow !" edge with.
I can't see any sparkles in mine.
The more I use it the keener my edges get, but I think that is me learning , not the stone changing.
 
I'll definitely be using mine more now that I know the edge benefits from spending a little more time on it than some youtubers would suggest. I'm curious to see how long the edge holds up on that Rugby-- though that may be confounded by its tendency to microchip.
 
There was a big thing about 6-7 years ago about where they came from. Some said they were rebranded Chinese water stones. I have one. It isn't like the 2 Chinese 12ks I've used. Not that it means anything as they all vary.
 
Ah cheers! I've never heard of that, will have to read up...
I'll save you some time. Without reigniting the acrimony that seemed to surround this stone in the past.

It's a slate of some sort. Mine has clear crystalline inclusions that you can see if you zoom in on my photo above. These leave deeper scratches but don't seem to impact the shave. Another member did a series of honing tests a few years ago that mirror my experience. It's hard to slurry; I don't find the slurry to be valuable anyway. I've seen claims that it's in the 12k or finer range. I don’t think that's true. My best success has been coming off a well polished 8k edge. Coming off 12k seems like a step back.

I had good luck with water only, starting with moderate pressure, then adding dishsoap and progressively diluting while lightening to almost no pressure. Probably around 100 x-stroke laps.

So it's not terribly fast but I was able to get an edge that would do a close and comfortable ATG pass.

The acrimony, for the most part, has come from the lack of transparency on provenance, partly, but also some claims from the sellers that seem exaggerated, and some aggressive astroturfing. Price is probably a little high for what you're getting.

My only reason for starting this thread was to say that I actually managed to "crack the code" on this stone after some false starts. I wouldn’t call it efficient but it is forgiving.
 
I think that most stones are capable of sharpening. And some of these can even be used for honing. A glass mirror would probably be capable of putting a mirror edge on a blade! (Pun intended). Efficiency is critical for me anyway. So if it can't cut fast enough while being able to polish also then I'm not interested. I've seen more than a few of these types of stones. Anyone remember the Apache strata? Back to the main topic..... I have one. I've shaved off it. It's ok. But I've used enough stones to say I don't like it. It's too slow. And the edge isnt stellar either imo. Shaveable? Yes. I liken it to shaving off a 5k chosera. But that's just my .02. use what you like.
 
I just use a 1200 Atoma to make sure my 8x3 in ILR is flat. I only use water. It's been a very good performer. if anything it seems to even improve over the years. I did notice the changed the website when checked today. The claim of 12k is not there and the Thuri's reference is not there either. Go figure.
 
I think that most stones are capable of sharpening. And some of these can even be used for honing. A glass mirror would probably be capable of putting a mirror edge on a blade! (Pun intended). Efficiency is critical for me anyway. So if it can't cut fast enough while being able to polish also then I'm not interested. I've seen more than a few of these types of stones. Anyone remember the Apache strata? Back to the main topic..... I have one. I've shaved off it. It's ok. But I've used enough stones to say I don't like it. It's too slow. And the edge isnt stellar either imo. Shaveable? Yes. I liken it to shaving off a 5k chosera. But that's just my .02. use what you like.
I like fast stones, that put that mirror shine while honing. I know for an American it's not too exotic but I have an insane love for arkansas stone(especially super fine washitas!) for this reason. I don't enjoy most slates I've tried for the same reason. I absolutly adore my llyn idwal even though it took me a little while to figure out mine hates pressure. I was underwhelmed by my thuri and welsh slate initially too. I would say they are both decent(and honestly pretty equal) though and take an edge to about the same place. I don't use coticules as much anymore but I love fast coticules for a pre finisher, I also love a les lat finish but not nearly as much as my ark or LI. Those stones can handle every type of steel I've thrown at them, one or three other at least. The LI and les lat are both really sharp, smooth, c.c.y feeling(can't cut yourself). If done on an ark then the LI, it takes some bite out of those softer steels when they are very, very sharp off the ark. I don't feel like they take ANY sharpness away like a coticule would(not a bbw though), it'll be just as keen, just not bitey. The ark and LI will always take the cake over other stuff because of how they mirror the bevel. I've very interested in shaping Japanese knives on an ark as a base and using different coticules, bbw, and slates for different slurries and get the same/ similar result of a jnat. If so you could get the same effect, but much cheaper for beginners. There is so much variation in cotis, slates and arks(especially washitas) that every stone you bought would guaranteed fit into the progression. I wish I had time for experiments. Sends like all my sharpening/ honing is just residential and there is barely time for that even. Sorry for Ramblin!
 
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I just use a 1200 Atoma to make sure my 8x3 in ILR is flat. I only use water. It's been a very good performer. if anything it seems to even improve over the years. I did notice the changed the website when checked today. The claim of 12k is not there and the Thuri's reference is not there either. Go figure.
I've found slates can change drastically by lapping them down a few mm(like coticules! Lap the crap out of the ones you hate!) So I could absolutly see that it's gotten better over time. Slates don't "settle in" as much as novaculite will unless they're very hard. These are just my experiences with my very random and eclectic collection of rocks. I like to play the mystery hone lotto(been coming up snake eyes lately.. kinda, india stones are extremely useful, just not finishers). My next stone to try is a charnwood, I've heard mixed things but I've heard the same about the rest of them too.
 
I just use a 1200 Atoma to make sure my 8x3 in ILR is flat. I only use water. It's been a very good performer. if anything it seems to even improve over the years. I did notice the changed the website when checked today. The claim of 12k is not there and the Thuri's reference is not there either. Go figure.
Try mineral oil on it, slates should absorb it and a little drop of dawn will take it right off. Oil is what made my purple welsh slate (Llyn Mellynllyn?) shine finally. Mineral oil is awesome and odorless and it's, in my opinion, the best lubricant... for me. It comes off with just a little dawn. The wrecked stones we get and restore, we get because they are cheap and not taken care of at all. With a little maintenance it doesn't *really* matter what you use if you wash your rocks. I keep a big and little tub of simple green by the sink and just drop them in if there is any buildup, otherwise just wash with soap. Rotating between mineral oil(long sessions) and lather(short sessions/ touch ups) will do it too. Happy hunting!
 
I have an ILR that I’ve used at least 20 times. In my original progression it came after my 8k and before my black Ark. Lately I’ve been playing more with Washitas and Arks and so the 8k and ILR have been sidelined in favor of a Washita and hard Ark with a true hard or black following. So a little hard for me to say how well it works since I don’t use it as a finisher. I will say that I have not had issues with deep scratches from the stone.

In terms of how I use it I have used under water (per YouTube videos) and also used with soapy water. The blade never seems to stick to the stone when I use soapy water.
 
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