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ILR- thoughts?

I’ve used mine quite a bit as a finisher/refresher, but it’s been collecting dust for a bit now. For what I paid I like it but the stone won’t change your life. Don’t pay what they are asking for now.

With that though my experience has been just fine for refreshes. I’m in the same boat as the thread OP though as it’s my only natural stone so my frame of reference is limited. My edges work for me.
 
I’ve used mine quite a bit as a finisher/refresher, but it’s been collecting dust for a bit now. For what I paid I like it but the stone won’t change your life. Don’t pay what they are asking for now.

With that though my experience has been just fine for refreshes. I’m in the same boat as the thread OP though as it’s my only natural stone so my frame of reference is limited. My edges work for me.
Well, I now have a trans ark which is both faster and makes for better edges overall. I kind of still like the face feel of the edge I can get off my ILR but I don't like how long it takes. And the ark edges have been giving me closer shaves.
 
I purchased a Premium 7X2.5” ILR. It came on Monday the stamp that on the top of the stone was thick enough that I couldn’t use a razor on it. So I decided to lap it, I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s a soft stone, but mine is definitely not a soft one. I used 220, 400 SIC Powder which took forever to get it flat then moved onto 400, 600 wet sandpaper then I used my 1200 Atoma to finish it off which put a very smooth, extremely fine polished finish on it, the lapping took bout 2 hours, I know that seems crazy but it literally took that long. I’ve used Coticule’s, Escher’s, Ark’s, JNAT’s, La Lune, etc. So just say I’ve done my share of honing. Today I took my Thiers Issard razor and went from the 5,8,12K Shapton’s then finished under running water on the ILR stone, it done as I’d seen and read about stuck the razor to the stone and wouldn’t move, I then bumped the water up a bit which took away the stickiness of the stone to the razor, done this bout 3 times in all bumping the water up as the stickiness till I couldn’t move the razor. When you get to where you can feel the edge is maxed out, I then stropped it on linen then horsehide 100 on each side. Then shaved with it, and I must say I’ve paid high dollar for other stones, but I must say for this stone just around $150ish I was extremely impressed. The shave was very nice and comfortable, hours later my post shave still feels extremely great. I had my issues whether I should buy this stone or not, but I’m glad I did. Extremely nice shave I’m very happy with this stone. If there’s anything I can help anybody with this stone I don’t mind one bit. It’s looking like it’s going to be my finisher from now on.
 
I purchased a Premium 7X2.5” ILR. It came on Monday the stamp that on the top of the stone was thick enough that I couldn’t use a razor on it. So I decided to lap it, I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s a soft stone, but mine is definitely not a soft one. I used 220, 400 SIC Powder which took forever to get it flat then moved onto 400, 600 wet sandpaper then I used my 1200 Atoma to finish it off which put a very smooth, extremely fine polished finish on it, the lapping took bout 2 hours, I know that seems crazy but it literally took that long. I’ve used Coticule’s, Escher’s, Ark’s, JNAT’s, La Lune, etc. So just say I’ve done my share of honing. Today I took my Thiers Issard razor and went from the 5,8,12K Shapton’s then finished under running water on the ILR stone, it done as I’d seen and read about stuck the razor to the stone and wouldn’t move, I then bumped the water up a bit which took away the stickiness of the stone to the razor, done this bout 3 times in all bumping the water up as the stickiness till I couldn’t move the razor. When you get to where you can feel the edge is maxed out, I then stropped it on linen then horsehide 100 on each side. Then shaved with it, and I must say I’ve paid high dollar for other stones, but I must say for this stone just around $150ish I was extremely impressed. The shave was very nice and comfortable, hours later my post shave still feels extremely great. I had my issues whether I should buy this stone or not, but I’m glad I did. Extremely nice shave I’m very happy with this stone. If there’s anything I can help anybody with this stone I don’t mind one bit. It’s looking like it’s going to be my finisher from now on.
I've had nothing but good experiences with my ILR premium stone. I have also some very nice coticules and plenty of vintage Arkansas and New translucent Arkansas stones. I will tell you my is easy to use and it can put on an edge as good as any of my other finishers if not better. The only thing that kind of throws me off a little bit,is it some type of slate that I can't figure out where it's from.
 
I've had nothing but good experiences with my ILR premium stone. I have also some very nice coticules and plenty of vintage Arkansas and New translucent Arkansas stones. I will tell you my is easy to use and it can put on an edge as good as any of my other finishers if not better. The only thing that kind of throws me off a little bit,is it some type of slate that I can't figure out where it's from.
Yeah I’m just like you they want tell where they get these stones from, and I’d like to know what type of slate this is also.
 
I think it has become fashionable to hate on the ILR I have seen people say there Chinese (CNATS), people saying there synthetic and all things in between. But I have never heard anyone say they are a soft stones, lapping them can be an exercise not as bad as hard arks but they take awhile to lap.
 
Shooo lapping mine sure wasn’t easy I thought I’d never get done. Plus on one end corner of my could’ve used a bit more work lapping, but I threw in the towel and said that’s good enough.
 
Here’s some pics of mine you can see the corner I’m talking about in the 3rd pic.
 

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Yeah mine was similar to that also all the corners where a little low but was able to get most of it out. But the center is perfect. The fact that the whole outer edge was a little low is what I’ve heard people say indicates it came from a mold and show it’s synthetic but I am not sure I believe that reasoning. But in general I think there a good stone and great place to start.
 
Mine was pretty flat out of the box, didn't need much lapping to get it usable. I don't think it's a synth. It doesn't act like one, plus the sparkly inclusions don't make sense from that perspective, at least not to me.
 
How do you guys normally use your ILR just water or do you use the slurry stone with it? How many laps? When I use mine I go from my 12K Shapton to the the ILR and just use water and maybe 10 laps just till the razor sticks then I strop and repeat once more if the HHT is good enough I don't even repeat. Been thinking about trying a touch of soap (Williams) like I do with my arks and see if the adds anything to the edge.
 
How do you guys normally use your ILR just water or do you use the slurry stone with it? How many laps? When I use mine I go from my 12K Shapton to the the ILR and just use water and maybe 10 laps just till the razor sticks then I strop and repeat once more if the HHT is good enough I don't even repeat. Been thinking about trying a touch of soap (Williams) like I do with my arks and see if the adds anything to the edge.
I didn't get good results with slurry.
 
How do you guys normally use your ILR just water or do you use the slurry stone with it? How many laps? When I use mine I go from my 12K Shapton to the the ILR and just use water and maybe 10 laps just till the razor sticks then I strop and repeat once more if the HHT is good enough I don't even repeat. Been thinking about trying a touch of soap (Williams) like I do with my arks and see if the adds anything to the edge.
I work up to the 12K Shapton, then I use my ILR under running water till the razor starts sticking real good then I bump the water up a little more bout a stream bigger than a drinking straw once it sticks, I then cut the water on a pretty good stream and it sticks in no time. I them stop and take it to my strop and I’m finished. The slurry stone to me is useless, but that’s me.
 
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