I'm Gonna Try a Stone Which has a Name I Cannot Pronounce

[Acmemfg]

Found what I think is a decent deal on a Welsh "LLYN MELYNLLYN"....yeah, right. The vendor seems to be pretty well known and respected in the razor domain, so I figured for less than $25 shipped why not? Thinking I'll use this as a finisher coming off the coticule. Any advice? Anyone know how to pronounce what it is????

 

[jpcwon]

I have a llyn Mellynlyn and find it to be a pretty good finisher after coticule. I like my Escher and JNATs better, but it's not a bad stone at all...With the LM I usually raise a skim-milk slurry, and do sets of 30 xstrokes with dilutions after every set. I then finish on water....I find that the LM gives a nice overall edge....

 

[Mike H]

I thought it was pronounced like "len melon len". But I have never heard it pronounced, nor had the opportunity to use one.

 

[SliceOfLife]

LM's are also known as yellow lake hones. The vintage ones are decent slates. Definitely a downgrade from something like an arkansas, but perfectly functional for what they claim to do. I have no experience with the newly dug ones. Does anyone even know where they are coming from? Is there anyone taking credit for mining them? Last I heard all these mines were places people walked their dogs these days.

 

[Gamma]

The new so-called Lms are sold by AJ on that auction site, he bought a load of purple slate from a reclamation yard in northern Wales.

There are doubts as to the stone's original origin, there has been no proof that they came from the same mine/s as the labeled Yellow Lake hones.

 

[Brooksie967]

When I started honing I chose this over the nani 12k, found it gave smoother edges (as most naturals do over synthetics IMO).

 

[ADRSPACH]

Gamma is right.
YL/LM is brand name. I can guarantee you that they did not come from LM quarry as there is completely different stone. However I have seen recently going for sale (Yes I missed it- what a plonker) one which did look like original from the quarry.
As on its performance there are big differences between them. I will guess due to different sources of raw material.

 

[tomjr]

i have one and mine turns out some nice edges and is simple to use. i have not used it in awhile because i like using lots of different stones as my honing journey continues. the only ones i guess i stay away from is jnats. that rabbit holes is too......deep 4 me to explore.

 

[galopede]

Being a Welshman, I CAN pronounce it! Not sure I can explain it though as the letter LL is hard to explain to non Taffs!

Touch your tongue to the back of your front top teeth and breathe out as you say the L! So the Llyn id pronounce with the sort of hiss and like LEAN The melyn is easy enough, Mel like Bell then IN, so like Mell In. Then you have the Llyn again!

Gareth

 

[Acmemfg]

Well...I received the stone. Looks good enough. Nicely lapped and chamfered; did come with a slurry stone too. I wrote the vendor (AJ) and asked if this is a Gen-yoo-ine "LLYN MELYNLLYN" rock. In retrospect, his auction site is a bit..let's say..vague. But for $23.00 I'm not gonna sweat it too much, at least not until I get a chance to try it. Methinks I'm gonna use a light oil (WD 40) on one side of this and water on the other and see what happens.

 

[Brooksie967]

This was my first ever 'finisher' and I had great success with it. It has been heavily tested at the other 'forum' if that's what you want to call that place. You can use this stone with the 'one stone honing' method as long as you have a proper bevel set. The stone is fast enough with a heavy slurry to remove all the damage from a 1k and take you up to about the 12k mark if you dilute patiently.

I found that a light misty slurry gave me the smoothest edges from these stones and if I wanted to finish with just water a few passes on CrOx really mellowed the edge. Edges off these are plenty keen.

Good luck with it.