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Imperia la Roccia

I had my first shave with a razor finished on an Imperia La Roccia and here are some observation.

First the honing, so far I have only tried to use the stone with no slurry and as a finisher, either after a Shapton 12K or a Shapton 16K. That particular stone was sold as 12-15K and that does not look to be accurate if considering a Naniwa/King scale but it is not that far off.
The scratch marks are on par with both shapton, so I'd say they are a tad over 1 microns.
After 50 laps, all the marks from the previous stages were gone, I did not check with less strokes, so it might even have been faster than that.
I managed to get a nice HHT off that stone (after some stropping). The edge does not seem as polished as after an Agate treatment and the lines are bigger than crOx, but I refrained myself from doing anything after the Imperia to check the specific signature feel of the stone.

I tried it this morning and it worked on well. The LeGrelot #7 I used with it was very smooth. Not quite as sharp as after a gem or crOx finish, but sharp enough to do the job and it gave me the smooth shave I'd expect from that LeGrelot.

So in conclusion, the stone works.

Next I'll be trying to use it off the King 6K with a slurry to see if it can replace the need for a synthetic finishing stone.

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I honed 2 more razors on that stone with different metal quality, so I'll see how it fared on the others as well.
 
It should work fine.
The Naniwa 10K is about the same as the Shapton 12K. So 8K would not be far off.
I'll try after King 6K, if that works, then it would be even better for your Naniwa.
 
I've not seen much positive about it, but as you mention, there's not much about it, period. Most people say it's worse at its job than a Cnat... which is pretty damning.
 
I test shaved with the second razor I finished off of the Imperia La Roccia.
This one was a Leopard, a Solingen super hollow with a blade width of 7/8.
The shave was not that good. Super-hollow razors are nice when there edge is super sharp. It seems that heavier grind are more forgiving of lesser edge.
So on this Leopard, I'd say the stone did not deliver a good shaving edge.
Not worth than the Shapton 16K though. After that one I typically still need crOx to get the edge to where I like it. I applied crOx to the Leopard and will try it again later on this week to see if it is where it needs to be now.
 
Just mho, and experience. The vendor has sold two stones under this name. I have used the current 12-15K for a couple of months, through a good # of razors, including German and English full hollows. The one I have is a very light greenish gray. It is slow to slurry but speeds up as slurry appears. I find it much faster to polish, with slurry, than the Chinese 12K, and faster and finer to finish. These are all slate stones. I almost always use slate stones with slurry first and then clear water. The application of slurry seems to reduce the lapping required and also refresh the surface. I do not try to lap these stones down to a glassy surface. I believe that reduces the effectiveness of the stone, and does little to achieve a finer finish, that lighter honing toward the end would not do. It can easily and quickly remove striations from a 4K stone. I don't try often, but this is one of the few stones that I have gotten a respectable shave from, right off the stone. I also have, now retired, a coticule, and a black surgical arky, and soon to retire the C12K. Just my 2 cents.
Yall enjoy,
 
I was going to make a new thread, still might...

But has anyone seen those new blue whetstones on the bay advertised as 12-15k? No false advertising(except probably grit), they claim to be from Taiwan or something of all places.
 
So the Imperia La Roccia I has was advertised at 12-15. It is not.
However, if your comparison basis is Norton is it about right. 16K on Norton scale would be 1.5Microns. And that is about how I gauge this stone: somewhere in between my King 6K (2 microns) and my Naniwa 10K (1.2 microns).
Not a bad stone for the price, but not what I was looking for either.
 
The Chinese 'jade', or 'Beryl', hones aren't too far off the 10-12k they're usually advertised at.
But the doorstop mudstones do seem to be another story.
 
Sadly, they are also the size of a pack of bubble gum, typically. I will say this, if you have a good, solid setup that gets results, feel free to take goofy risks, but if you are trying to get yourself a very consistent setup, don't take goofy risks and buy proven commodities.
 
They come in many sizes, up to 8x2x1". Occasionally you'll see a large green beryl on fleapay but that seller is asking over 2x what you can get them for.
 
Most of them are pretty tiny that I have come across. EBay UK is like the home of irresponsible hone performance claims.
 
I see a bit of negative here about stones the writers have not tried. Are the thurys and eschers not slate? Totorlekiller mentions microns, are you measuring the suspended particles from the slurry? There are 4 main characters of the way any hone cuts. Size of grit, hardness of grit, shape of grit and pressure exerted by the worker, assuming other technique from the worker are consistent. Size of grit alone means very little, that is why the grits stated by the well known manufacturers rarely jive with each other. That is why some stones of the same grit may produce a softer or harder edge. Ultimate results from any hone is in the hands of the worker, and the most obvious results are rarely the only possible results. One person here tried his slate stone only with clear water. That leaves out the most usable part of any slate stone. Not every worker can get the most from every hone, on every blade. Judging the capabilities of a hone from a single razor would be like judging your driving skills by following you for a single block.
Best regards to all, just my 2 cents
 
Most of the small ones are intended for use as polishing stones for mold makers and the like, or sharpeners for small tools The larger of the 'small' pieces can be used as a hone if you pay attention. The full size stones are tempting but not at eBay prices.
 
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