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La Lune Black - Prep and Use?

I have a La Lune inbound and had a few quick questions:
  • Can I lap this with a new atoma 400? Do I need to go to a fine grit sand paper after that?
  • What about regular lapping, atoma or other?
  • I have heard these stones work best with Oil. What is everyone's preference in honing oil
  • What about Glycerine and water?
Thanks
Greazy
 
I have a La Lune inbound and had a few quick questions:
  • Can I lap this with a new atoma 400? Do I need to go to a fine grit sand paper after that?
  • What about regular lapping, atoma or other?
  • I have heard these stones work best with Oil. What is everyone's preference in honing oil
  • What about Glycerine and water?
Thanks
Greazy

I would lap to at least 1k Paper.
They are very fast cutting stones and its easy to over do it. Less is more.
 

David

B&B’s Champion Corn Shucker
They can actually chip a bit of you lap them too aggressively, so I will agree with the above posts about lapping them higher than normal and keep those large chamfers- they are there for a reason. They are one of the strangest stones on the planet as far as how they look, feel, and behave IMO.
 
I'm assuming you bought my stone on eBay based on the timing.

The back side shouldn't need lapping. That's the side I used when I used the stone. The front (chamferred), has a scratch, but honestly, I wouldn't lap that either unless I noticed it causing problems.

Should be ready to go.

I've never used la lunes much. I prefer Thuri's, just kept some Lunes as collection pieces... but based on what I've heard, they work best with a thin oil, and tend to have particular razors they really shine with, whereas with others they're just ok (I've found a lot of oilstones are this way, My Yellow lake gets used with about 3 razors total).

If you do lap it, like KCB said, lap it fine. You don't want to leave 400x scratches on the surface of a La Lune imho.
 
I may be the only one who uses a purple Lune with water only.
10-15 laps is more than enough to bump an edge up in keenness without changing the properties of whatever was used last.
I tried every combination but ultimately it was lap dependent IMO. Too many and its killer sharp but not too comfortable.
As stated, less is more.
 
That is the rule I've heard a lot about Lunes. "Don't do too many passes". That's why I don't use them. I don't like that rule. I want a hone that is fast but if I WERE to do 1000 more passes than I needed to, the edge will be exactly the same as if I hit the exact right number of passes (as long as my technique wasn't bad). That's what I look for in my hones.
 
You mean just for razors? Otherwise, Unlabeled Washita takes that for me. You can STILL grab them for $20-30 in 8x2x1" size. That stone would be all 99.9% of home cooks would ever need to keep their knives nice and sharp. Forget V sharpeners that wear out and the users don't even notice because they weren't doing anything anyway. Forget every gimmick and trick out there. Slap your knives around on a Washita every few dozen uses and I'll be much happier when I visit and you ask me to cook. (This message brought to you courtesy of my extended family).


For razors, maybe. Lunes did the same thing Charnley's did. Got massively over-rated and started selling in the hundreds, then some people were like, "uh they aren't worth that", and they came crashing back down to where they're if anything a little undervalued.
 
10-15 with a purple on water alone probably completely obliterates any prior scratch pattern in favor of its own, no?

I don't remember that it obliterates it but it definitely will be a different edge in feel.
For me it seemed to be about the sweet spot for not removing the characteristics of the last finisher.
It would definitely be a much keener edge but can still be smooth. More than that it will either be really harsh or the edge will not hold up.
10 strokes would be plenty, more would taking a chance on loosing some smoothness from a prior stone.
15 would be about max.
I haven't used it in some time. Perhaps its time to revisit.
Many people can't seem to get a smooth edge from them. Its because it doesn't provide one:)
Keeping the strokes to a minimun will retain what you want while still benefiting from what it has to offer.
 
No, I just mean razors. Idk, the purple lune is a really good rock for what it is. I don't know if I would say the purple is totally devoid of comfort the way the black can be. I strop edges off of those the way I strop edges that I am testing from barber hones. They get extra passes on both strops.
 
I have to say I already like this stone! First honing session was a success. Had to touch up my Ali, and it was tugging and giving a poor shave. Water and balistol, and about 30 light laps mirror polished the edge. Gave a really nice and smooth shave!
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