My shave results; edge comparisons.

[SliceOfLife]

Today was the "Brackett" Brazilian Quartz hone.

Cuts like a nice hard modern synthetic. Very fast. Leaves a hyper-polished edge.
Shave had decent comfort, not a stand out one way or the other. Not much a/s burn but some. Closeness left something to be desired. Disappointing, really. I remember it shaving a bit closer than this.

Comfort: 44/50
Closeness: 41/50

Total: 85/100

 

[kcb5150]

I don't find mine all that fast, especially vs typical b hones, but it might also have to do with the fact I trued the surface to a very fine grit. My reasoning was they seemed to intend for the coti to do the heavy lifting and the base to do the final polish and truing. I would redo that stone, it may have just been whatever you lead into it with, idk

 

[stone and strop]

I don't find mine all that fast, especially vs typical b hones, but it might also have to do with the fact I trued the surface to a very fine grit.

Mine is not fast either.
If you dress it a little coarser it is very fast but not near as fine.
At the finer dressed state it does not slurry anything easily, it takes a little tooth on the hone to aid in slurrying.
When dressed properly it leaves a very nice edge on a razor, better than most Barber hones.

 

[kcb5150]

I find it has a lot of draw under the razor. It has a feel I can only describe as odd.

 

[SliceOfLife]

It peels a ton of material off the bevel without pressure. It’s not fast because of large abrasives like many barbers hones. It’s aggressive because the abrasive density is insanely high. And if your hone is a pulling up enough swarf that you would consider it a slurry, there are too coarse to be in this comparison. The only finishers that peel a halfway decent razor like that, Are those cotis that you have to finish under running water

 

[stone and strop]

I find it has a lot of draw under the razor. It has a feel I can only describe as odd.

Yes, Its a strange, lifeless tactile hone.
I do not like the use of any lubricant on it. Best used dry for me to relieve the stiction and skipping.

 

[kcb5150]

Couldn't sleep so lapped the wedgeway that came with that huge coti. Previous user took their advice and used oil. Warns against lather specifically, so I will heed that. Looked up abtin of pike oil from this era and it seems to just be a thin mineral oil though someone can chime in. This thing was raining material during lapping but once I hit clean rock it seems fine with no surface cohesion issues. I think this and the coti were stored in a non-punishing enviornment but the film of whatever they used may have chemically tweaked that outermost layer. The unstamped side seems to have taken on a step finer polish than the top which is odd. No color bleeding on rags or anything. Given the specific mention of pike maybe it is something they churned out, idk. If it is like a pike swaty it may well be good. It actually accepted the water after lap, it was sheeting right off prior. The dark large fields are remnants purging.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Two shaves banged out recently.


A Hirsch German Slate. Feels like a dirty Thuri... Shave wasn’t the worst or the best.

33/50 comfort. Not much tugging during shave, but significant after shave discomfort.

36/50 closeness.

69/100 overall

 

[SliceOfLife]

Welch Razor Hone.


felt a little under sharp. Another subpar shave.

37/50 comfort
34/50 closeness

71/100 overall

 

[Ufgoodies]

nice to know the right barbers hone can do better than naturals

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah, both of those naturals are midrangers in my opinion. You can shave off them, but I wouldn't buy one as a finisher. I'll get some real natural finishers up soon, but I'm doing the "Barbers" hones first, natural or synth, and both of those two were marketed as stones for barbers/razors. Next will probably be a synthetic coticule... then Im thinking maybe a couple natural coticules of different types, maybe a Thuri or two, Then probably wrap up the Synths I plan on testing, Spyderco UF and a SP 13k...

 

[SliceOfLife]

Decided to go another way.

Today, a Vintage Les Latneuses Hybrid side.



Closeness: 46/50
Comfort 49/50

Overall 95/100

 

[Namkcakram]

Decided to go another way.

Today, a Vintage Les Latneuses Hybrid side.



Closeness: 46/50
Comfort 49/50

Overall 95/100

The temptation was just too strong!

Gotta love the hybrids.

 

[Ufgoodies]

If you answered this already i apologize, but are you using the same razor for all of these?

 

[SliceOfLife]

If you answered this already i apologize, but are you using the same razor for all of these?

7 day set.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Today, a Mystery slate I've been working with here and there the past couple weeks. Shave quality similar to Thuri's to my mind, but not as easy to use/maintain. Definitely more finicky.
Also, I should note, I'll definitely be retesting the Welch soon. It's an oil hone. I forgot that and was testing it off water for the test friday.

Closeness: 43/50
Comfort 47.5/50

Overall: 90.5/100

 

[SliceOfLife]

Today:

A Sigma Power 13k Synthetic. If memory serves it's .92micron avg particle size. I've tried a number of synthetics... including a Goku 20k... this stone was its equal if not better for a shave in my opinion. In general Synthetics have a bad reputation of being uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it's more related to shaving technique or more related to a lack of proper experience/familiarity on the particular stones... but I lean towards the latter. High grit synthetics are very practical stones. They do what they do, and don't bother themselves about protecting against user error. In contrast, very forgiving stones like Thuringians do. Very comfortable edges even with an imperfect finish like coticules do. Relatively coarse hones like much else of what's out there does. And like nothing else, pastes do.

By contrast, if you're rattling the razor on the hone, a sub-micron synth will tell you.
If you're not cleaning off all the pitting, a sub-micron synth will tell you.
If you're letting random grit from other stones get onto your hone, a sub-micron synth will tell you.
If your razor simply can't hold a very thin edge, a sub-micron synth will tell you.
If your strop or stropping technique over-stresses the edge, a sub-micron synth will tell you.

Synthetics don't cover up mistakes well, and they don't suit more fragile razors. But if the razor can take it, and you do it right... they shave just fine.

Comfort way up there. Closeness quite good too.

48/50 Comfort
48/50 Closeness
96/100 Overall

 

[lightfoot]

This last effort seems to have been a real home run! I’d never actually heard of that stone before.

 

[SliceOfLife]

It’s a synthetic company from Japan that used to be really hard to get in the states, but a few places have started importing them over the years. Although the place I got mine from was Tools from Japan which I think just went out of business?

This last effort seems to have been a real home run! I’d never actually heard of that stone before.

 

[Alum of Potash]

Today:

A Sigma Power 13k Synthetic. If memory serves it's .92micron avg particle size. I've tried a number of synthetics... including a Goku 20k... this stone was its equal if not better for a shave in my opinion. In general Synthetics have a bad reputation of being uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it's more related to shaving technique or more related to a lack of proper experience/familiarity on the particular stones... but I lean towards the latter. High grit synthetics are very practical stones. They do what they do, and don't bother themselves about protecting against user error. In contrast, very forgiving stones like Thuringians do. Very comfortable edges even with an imperfect finish like coticules do. Relatively coarse hones like much else of what's out there does. And like nothing else, pastes do.

By contrast, if you're rattling the razor on the hone, a sub-micron synth will tell you.
If you're not cleaning off all the pitting, a sub-micron synth will tell you.
If you're letting random grit from other stones get onto your hone, a sub-micron synth will tell you.
If your razor simply can't hold a very thin edge, a sub-micron synth will tell you.
If your strop or stropping technique over-stresses the edge, a sub-micron synth will tell you.

Synthetics don't cover up mistakes well, and they don't suit more fragile razors. But if the razor can take it, and you do it right... they shave just fine.

Comfort way up there. Closeness quite good too.

48/50 Comfort
48/50 Closeness
96/100 Overall

How are you using this synth stone relative to soaking and standing water on the surface?