I have been experimenting a bit with my new Pierre La Lune hone using it both before and after my ILR as a finisher and just before the finisher and found a few things so far. My IRL Ultrafine works better as the finisher than the pre-finisher if I'm progressing from my 1200 DMT through to a 12K Shapton. I have been trying the IRL first and last and found that using the PLL before the IRL works fine but using the IRL first tends to kill the edge. This seems odd because as a finisher on its own I think the PLL is actually a higher relative grit that yields a sharper edge.
Yesterday, I had a new Gold Dollar 66 that I was honing and got a bit lazy so after using the Dremel to push the heel forward I decided to just dull the razor and set the bevel on my DMT 1200 and go right to the PLL with a slurry from the PLL slurry stone. It cut very quickly using a hand hone and then I progressed to a few water-only laps then to the running water laps. When I tested it I was amazed at how sharp it had become without using my normal 5K 8K 12K Shapton progression. This was the fastest I had ever brought a razor up to shave-ready sharpness and the HHT-5 was successful on a longer hair than I had seen before. I was really looking forward to the shave today to see how well it performed.
It was easily the best shave I have had from one of my ground-up honing and the first time I have had a GD shave that was comparable to one of my professionally honed German or French razors. The sharpness held no rough feel at all and I had almost no feedback from the alumn block.
I think I've found my primary hone. It's a bit more expensive than a comparable ILR, but not nearly as expensive as a really low micron synthetic so comes in well for the price. In a while, I'll start looking more at JNats and Etchers but for now, I'm really happy with this stone.
Yesterday, I had a new Gold Dollar 66 that I was honing and got a bit lazy so after using the Dremel to push the heel forward I decided to just dull the razor and set the bevel on my DMT 1200 and go right to the PLL with a slurry from the PLL slurry stone. It cut very quickly using a hand hone and then I progressed to a few water-only laps then to the running water laps. When I tested it I was amazed at how sharp it had become without using my normal 5K 8K 12K Shapton progression. This was the fastest I had ever brought a razor up to shave-ready sharpness and the HHT-5 was successful on a longer hair than I had seen before. I was really looking forward to the shave today to see how well it performed.
It was easily the best shave I have had from one of my ground-up honing and the first time I have had a GD shave that was comparable to one of my professionally honed German or French razors. The sharpness held no rough feel at all and I had almost no feedback from the alumn block.
I think I've found my primary hone. It's a bit more expensive than a comparable ILR, but not nearly as expensive as a really low micron synthetic so comes in well for the price. In a while, I'll start looking more at JNats and Etchers but for now, I'm really happy with this stone.
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