timwcic
"Look what I found"
There is not much more to add other than the praise already given to the Rosy Red. I am in a special place to have three together in one picture
Rosy Red Washita
- Thread starter David
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timwcic
"Look what I found"
In the words of the late, great Ron Popeil, ‘But, wait, there’s more!’. I have had this 6 inch Washita for some time. By the construction of the box, I new it was a Pike or Norton, but I could not read the label to confirm identity. Never gave it a second thought that the remains of the label is red. Not until I lined all the Rosy’s together, it all came into focus and had a HOLY CRAP!! moment. With them all lined up, I feel confident that I have a fourth Pike Rosy Red
Ive never used a rosy red but id love to find one some day to try out. I buy lots of stones but I'm not REALLY a collector, i appreciate them for the amazing tools they are. I accidently bought an oil covered stone that's now a suspected hard, fine lily white and the first time i sharpened a knife on it my entire lifes knowledge and experience of using arks was blown away in an instant. It was life changing to some extent. Ark polish but cutting power of a silicone carbide stone. The amount and quality of work i can do was given a huge bump from a rock and a sure pretty one at that. I have grown a deep appreciation for washitas. My 8x2x1 hard/fine is my favorite bevel setter of all my stones for razors, over even my coticules. A complete ark progression takes a lot of patience(not as much as people think if you can handle smooth pressure) and a little redneck magic but it's completely worth it. There is something special about arks that is different from everything else ive used, as limited as my experience with exotic stones may be. If done right they will give a comfortable shave like a coticule but with the same keenness/shrapness that any synthetic can produce(in the right hands).
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- #44
I thank you! I am understandably delighted to be accepted into such an elite society as this. Some initial thoughts...
It will come as a surprise to no one when I say the RR is fast as hell, but what did surprise me was just how different it felt in comparison to other low SG Washitas. Lots of large surface pores, coupled with the stone being a little softer than normal give it a slightly coarse, almost sandy feel in use.
The edges have a huge amount of bite and aggression, nevertheless it is still a Washita and so the level of the finish is actually deceptively high. Lives up to the hype I think; as a whetstone it's basically pitch-perfect and unimprovable for kitchen knife sharpening.
And needless to say David, I can (obviously) get it to do this:
That stones is going to be so good. It really is impressive how toothy and aggressive of an edge it leaves in comparison. In this sense they are very much like one of your other favorites the bbw. I've always used arks my whole life but only started in with the old, really vintage Washitas recently and they are a different beast. I put a couple knives on my pike no.1 with the stamp in the lid and it's fast but surprisingly hard and non friable but it finishes out 7-8k. I have had comfortable shaves off of it. The family photo @timwcic posted got my interest because because I've got one that looks very similar 8x2 (or maybe just a little under that) and it's a spectacular stone and probably my finest washita. It'll finish out about what a smith's hard ark from the 80s, which is in the first 3 stones I started shaving off of. No label, no box, just a rock wrapped in newspaper. It's filthy and the picture is under florescent light and horrible. It's has some reddish tint to most of it under sunlight.
I have this other one that is very brown. I wish I knew it's past. From the quality of the little handmade metal base(steel and copper) in half inclined to think the first owner very well may have cut the stone himself. It finishes about 6k but the edge isn't very toothy at all.
Now I want one! Thanks alot!!
Super blushed Rosy Red.
I was lucky enough to get to play with this stone first, I lapped a small hollow out of the middle and was really surprised by how creamy smooth the slurry actually was.I thank you! I am understandably delighted to be accepted into such an elite society as this. Some initial thoughts...
It will come as a surprise to no one when I say the RR is fast as hell, but what did surprise me was just how different it felt in comparison to other low SG Washitas. Lots of large surface pores, coupled with the stone being a little softer than normal give it a slightly coarse, almost sandy feel in use.
View attachment 1578988
The edges have a huge amount of bite and aggression, nevertheless it is still a Washita and so the level of the finish is actually deceptively high. Lives up to the hype I think; as a whetstone it's basically pitch-perfect and unimprovable for kitchen knife sharpening.
And needless to say David, I can (obviously) get it to do this:
Pretty easy to lap, I've had coticules that were harder! And the slurry was way thicker than a normal Washita.
The stone was just nothing but that Washita goodness when sharpening a knife, great drag feedback of ripping metal off the blade. As @cotedupy said, I couldn't image a stone being better for sharpening knives. It was really similar to my favorite washita but a bit different in being lower Sg.
And very many thanks for your services!
My impressions of it have basically been exactly as you described. I think you said something about it feeling like it would be basically impossible to ever burnish - that was what I was trying to describe above. Has something about it that's just a bit distinct from other types of Washita. Which ties into this I think:
While other fast Washitas need a decent amount of pressure to expose their speed, the RR is pretty nakedly aggressive even at low to medium pressure. So it surprised me a little that it's also actually quite easy to deburr on; with super light pressure the stone will still finish really quite fine, and you're not just flipping burrs back and forth the entire time.
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