Welsh Slates

[Oscroft]

I've been doing a bit of honing with a couple of Welsh slates that I got from AJ on eBay, and I'm wondering if anyone can share any tips or experience.

I took a blade that had been honed on a 3k Naniwa (in my honing journal I wrote about using lather on it and getting an edge I could quite comfortably shave with), and went to the Dragon's Tongue. I lightly lapped the DT with a DMT 325, and then started with a slurry and progressively diluted it until I got to plain water.

It took a couple of hundred laps before it had removed the 3k scratches and I was happy it was undercutting properly and giving me the "sticking to the stone feel" - I know it's a hard stone, but I wasn't expecting that much.

The next was the Llyn Melynllyn purple slate, and I used slurry progressively diluted again. It didn't take quite as many laps this time, but still quite a lot, and I ended up pretty confident I'd done the job.

I tried tree-topping hairs on my arm, and it really didn't do it - just a few hairs were coming off. So, bad honing through not enough experience with the slates?

Well, I tried a test shave, and it shaved pretty well - probably as good as any other edge I've managed so far. And that surprised me - and helped teach me not to put too much store in any tests other than an actual shave.

Cleaning up the slates, I noticed they were looking quite shiny, so I wondered if maybe they were clogged with swarf. But I've now cleaned them up with a small cleaning/lapping stone, and I don't think there was any swarf - all I really got was the usual slate slurry.

So, does this fit in with anyone else's experience of these slates, and does anyone have any tips for getting the best out of them?

Alan

 

[Gamma]

I found that using slurry on the Welsh slates sets the edge back.
On the DT - slurry helped bring the assumed 'grit' down so I could use it more effectively after a 3k, but to really refine I needed to get rid of the slurry.
The purple and black/green stones worked best for me without slurry.
325x-ish was good for topping the DT - the other two did better for me at 600x.
Some swear by those stones - to me they were generic tool-grade options that had merit but nothing to write home about.
Prices are good though - and for an inexpensive finisher they were a working option.
That's me - here - with the samples I owned. Naturals vary - and so do opinions.

 

[ouch]

My Welsh slates are from Hungary.

 

[Oscroft]

I found that using slurry on the Welsh slates sets the edge back.
On the DT - slurry helped bring the assumed 'grit' down so I could use it more effectively after a 3k, but to really refine I needed to get rid of the slurry.
The purple and black/green stones worked best for me without slurry.
325x-ish was good for topping the DT - the other two did better for me at 600x.
Some swear by those stones - to me they were generic tool-grade options that had merit but nothing to write home about.
Prices are good though - and for an inexpensive finisher they were a working option.
That's me - here - with the samples I owned. Naturals vary - and so do opinions.

That's very interesting, thanks.

I think I probably did need to start with a bit of slurry on the DT to bridge the gap from 3k, but I think I'll go back to the purple with just water for another go and see how that works. (I'll save the black/green for another day.)

And I've got some 600x paper, so I'll try that too.

 

[Gamma]

Try using soap with a bit of water on the Purple one to finish - I got some nice edges that way.

 

[Oscroft]

Try using soap with a bit of water on the Purple one to finish - I got some nice edges that way.

Thanks - I've had good results using lather on synthetics, so I'll give that a go.

 

[Rschan]

Why dont you go directly from 3K to Llyn Melynllyn with slurry. Then dilute your way up. Finally only with water.

 

[xMackx]

I have 2 different purple Lm's, and 2 different 15k's from AJ. All of them are completely different to each other on how they perform, they are naturals after all. That being said one of my best finishers is my 8x3 purple Lm (finishes best with slurry) super fine scratch pattern around 15k.

Actually what happened was The first one I bought was the 15k WT, and it ended up being a 6k stone. Aj was just great about it though replacing it with a finer one, good man.

I'll load some pics some time later.

 

[Oscroft]

Why dont you go directly from 3K to Llyn Melynllyn with slurry. Then dilute your way up. Finally only with water.

Interesting suggestion. I went via the DT because I'd assumed the jump from 3k to LM would be too big, but I might give it a try - as Mack says, they'll all have their own differences, so the only way to find what works will be to try it.

 

[Gamma]

so the only way to find what works will be to try it.

Yep

 

[Brooksie967]

Thick slurry on my DT removes 1k scratches fairly quickly, within two dilutions of the slurry. Just goes to show the difference between two of the 'same' natural stones. Slurry on the purple diluted to water gives me great edges and I used it for months and months before getting into Jnats. After water only on the purple slate the entire edge treetops hairs the entire length of the blade with ease and hht4 after stropping is not out of the norm.

 

[tomjr]

i have had great results with the LM. used it exclusively for awhile. if memory serves i used a med. thick slurry to start with and just dilute till gone then go some more water only laps. check results. repeat if needed. it can at least mine can turn out nice edges.

 

[Oscroft]

Thick slurry on my DT removes 1k scratches fairly quickly, within two dilutions of the slurry. Just goes to show the difference between two of the 'same' natural stones.

Yes, that really is quite a difference!

It sounds like people are getting very good results with these stones - I'm just going to have to spend some more time on mine to get to know them properly. For now, I think I'll leave the DT and just see what I can get from the LM as a finisher (though that'll be interrupted by the Naniwa 12k that's on its way).

 

[Rschan]

i have had great results with the LM. used it exclusively for awhile. if memory serves i used a med. thick slurry to start with and just dilute till gone then go some more water only laps. check results. repeat if needed. it can at least mine can turn out nice edges.

+1