Like shaving with a buck knife, which isn't the worst thing in the world if you baby your knife. It's crazy you found one! Congrats, it's beautiful!
What did you hone today?
- Thread starter ouch
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Some experimentation last night and today. Shoubu Tomae on these two, and then comparing Mizu Asagi vs Translucent Ark finishes (kinda similar level tbh):
Then a stone I've had for a while, and is something of a mystery. It's effectively pure silica, with a SG of 2.65, and when polished is almost jet black. It's very hard and fine, though it's not novaculite, and it's not slate, while sharig some similar properties with both. Smells distinctly sulphurous when lapping, though it's not a Turkish. And has some white inclusions in it that appear to be quartz.
I suspect this is an old Lydite / Radioralite touchstone, though it's a little less 'flinty' than Lydite sometimes seems to be. But if anyone has any other bright ideas - hit me up.
You can see here just how dark it is:
Anyway - it didn't currently improve the translucent edge. I think it'll need a lot more burnishing and bedding in, but could well end up very similar to a black/translucent ark.
Then a stone I've had for a while, and is something of a mystery. It's effectively pure silica, with a SG of 2.65, and when polished is almost jet black. It's very hard and fine, though it's not novaculite, and it's not slate, while sharig some similar properties with both. Smells distinctly sulphurous when lapping, though it's not a Turkish. And has some white inclusions in it that appear to be quartz.
I suspect this is an old Lydite / Radioralite touchstone, though it's a little less 'flinty' than Lydite sometimes seems to be. But if anyone has any other bright ideas - hit me up.
You can see here just how dark it is:
Anyway - it didn't currently improve the translucent edge. I think it'll need a lot more burnishing and bedding in, but could well end up very similar to a black/translucent ark.
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A very quick Thüringian touchup tonight. 10 laps and we’re back in action. I like the ease of maintenance of stainless steel but I do feel like the edge drops off rather quickly. When it’s good it’s good but after three or four shaves it wants a touchup. On carbon I normally go 7-10 shaves between touch ups. The Thüringian gets it done very quickly though.
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The knife in my previous picture on this thread is my 'test knife' for trying out new stones, though my better half had got her paws on it over the weekend for some cooking, which is fine. However... I've made it extraordinarily thin behind the edge to make things quick when testing stones; it's insanely sharp and great for super-precise, effortless veg prep. But what it is not, is a crusty-sourdough-bread-knife. Especially not the kind that gets left wet on the draining board afterwards:
I didn't actually end up doing much work on the hard, black stone yesterday as the lack of abrasion makes it near useless for knives. So today I removed the rust, and did some polishing with with a slate whetstone I'd made, and then gave the new Turkish stone I received today a whirl:
The Turkish is very hard and fine for this kind of stone, right at the top end of what I've experienced. And though it's still fast for a very fine stone, it's not quick by Turkish standards when working more coarsely - it took a few minutes to get rid of that micro-chipping. I probably need to flatten this stone more to fully get to grips with it.
The slate remains a lovely stone, relatively mica and quartz heavy, and just generally a very good whetstone. It also does this when polishing, which reminds me a little of a fine version of an Aoto:
I didn't actually end up doing much work on the hard, black stone yesterday as the lack of abrasion makes it near useless for knives. So today I removed the rust, and did some polishing with with a slate whetstone I'd made, and then gave the new Turkish stone I received today a whirl:
The Turkish is very hard and fine for this kind of stone, right at the top end of what I've experienced. And though it's still fast for a very fine stone, it's not quick by Turkish standards when working more coarsely - it took a few minutes to get rid of that micro-chipping. I probably need to flatten this stone more to fully get to grips with it.
The slate remains a lovely stone, relatively mica and quartz heavy, and just generally a very good whetstone. It also does this when polishing, which reminds me a little of a fine version of an Aoto:
Nothing major, just a touch up on a Coti using some lather. Turned into a good shave.
Well I obviously did something wrong. Accidentally killed the edge completely on a touchup. That sent me back a fair way. Frustrating…
Oh well, luckily I have a few shave ready backup razors floating around!
Oh well, luckily I have a few shave ready backup razors floating around!
I've been doing a bit of work on some fine Japanese stones on this Bengall the last few evenings, to try to really smooth out the bevel and get it as good as I thought it could be. It was perfectly usable before, but I was getting annoyed that I couldn't quite get to the level of another razor I have, honed by a proper expert.
Finished today on a little translucent and... we're there! HHT 5 all the way along the edge, and a lovely, effortless shave.
Then: Chisel Time! Going to do some coarser work on on the Turkish on the right on some of the stone high spots, then touch up on flat Washita on the left.
Finished today on a little translucent and... we're there! HHT 5 all the way along the edge, and a lovely, effortless shave.
Then: Chisel Time! Going to do some coarser work on on the Turkish on the right on some of the stone high spots, then touch up on flat Washita on the left.
Worked on an old Ramsau frameback today.
Did some heavy work on a worn DMT 325 to a Chosera 1K. From there to a Coe Bethesda Black then on to a Coe Dota Creek.
Finished on a Thuri. (Celebrated Water Hone) Took a killer edge.
Did some heavy work on a worn DMT 325 to a Chosera 1K. From there to a Coe Bethesda Black then on to a Coe Dota Creek.
Finished on a Thuri. (Celebrated Water Hone) Took a killer edge.
Cleavers; Leung Tim Kau Kong and CCK 2204 Rhino. The latter in particular is fearsomely difficult to sharpen.
Norton Medium India and Sigma Select II 1k. TBH the India on its own would be fine for this, but they're obviously quite robust grinds and relatively soft steel, so can take a higher grit finish. Plus I have aspirations to thin the Kau Kong slightly so as to be able to use it both for bones and general purpose cutting.
Norton Medium India and Sigma Select II 1k. TBH the India on its own would be fine for this, but they're obviously quite robust grinds and relatively soft steel, so can take a higher grit finish. Plus I have aspirations to thin the Kau Kong slightly so as to be able to use it both for bones and general purpose cutting.
Washita
Himdostan
Charnley Forest
Maybe will be Ark Chirurgical at the end.
All for a newly restored Gebr Steinhausen
I've never tried my Hindo for razors. You use after the Washita then...?
yes, but I can see that there is a little difference, unless one is used with water and the other with oil, basically I do not use Hindostan
Yeah I don't use mine much at all - they are sloooow!
Though I can kinda see it in a mid-grit razor setting.
Charnley is slow as well. What's more I've just added Ark Chirurgical at the end to get full hht. Yeeee, jnats are my regular choice
Root in and root out on the HHT…didnt matter…complete perfection!
Resultant shave was the best in recent memory!
Both are beautiful. Stone as well. Arks do their job, although the edge is not the nicest under microscope it cuts exceptionally (się as should cut). In my case refinement with the black one made it chirurgical
Thanks! I don’t have a microscope…just a Nikon 10x loupe, which is a pretty nice little piece of glass…it never steers me wrong!
Honing up a old USSR made razor. Seemed to be NOS but had some pitting on the spine from poor storage. Bevel was very rough and this razor has a non-trivial bend towards the show side. The angle on this came out to 14 degrees so I added tape to help with both the warp and to beef up the bevel angle into the 15 degree range. Setting the bevel using the fine side of a Norton Crystolon 8x2 combo stone. I have a few Soviet razors, very utilitarian but once honed up they shave very well. Earlier examples have very hard steel and good grinding but quality starts to drop off towards the late 70's/early 80's examples. This is a mixed example, quite hard steel (hence the SiC stone) but middling forging and grinding.
I have a couple. Both were basically mint, but the one, the Ekstra from ZTV had a lot of pitting in the face that was invisible to the naked eye. I think part of it is that it was ground to a fairly rough satin finish and moisture could "stick" to the grooves. Once I got to clean steel in the bevel it was good to go.
The other, a STIZ make, was finished better but ironically had a geometry issue. Fat spot in the spine about 3/8 of an inch from the shoulder. Ended up reprofiling the heel a bit and it's great now.
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