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What did you hone today?

My pleasure Alan, they are nice stones to shave off of for sure.
I've had such good results with water I will probably stay with that as its my preferred medium.
I don't need any more keenness from them when they are honed with water.
Does using oil offer anything in contrast in your opinion?
 
I'm of the opinion that oil dampens the grain, whereas water raises it, albeit on a probably negligible level at that stage of honing. It's more a matter of choice. I like using oil.
 
Do you lap yours to a higher level?
I have mine lapped to 1k I believe. I don't subscribe to the low lapping grit for slates. They are not so soft that when using water alone they will smooth out quickly and IMO lapping to at least 1k does bring benefits that you won't see at a much lower grit. I never use slurry with these or with the Welsh slate either as it seems to cause more damage than can be repaired on water only in a reasonable time. Same with Coticles.
Speed does not seem to be an issue for me with these either even at this grit of lapping.
 
Do you lap yours to a higher level?
I have mine lapped to 1k I believe. I don't subscribe to the low lapping grit for slates. They are not so soft that when using water alone they will smooth out quickly and IMO lapping to at least 1k does bring benefits that you won't see at a much lower grit. I never use slurry with these or with the Welsh slate either as it seems to cause more damage than can be repaired on water only in a reasonable time. Same with Coticles.
Speed does not seem to be an issue for me with these either even at this grit of lapping.

Mine were lapped to 600x.
 
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Today I got my first Jnat lapped up and ready to go. It looked pretty flat already but the Atoma 400 and pencil grid proved differently. There are still two little dips in the corners. These little corners don’t really come into play so I left them for now. I was taking off a fair bit of material as it was. I sanded off all the saw blade marks, bevels the edges and corners and polished it up with the 1200 Atoma and Tomo Nagura.

My first love the Ralf Aust 5/8” with Blackwood scales was the first cab off the rank. I did about 30 laps on a light Tomo slurry. I kept adding water every ten laps to keep the surface wet. Then did 10-15 laps on clean water.

The 10x loupe clearly shows a new scratch pattern. At this magnification the 0.1um diamond balsa finish leaves a mirror polish. The Jnat finish is a bit more matt by comparison. The new edge goes most of the length but I didn’t quite get the smile on the toe. The whole blade is still tree
topping as good as ever. HHT passes with flying colours.

Tomorrow I’ll see how she shaves.
 
Very nice stone and strop! I envy all your stones, very nice indeed.
I did hone my tree loopers today, they dif needed it. I am running out of things to hone and that saddens my heart.
 
Very nice stone and strop! I envy all your stones, very nice indeed.
I did hone my tree loopers today, they dif needed it. I am running out of things to hone and that saddens my heart.


There's almost always something to hone/sharpen.
I find when I'm bored I just grab a kitchen knife give it a refresh. Maintenance is the key:)
 
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Le Grelot on Extra Choice Selected Coticule and Extra test razor on Superfine Coticule for shootout shave.

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Re-honed today after re-set on 8k Naniwa. Switching the stones to razors.
Its the only way to be fair.
Its funny how each steel reacts to each stone. Both still took what looks like supreme edges but the Grelot off the Choice was incredibly polished/shiny when observed through a loupe. It was still polished/shiny off the Superfine but not to the same degree.
Conversely, the Extra razor off the Choice was not polished/shiny even close to the same degree as the Grelot.
With a loupe to view scratches the Grelot was near glowing and the Extra looked like heavy scratching, more matt, opposite of yesterday.
Edge viewed at 100x through a proper microscope showed both took killer edges so we will see how they feel tomorrow.
I am fortunate to have such things:)
 
had the time to hit the TI today.

1.5k, 3k, 8k, 12k......

blk ark, surg. ark, Jasper as finish.

first razor honed that didn't touch balsa.

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looking through the loupe I see faint scratch marks.......but to my surprise most mirror finish with haze.

camo
 
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had the time to hit the TI today.

1.5k, 3k, 8k, 12k......

blk ark, surg. ark, Jasper as finish.

first razor honed that didn't touch balsa.

View attachment 1166283

looking through the loupe I see faint scratch marks.......but to my surprise most mirror finish with haze.

camo
I agree Camo, it's a lot better looking razor with the AOS removed. I will get me one someday, hopefully!
 
had the time to hit the TI today.

1.5k, 3k, 8k, 12k......

blk ark, surg. ark, Jasper as finish.

first razor honed that didn't touch balsa.

View attachment 1166283

looking through the loupe I see faint scratch marks.......but to my surprise most mirror finish with haze.

camo

Scratches don't mean anything, what the stone does for the absolute edge is all that matters.
All naturals leave scratches.
Enjoy your shave:)
 
I agree Camo, it's a lot better looking razor with the AOS removed. I will get me one someday, hopefully!

still a faint amount left. might order some very high grit WD one day.......I have trouble seeing it but the pics pick it up!!!! close enough for me.

camo
 
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After maybe 8-10 shaves my Cape 2000 started to tug and needed a re-hone. Since I set the bevel on a stone and recently came across Slash's advice to always hone in-hand, I figured I might've set the bevel wrong, so went back to the 1k stone to set the bevel, then 5k. After that, went to the lapping film at 8k/3u, 14k/1u, 60k/0.3u, and 500k/0.05u. Waiting to see how the next shave is. Next purchase will be some lapping film in the 40k and 200k regions, 0.5 and 0.1u, for a better progression

I noticed that the middle had more wear than the toe or heel and the bevel was higher to boot - less than 1mm, but noticeable under the right light. Probably a courtesy of honing on the stones on a table/flat surface, I was unwittingly putting a lot of pressure on it in prior hones by pressing down. This time around, honed in-hand and tried just exerting pressure by torquing the tang and using my index finger on the spine to push it forward and back, rather than down. Hoping this'll stop any more uneven wear
 
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Took this Puma on a full progression today. Started with a bevel set on a naniwa 1000

Then did a full dilution on the coticule bout. I finished it on rectangular coticule starting with the bbw side and finishing on the yellow side with water only. That is a very hard coticule.

Then I moved to my new Pierre Du Sud Ouest. I'm really liking the edge that I get from this stone.

Gave it a final finish with the Hard Ark. This is a nice translucent Ark.
fullprogressionpuma.jpg
 
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