What did you hone today?

[Matt O]

Beautiful stone, I'm currently searching everywhere for a nice bright green thuringian (at a reasonable price) but it seems like nobody wants to sell them.

Thanks! The proof will be in the shave, but I do believe this stone is going to turn out alright!

It is actually a pretty neat size… certainly big enough to finish upon, and it isn’t too big that it couldn’t be used as a rub stone!

Vr

Matt

 

[alex1921]

Thanks! The proof will be in the shave, but I do believe this stone is going to turn out alright!

It is actually a pretty neat size… certainly big enough to finish upon, and it isn’t too big that it couldn’t be used as a rub stone!

Vr

Matt

It looks like it has been cut from one of those 10x2 specimens.

 

[Empire straights]

Still need to give it a bit of a sand, but the rust on the razor above turned out to be a bit more superficial than I thought .

I don’t have any of my coarser bevel setting stones with me, but going to try it later on the Washita I did bring plus the new one below.

View attachment 1370497

View attachment 1370498

Do circles with lots of oil

 

[SilverSteel]

Today I received my first real vintage Thuringian hone. It's only a very small piece but it's very fine. Much finer than the cheap contemporary stones I bought that where sold as "Thuringian water Hones". After verifying flatness with a short round of lapping, my gold dollar 66 had the honor to do the first test drive. I'm very impressed with the results.

 

[Empire straights]

My edc knives on a super fine washita, Pike soft ark(bottom stone), LI, black ark. The s&w knife is shave ready lol. I also honed several razors on an assortment of coticules, arks and my llyn idwal.

 

[ables]

I honed up this pretty solingen Sunrise razor by Friedr. Baurmann & Sohne. I also started using the cheap carson 60x-120x eye mag Id seen talked about here. Every step I evaluated the edge in multiple directions. It was real interesting watching the edge get less "toothy". I worked the razor way more than normal and made the edge perfect laser flat.

But I stopped the shave 1/3rd done unhappy, it just didnt cut well at all. Frustrated I picked up this Carb 201 barber hone Id been letting lather dry into next to the sink and did 20 lather passes. The white side really feels nice to use. Amazing improvement, nice and sharp and easy 9/10 for rest of shave. Checking the edge post shave it has tiny bumps! I grabed a couble of my best shaving razors and while the bevel scratches are quite different the actual edges all have some form of teeth. Using this magnification was a pretty interesting learning experience. Also this might be the first time ive successfully used a barber hone to improve a razor mid shave so dramatically and quickly.

 

[Alum of Potash]

HOTD 19-11-21:

A few years ago, a friend gave me a folding knife with horn scales made in 1991 by an artisan, Mehmet Ayduran, in Yatağan, Turkey. Why do I know all this? Because it's inscribed on the show-side of the blade. Later, I reciprocated by ordering a 15cm x 10cm piece of [Bolu] stone, a sharpening stone found near the southern shore of the Black Sea, near [Bolu] Turkey, and cutting in half to arrive at two 15cm x 10cm pieces, one for my friend and the other for me.

So tonight I set about honing the knife in question with the sharpening stone in question. I did this with about a tablespoon's worth of olive oil that a friend of my brother-in-law brought back from a vacation in Crete.

The stone was rather slow-acting tonight. There was a bit of oxidation extending to the edge in one area and it took me about 20-30 minutes to arrive at fresh metal there. Yes, I could have achieved this much faster with a synthetic or diamond hone, but that wasn't the point.

The seller I bought it from said it had a rating of around 1k. Given its slowness and the finer finish that resulted, I'm more inclined to rate it more like 2k. It cut paper very cleanly afterwards.

As for the pencil, I found it outside, chewed up and exposed to the elements.

View attachment 1365345

I'm replying to my earlier post with an update as to the stone identification. I spent the day with a friend of Turkish background who makes razors here in the Vosges mountains. In so doing, I brought the stone in question to show him. He immediately identified it not as a stone quarried in Turkey, but as a "black Cretan stone," one that is often sold in Turkey for sharpening knives. He rated it at around 1200x, which seems to jive with my experience of things, and said that it was normally used with oil. From this, it would seem that the seller who sold it to me was confusing the place where he acquired the stone with the place where it was quarried.

 

[Toro Blanco]

Never heard of the black Cretan stone, thanks for the update!

Never stop learning! Thanks again.

 

[Tomo]

Testing out the new Lily White Washita on some kitchen knives.

 

[Matt O]

I really really like mother of Pearl scales, but was never lucky enough to acquire a razor with them! That’s changed this week!

 

[cotedupy]

Testing out the new Lily White Washita on some kitchen knives.

View attachment 1372064

Is it a complete dream...?

 

[cotedupy]

Trying out a couple of new stones yesterday, to set the edge and sharpen a Petty blade made and given to me by an old friend. Quite a quick soft-ish 9x2 Washita, and a Charnley.

The Charnley is very hard, slow, and uncompromisingly difficult to use for knife sharpening. So later I followed a tip from @rideon66 and tried it with water, and Thuri slurry.

It’s very definitely a razor stone this CF, and gave a very keen razor edge that felt slightly different from the finishes I get from some other stones. Slightly difficult to describe, but very smooth, and like there was no way I’d be able to cut myself.

 

[Tomo]

Is it a complete dream...?

All the gear and no idea…

The stone is a dream but my knife honing skills don’t do it justice quite yet. This is the only Lily White I’ve ever held but I’m fairly certain it is a Medium Hard Fine. I measured it to be 2.35 SG and it makes the typical Arkansas ting when tapped.

My edges are pretty sharp. I’ve definitely improved them. They slice tomato’s easily enough but push cuts are not happening. Slicing copy paper works ok but not perfect.

They stone feels smooth under the blade with a slight grinding sound. With pressure it kicks up award really quickly. Light pressure slows thing right down. 8” is a nice runway. I’ve been cleaning it for a week now and you can still smell the old Kerosene seeping out of it.

I’ve watched enough videos, now I just need to practice. My knife block is 22 years old. It was the first set I bought when I moved out. Once I get my technique sorted, I will shout myself a new set.

 

[cotedupy]

All the gear and no idea…

The stone is a dream but my knife honing skills don’t do it justice quite yet. This is the only Lily White I’ve ever held but I’m fairly certain it is a Medium Hard Fine. I measured it to be 2.35 SG and it makes the typical Arkansas ting when tapped.

My edges are pretty sharp. I’ve definitely improved them. They slice tomato’s easily enough but push cuts are not happening. Slicing copy paper works ok but not perfect.

They stone feels smooth under the blade with a slight grinding sound. With pressure it kicks up award really quickly. Light pressure slows thing right down. 8” is a nice runway. I’ve been cleaning it for a week now and you can still smell the old Kerosene seeping out of it.

I’ve watched enough videos, now I just need to practice. My knife block is 22 years old. It was the first set I bought when I moved out. Once I get my technique sorted, I will shout myself a new set.

It looks an absolutely gorgeous example, and 2.25 - 2.35 seems (to me) something of a sweet spot for Washitas. Most of my favourite ones for knives come in that kinda range .

Next time I make it Melbourne I’ll swap you a knife sharpening lesson for a razor honing one!

 

[Wid]

Tested this Jung on a new coti. Both sides are pretty darn nice. The green side has a bit more draw to it but still puts a nice edge on a razor. The brown side feels a lot like a Les lat.

 

[Tomo]

It looks an absolutely gorgeous example, and 2.25 - 2.35 seems (to me) something of a sweet spot for Washitas. Most of my favourite ones for knives come in that kinda range .

Next time I make it Melbourne I’ll swap you a knife sharpening lesson for a razor honing one!

It’s a deal. It’s a very nice rock. It always amazes me when you find something so old in such good condition. The thing must have been cut 120 years ago.

 

[Wid]

Tried the Lincoln razor on the new coti. Results seem promising.

 

[Christian1212]

Had 7 razors go through synthetic 6k-8k-12k today. All razors I grab randomly to shave with. Was sort of unsure where they were at on shave count/amount of touch-ups since hitting a nonfinishing stone. Will give them all a shave test eventually and then a natural edge if they shave well. All swedish steel except for one Japanese Orion. Cheers!

 

[Matt O]

I refinished the Ralf Aust razor on this coticule using slurry, from the pictured stone, diluted down to water, and then under water at the sink.

It passed the HHT just fine, but it was not like dropping hairs on a laser beam…like I get from my JNATs.

Is that a function of the edge not being quite as sharp…which is part of the equation that gives the coticule edges their famous smoothness?

Wet:

Slurried:

30 light laps:

30 additional light laps:

Sink:

HHT:

 

[Wid]

I refinished the Ralf Aust razor on this coticule using slurry, from the pictured stone, diluted down to water, and then under water at the sink.

It passed the HHT just fine, but it was not like dropping hairs on a laser beam…like I get from my JNATs.

Is that a function of the edge not being quite as sharp…which is part of the equation that gives the coticule edges their famous smoothness?

Wet:
View attachment 1373224
Slurried:
View attachment 1373225
30 light laps:
View attachment 1373226
30 additional light laps:
View attachment 1373227
Sink:
View attachment 1373228
HHT:
View attachment 1373229

If I'm not where I want I go back to the hone, just water, and do another set of 30. Sometimes it takes a few tries

Rushing the dilution can also do this which in this case you need to go back to where you started.