SWMBO: What did you order from the UK? Me: Rocks. SWMBO: If you don't want to tell me, I'm guessing it's shave related? Me: No, seriously, it's rocks from Wales. And shave related. I found these Etsy, and with shipping they were less than $125 dollars. They are hand cut and lapped from stone collected in Wales. They are used as a water stone, and each came with a matched slurry stone. I have no frame of refrence on stones this fine, but the reviews seemed good. For the price, it seemed worth checking out. His store is here. Now I just need to track down a 1k, 4k, and a larger lapping stone.
Nice to see you finally got them. I can't wait to hear how you like them as I'm still browsing around trying to make up my mind. The only reason I hesitated on these is because I read natural stones are harder to get consistent results for a beginner.
me too, which are considering. first was Norton, then naniwa. now I'm just just mulling them all over.
Oh, what a relief! When I saw the thread title, I was ready to PIF you some cranberry juice. It must have been hard to pass those stones (up).
Welsh Slate Also known as WHIGs or (W)elsh (H)one of (I)ndeterminate (G)rit The grit ratings I see have jumped again, seems to be the trend on these and other Natural hones being sold out there.. The sellers can claim any grit rating they want since Natural Stones don't have one I have a set also.. The Greenish one and the Purplish one work rather well as finishers I never much like the Grayish one way too gritty feeling leaves some rather deep striations for a Natural rock..
Glen, where would you say they rate as far as grits? I don't have much experience with stones this fine, and most of the knives and tools I sharpen are finished up around the 2k area, and with a different edge profile. My grandfather had a Welsh Slate sharpening stone that his grandfather brought with him from Wales, but my brother ended up with it. It was one of the smoothest stones I ever used, and did great as a last stone.
@Drygulch You are not going to like my answer I don't do Grit ratings on Natural stones ... The Greenish and the Purpleish WHIG's are finishers LOL Let me try and explain why Lets look at Synthetics Lets take a very common Grit rating say 4k First you have to know what 4k rating it is American, Japanese ??? here comes the issues LOL Ok say they are all JIS since most of the waterstones we use are What is the Girt made of ??? Al, Si, an different compound ??? Ceramic ??? What is the binder made of ??? What the density of the Grit in the Binder Matrix ??? See where this is heading ???? Here is a fact .... If I have a Naniwa SS 3k I KNOW for a FACT that it is a lower grit rating then a Naniwa SS 5k and that is lower then the Naniwa SS 8k But moving to the same brand,,,, Naniwa but a different series Chosera / Pro then the 3k & 5k are no longer is the same because we change the Compound/ Binder and Density matrix.. Here is another good one, What has a higher grit ??? A Naniwa SS 8k, a Norton 8k, a Shapton 8k a Suhiro 8k ???? See this question in itself will start an argument among Hone Geeks and these are all "8K" ... Grit ratings are only good between Synthetic hones of the same series that is a fact... Other then that they essential are WAG's,,, and the only use I have seen them put to is separating people from their hard earned cash.. Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine hehehe I watched over the years as the "Grit ratings" for natural stones have steadily gone higher and higher. Does it provide a CCS when I use it on my razor ???? that is all I really care about myself,, every time I see somebody make a claim about a Natural stone grit rating I honestly roll my eyes... I know that wasn't what most want to hear, but it is my story and ya asked
good stuff, Glen. Thanks.I do get some reassurance from using syn. Stones as I'm pretty much guaranteed accurate relative grit ratings...at least within the same brand. For naturals I am at the mercy of whatever the vendor or seller claims and my only way to attempt to verify is through its use...which opens up a whole realm of uncertainty. I DO know if my finisher is doing the job well by how my blade shaves. I've been told my blue Escher is in the 8-10k range...maybe.
Thank you, Glen. I think this is going to be one of those cases where I use what I have until I can get something better. I did try the lower grit on one of my leather working tools, and it did wonders. I picked up a straight on the bay for five bucks to practice on, but I need to get the 200- 4kish stones first, to do some basic shaping. I don't know if my Arkansas stones will work on a razor. At the end of the day, how it puts an edge on a tool is the right way to measure it. Based on what I was able to do with my skiving knife for leatherworking, the money wasn't wasted even if they don't end up working for straights.
Ok Glen & Kevin how does one tell if you should finish any given blade on a Zulu,Escher,jnat etc.etc.?
By the feel of the steel on the lower hones, but you have crossed over to pure opinion / experience now... Once you can easily and consistently Set the Bevel, Sharpen the Bevel, Polish the Bevel, and get a close comfortable shave, then it is finally time to add the finisher... It used to be common practice to tell new honers to stay at the 8k level until you didn't feel the need for anything higher, that way you have developed the skills to use the Finishers.. But now people are too busy trying to recommend everything possible
I learned to hone & then shave off the norton 4k/8k. First number of attempts left a lot to be desired (not very smooth, tuggy), but I got to a place where I was getting pretty predictable results that weren't half-bad off the 8k. Eventually I added a C12k to use as a finisher and that was a whole new learning process. My understanding the finishing stage is simply additional smoothing (polishing of the edge) as all the 'heavy lifting' is already done in the bevel-set and sharpening stages.
I am going 4/8K with slurry thinning out slurry as I go the on my phig chalky white slurry thinned to just water or until I feel very little blade drag then 30 laps chord then stroping routine...and then shaving Glen you were there since day one on my honing...so would bringing in a higher/smoother finisher in my honing. Would 20k be the next highest grit to advance to?
They've all been naturals: the C12k (which can be of variable grit from 8-12k; say 10k avg); the Apache strata; estimated between 10-12k; and the Escher waterstone (per SRP: "..if there is a consensus on the equivalent grit to a synthetic stone it seems to be in the area of 12 to 15k."), So nothing higher, estimated, than 12-15k.
When you used the c12k and chromed would one really gain much in smoothness compared to price point of an escher? Is what I am questioning...I am mulling around using a diamond spray after chromox instead of using an Escher. Hopefully I am making sense?
