Hones and Hone Acquisitions

Discussion in 'Straight Razors' started by Steve56, Mar 21, 2019.

  1. Leclec13

    Leclec13 Well-Known Member

    Now i’m Thinking about an 8k!
    8 K finisher! You have set the bar high for us mortals... something to shoot for!

    I wasn’t being persistent in my questioning just wanted to make sure we are talking about he same stone. Yep coe stones are same as mine. I wasn’t aware there was a name change, I only got mine in January/ February. I’m disappointed you didn’t like the now dota creek....always good to hear a pro opinion on these things....

    I ended up finishing a few edges on the ultra fine ( now gray polisher), which previously was giving me issues as a finisher. But revisited today and got fine edges ... for me.
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
  2. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    73A20F36-50E7-423F-80C4-DCD2CDC5A0DD.jpeg 27135E6C-F763-4DB8-AC0F-5BCEA6D0C4D5.jpeg

    This is a past acquisition, but it has such an interesting story behind it, I thought that I’d post it.

    I bought this 60-cut (190 x 70mm) at auction, mostly because of the cool paulownia wood cover that a previous owner made for it (fits perfectly btw, obviously made to fit). It sold cheap. It’s on a base that’s hand fitted to the stone which isn’t too unusual. The auction images showed a pale stone, but we all know how accurate auction images of stones are and this was no exception. The color is actually a yellowish-greenish brown, kind of a baby cr@p brown! But that’s where the ugly stops, it’s extremely pure, no lines, no goma, no cracks, nothing but pure stone. And as I began testing it, I understood why the previous owner made a cover - no doubt to keep anything from being dropped on it and damaging it. There’s a tiny chip in one end so maybe the cover was made as a result of this chip? It’s super fine and one of the best razor finishers that I have.

    But wait, there’s more! I’d been using the stone and glued the lid back where the iron tacks had rusted away, no doubt from the cover being replaced on a damp stone. After a honing session I was rinsing the stone off and noticed a dark smudge on the end of the stone and wondered if I hadn’t cleaned it well when I got it. Nope, that ‘smudge’ is the remains of a vintage maru-ka stamp, or ‘circle Ka’ the symbol that Kato san, who operated the Nakayama mine, placed on the best of the best Nakayama stones. The seller had missed it too.

    Events like this make up for the duds that occasionally happen when you buy used stones at auction or flea markets, etc and don’t really know what they are when you buy them.
     
  3. basil

    basil Well-Known Member

    Awesome find! Beautiful box for it also, got to protect the stones at all cost!
     
  4. joamo

    joamo Well-Known Member

    I picked up a few rocks road side while on a recent trip and finally got one of them cut.
    I believe it is a schist and it resembles a Norwegian Ragstone that I have. Still experimenting with it, it isn't a finisher but it is pretty. I'll shoot better pics or a short video in the near future.
    Backside, uncut as found.
    [​IMG]
    Backside, wet.
    [​IMG]
    Face, dry.
    [​IMG]

    Face, wet.
    [​IMG]
    I do have a few others to cut and test and will post as those are ready.
    The one below was a surprise. Not from my roadtrip, it has been in my basement for 10 years or more. I'll post about it another time as well.
    [​IMG]
     
  5. joamo

    joamo Well-Known Member

    Brief video of the schist sparklies. Notice the copper coloring in spots.
     
  6. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    That’s a beautiful stone @joamo
     
  7. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Beautiful stone. Let us.know how well it hones.
     
  8. Timwcic

    Timwcic Well-Known Member

    Some low hanging estate sale fruit this morning. A boxed and labeled Washita and a trans ark pen knife stone. Also a big brick of a Hindostan looking stone. 8 x 2.5 x 1.5 hunk of stone with nice layering. Being photo bombed by a Rubberset 400-4 that followed everything home

    41261892-FB4F-4942-BA8D-D03F0FE92587.jpeg 9D931E90-DFBA-4359-A738-38514B8E11CF.jpeg A1B71408-CE6A-4815-8EAC-240FC8A3CCF9.jpeg 0C1C426B-D2FE-42B9-A614-B6A89AEF21EF.jpeg
     
  9. Edison Carter

    Edison Carter Well-Known Member

    Keithmax, Timwcic and Billyfergie like this.
  10. Robert1955

    Robert1955 Well-Known Member

    Are you sure.....are you really sure ... :-!
     
  11. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    7AF50174-3116-4BD7-ABA8-E2A6448F4C38.jpeg A06C1F70-9CCE-4E2C-9CE7-FF0BC0C1312D.jpeg C5E06F16-4086-44CB-9B14-1A9800EF1284.jpeg 73904EED-48D1-4516-8431-98568D61ABA2.jpeg Some luck and a won auction this morning.

    One of the last two that I received is a very pretty, probably Nakayama (black knobby sparkling skin on one corner) with a perfect complexion. It’s likely a shallower layer like akepin and soft, but surprisingly fine. My quick Gold Dollar edge was entirely acceptable and I think that more can be coaxed from it. Pure as all get out, no lines, goma, sparklies, su, etc. You can see the pink from iro bands peeking through on the left.

    The other one has some layer cracking and while stable, that means that it isn’t worth much unless I try to remediate them. Decisions to be made....

    The other two images are the ones from this morning. They look decent but as always I’d bet they’re a bit less colorful ‘in person’ and dry. Fingers crossed!
     
  12. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    A399427B-1ADC-40C7-B353-976EB907ECE8.jpeg 8F693203-40F5-43D4-910C-49B543C93454.jpeg

    This stone is a past acquisition too, also with an interesting twist that the jnat folks might like. This is a Narutaki scalpel hone. Alex Gilmore picked it up during a visit to one of the wholesalers while on a trip to Japan. The wholesaler said he never cut them anymore until he had enough orders to cut up several. They just sliced a regular bench stone into narrow stones. Since scalpels are pretty much all disposable these days, there may be no more scalpel hones ‘made’.

    There’s nothing unusual about it except its narrow width. If your blade is 1” long it’s perfect. Why not use a ‘regular’ stone? Jnat cost goes up exponentially with size all other factors being equal, and the buyers didn’t want to pay 3, 4, 5x as much for stone that they couldn’t use. It will hone up a razor well enough, but isn’t a go-to stone except for wonky razors because of the narrow width. You’d think that it might be better for finishing razors as it is a scalpel hone, but if you think about it, all the real ‘users’ of the edge are (hopefully) sedated.
     
  13. Malthus101

    Malthus101 Member

    Hello Folks

    I'm new to the forum and pretty new to straight shaving (1o shaves maybe?) but it's getting better! However, my razors are now not shave ready any longer so I need to learn honing and stropping.

    I was lucky to find a nice Thuringian on eBay and bought it. Then I also found a nice (*I hope) Jnat on www.thejapanstone.com

    and then..! My dad said he had a stone from when HE was learning straight shaving (he never mastered it so gave up) - he said he bought it from a tool shop in London in the 1980s, a shop which specialized in chisels I believe (sadly this specialize shop no longer exists)

    It seems to feel very nice - it was badly scratched and so was the Thuringian so I lapped them both with my 600 grit Atoma diamond plate -they seem to have come out nicely, I also chamfered the edges as there were a couple of chips which could really screw up a razor... seems to have worked.

    I also bought as I said, an Atoma 600 diamond plate for lapping the stones, and also Naniwa Super Stones, 1K, 5K and 10K (I'm also sharpening kitchen knives, Japanese style mostly)

    Anyway, thought I'd upload a few pics for you fine gentleman to peruse!


    rsz_img_20190608_135525.jpg IMG_20190608_140824.jpg IMG_20190608_135035.jpg IMG_20190608_135327.jpg IMG_20190608_135228_1.jpg IMG_20190608_135202.jpg IMG_20190608_135241.jpg IMG_20190608_134933.jpg IMG_20190608_134920.jpg IMG_20190608_135257.jpg

    Tell me what you think - anyone got any idea what kind of stone the last one is? (last 3 pics are my dad's stone) - it was £87.90 in the 1980s - pretty expensive really!
     
  14. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    It’s a coticule, you’re showing the coarse Belgian Blue Whetstone side. Show us the yellow side.

    Likely a very nice stone! And nice to have from your dad - heirloom stone.
     
  15. Malthus101

    Malthus101 Member

    Oh really? So the grey side is rougher than the yellow? I can use both sides? Thanks!
     
  16. Malthus101

    Malthus101 Member

    Here is the yellow side - this side has not been dressed yet:

    IMG_20190608_154938_1.jpg IMG_20190608_154946.jpg
     
  17. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

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    Yes, the yellow side is considered by most to be finer and faster. You might be able to use the blue side, some are good some less so. The blue side was backing for the yellow side. Look sort of like this?
     
  18. Malthus101

    Malthus101 Member

    Yes kind of like that... yours seems more uniform than mine but it's the same general look.
     
    Billyfergie, Edison Carter and brit like this.
  19. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    03A4242A-0752-4076-8C33-F3E80C400C54.jpeg 82157127-7CEC-4D29-817F-08EB5945A231.jpeg

    Yours may look a lot more uniform once it’s lapped.

    Two new jnats in, both test very well. The right hand one may get a little more lapping, but the edge on a Gold Dollar was quite good.

    The coti above also arrived yesterday after 40 days from Belgium, lol. I honed up an almost shave ready razor under running water, 20 circles/ellipses and 20 straight strokes, HHT was very good and the shave this morning was very smooth. Not as good as the best jnat edges but I’m not a coti person (yet) and probably a good ways off from getting the best from it. It’s kosher and hard, seems to have a lot of potential.
     
  20. Edison Carter

    Edison Carter Well-Known Member

    Not really a hone mail call, but still edge maintenance.
    All 3x11 magnetic mount.

    3 balsa strops
    1 denim
    1 nanocloth on glass
    1 roo (very smooth!)
    CBN emulsion sprays .5 .25 .1 micron

    20190620_111809-1.jpeg
     

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