Beautiful. Can’t go wrong with the coti. Finish under running water and it’s some of my best edges ever.
Coticules do make a very comfortable edge, and I like it paired with the Sheffield’s. I get into a rhythm with that bout... tiny water stream, run the coti under to make a small pool, do 2 passes, and repeat. Enjoyable and relaxing.
A hardware store razor on deck for tonight. Richmond Hdwe Co. out of Virginia. I assume it’s a German blade but no info on the blade or coffin. Synthetic progression of Suehiro 1&6k, followed by the Naniwa 12k, then Suehiro Gokumyo 20k, and then taken to this translucent Arkansas. Happy honing. Tom
Atlas Japanese razor was pretty sharp when it arrived to me but decided to give it a touch up. Some light slurry and a couple dilutions on the coti followed by a few laps on the black ark.
J.R. Torrey #136 circa 1909. The progression is 3M films to .03 micron followed by lapping on 200K grit diamond, and then linen and horse.
Just trying something different. I’ve gone to the Ark from a 6k, a 12k and now a 20k. Not a great experiment since it was 3 different razors, and I can’t say that the grit before the Ark made a difference. Personally, I find the synthetic edge finish to be great to shave with, but adding a natural stone at the very end takes a little of the “bite” out of the razor for me. Tom
I’ve been AWOL for a while doing something that I like to do periodically, go back and re-evaluate stones from the collection that didn’t quite make razor finisher grade. Sure, you can make an edge that will shave, but those of us here want something better, something smooth. I’d like to believe that as time goes on, my skills improve and maybe with some additional ‘tweaking’ like CW finishing, maybe I can get something a little better from the stones that almost were. Not so much in this case, my memory and stone log were pretty accurate. None of the above stones would qualify for me except the one on the right. The pretty stamped kiita was close on clear water, and it’s super fast, and a stone like this can take an edge from bevel set to ready to finish, so it is a very useful stone. My test razors were my trusty worn Hayashi and a Gold Monkey. Standing by as backup in case neither razor had what I liked was the user Filly 14 Sub Cero that I’m doing the edge longevity test with, and it gained two more shaves for a total of 13 now, and it’s edge is smoother than all the above stones with the possible exception of the right-most stone.
I ended up getting a very small, slender piece of an SG 20k. I can use it on a holder or in hand. Thought it was an economical way of getting that finish... I like it.
The Gokumyo 20k is fun, and one of the best synths around but really not worth the money except for a few uses or to satisfy your curiosity. I did a comparison of the Naniwa 10k (not the 12k) over on SRP and the difference was not much. The German guys like the 10k over the 12k, so I decided to test. There was a small difference, with the Gok 20k being a tiny bit better, but either edge was fine to me. Where it really shines is if you do a LOT of finishing. It’s super hard, almost Ark hard as you’ll find out when you try to lap it and it eats SiC w/d paper like a hungry dog. I ended up using 300 loose SiC on plate glass to get it flat. But it’s also fast, very fast, so if it saves you 5 minutes per razor on a dozen razors, that’s an hour saved.
Who cut one up Tom? A small piece would make a fantastic traveller. But then so would a Shapton G7 glass.
I don't know the source. I took a chance on an eBay purchase back in late 2015. It was labeled as a SG20k, and I'm pretty confident it is. I'll snap a pic tonight for fun.
I’ve got the 0.85 G7 and what little I’ve used it, it seems good. The scratch pattern looks coarser than I think it should, and Shapton does not recommend the 16k Glass HR for razors. In the attached chart, the stones that are not recommended for razors have a wider range of grit distribution than stones that are recommended according to Ishida-San at Shapton. I also had the 0.44 G7 but it was defective and I returned it. Ishida-San does not recommend the 0.44 G7 for razors. But the 30k Glass is recommemded.
Venus Lewis Strenger Barber Supply 4/8 (came sharper than a razor) with beautiful carved bobe scales , John Holler Barber's Notch 9/16 (very well used with a smooth as silk shave) The old Lewis Strenger Barber Supply building in Portland, Oregon https://pdxbuildingads.blogspot.com/2008/04/ld-heater-music-co.html
I have both and they are both excellent stones and produce very similar results for me. I give the slight edge to the Shapton 16k, my edges are just a little sharper off this stone while just a smooth as the edges off the GMN 20k.
