the zulu gray thread

got my zulu gray todayand had my first honing with it.honed a modern boker king kutter,and since the hone job on it was one of my earlier i killed the edge and did a full progression from 1-5-8 and 12k and finished on the zulu with water only.also did the shave test.the edge feels nice but nothing revolutionery.i got the same edges of my purple welsh and black ark. But this was my first attempt and one razor,so i am sure i am not getting the most out of it.will have to do many trials and errors. since i know there is several members here that also have ordered a zulu and some that has experience with it,i thought a tread about using the zulu gray was o good idea so we can exchange our experiences with it

 

Thanks for the evaluation. How does it cut into the metal, compared to the other natural stones? Faster or slower.

 

i would say on the slow side.i guess it would be faster with slurry,will try that later.but it´s a very hard stone so think building slurry will take some time.

 

I just wish mine would ship already. I did email Mr. Cramer 2 weeks ago. He done well enough with the sale, that they had to quarry some more rock. He was also awaiting packaging material.

 

I am glad you received your Zulu!

 

I'm mainly curious as to how the Zulu Grey Vs Welsh Slate Stones work. I have the three Welsh stones. 8k, 12k(purple), and 15k. Not necessarily which is better, just the sharpening properties/idiosyncrasies, of the stones. Oh, I don't slurry my Welsh stones, not since I have lapped them with 320 wet/dry paper. No need to upgrade my stones with something, if my stone does the same thing, just as well.

 

I have a lot of different hones. I have the Welsh hones as well as the Zulu. I have used other Welsh hones too. The purple one I have is much slower than the other two I have used. My Zulu is faster than my Welsh. They are both slower than my Charnnley, but my Charnley requires oil or Smith's, which is kind of a deterrent. They all leave a very similar finish. I have a variety to choose from and to be honest the finish, other than speed does not vary a lot. The Coti its much smoother or softer of an edge than anything else. The Welsh, the Zulu and Escher are all variations of slate. The Charnley and the HGH are not slates, and are one family or another of soft Volcanics, as are the Aks. You will find that other than the feel on the skins most natural finishers are all very close, and the largest change is speed and ease of use.

 

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm interested in reading the experiences of other using these stones. Your initial impressions are inline with my expectations on the Zulu: a very hard, fairly slow cutter—especially sans slurry.

I'm also interested in seeing how the stone (Zulu Grey) compares to the other Zulu stone, the Silkvein.Per the experience of a user of both:
"I had been asked to compare the African Silkvein to the Zulu Grey. The only real obvious difference is the speed; the Silkvein is a faster cutting stone. I believe the Zulu to be harder & slower. I have honed more razors on the Zulu & gotten better shaves on a couple of the razors honed on the Zulu. I truly cannot put the Silkvein in front of the Zulu as far as performance; then again... my experience on the Silkvein is limited to only a few razors at this time. The African Silkvein is a nice finisher, with minimal effort."

Should be an interesting comparison. Hopefully I'll be getting both in a few weeks.

 

Kevin do you have a go to finisher?

 

In a pinch, I'll grab the 'sure thing'— the Naniwa 12k: predictable results with no extra effort.
That being said, the edges I get off some of the naturals I find exceptional. They do require more effort with some razors but half the fun (and challenge) is trying out different steel on various stones and gauging the results.

 

second honing with the zulu gray. japanese manaslu that had a coti edge. took it on the 8 and 12k shapton for a touch up before the zulu. spent longer time on the zulu this time.after 12k the razor felt sticky to the zulu.honed til the razor glided easily over the hone and the scratches was mush reduced.don´t think it got much sharper then it was of the 12k but when i test shaved i could not feel the edge at all.was like putting an razor with no edge against my skin,but it was cutting whiskers effortless.one of the best edges i have felt.the razor also shaves very close with absolutely no irritation. i might could use even more time on the zulu.will have to try and see.

 

This to me is the reason I enjoy finishing on naturals. One can get a razor's edge extremely sharp(!) on a synthetic hone, but the key for a comfortable shave is smoothness and that is where I find the naturals do shine. Smoothing, not sharpening, the edge off the natural.

 

Most of the naturals will not make a 12K edge much or any sharper. They do change the scratch pattern and they do change the feel of an edge. It is not uncommon that I go to 10K Naniwa and then a natural with light slurry and dilute to clear. It is funny how we all have different words to describe the tactile sensation of honing. When I first start on a hone I usually describe the sensation as gritty or dirty, working towards slick and smooth, sometimes as the end approaches on some steel on some hones the sensation could be described as starting to have some draw, while being very smooth. Naturals are a lot of fun and can certainly increase comfort in shaving.

 

I find mine to be a solid performer
It is a rather long story, but the short version is I had 4 different ones come to me from Friends to evaluate, I did at least 100 different razor on each stone then sent them home with the recommendations on how I got the best edges
I basically used them two ways

Following a full progression usually of a Chosera 1-5-10

#1 With a LIGHT slurry much akin to honing on an Escher

#2 Using Smiths's honing solution on a well burnished side

Both ways worked and I had no complaints from customers, I however did get more "WOW" responses from customers from the Solingen razors finished on a light slurry so that is what I targeted with my own Zulu

Hope that gives you some ideas

 

took the king kutter back to the zulu and spent some more time on it.that made a positive change on the edge.now it feels much like the edge on the japanese razor.so it seemsm that a good amount of laps/time is needed on this stone.that is on water only.
tried to rase a slurry but that seems like a hard task.after some minutes of rubbing with the slurry stone the water was still clear.

 

I'm waiting too.

 

When raising a slurry on the Zulu using the stone provided, you must use very little water. Seriously, one or two drops of water and start making slurry. Once you start to get a little bit of slurry it will get faster because the slurry will actually help you to make slurry, as the slurry build very slowly add water. This is not an easy stone to make slurry on. There are many that prefer the DMT card for making slurry on the Zulu. Purist will tell you only use a slurry stone to make slurry. With honing it takes a lot of practice to be fast at honing and will likely take some in person learning at some point to really take it to the next level. Until then a lot of laps on a finisher to get a WOW edge is not uncommon with natural hones. Meets are the greatest way to learn honing. Every meet I have been to has had brand new honers, and then all the way up to pros. Attend one if you can and then you will want to attend more.

 

Thanks for you advise.will try this and see if i can build som slurry.

 

managed to make slurry using very little water as RezDog said.gave the king kutter a round in the slurry too.slurry was thin and diluted to only water .tomorrow i test shave again to see if there is any difference.