Thread: My Charnley Forest is happily shattered

Let me explain how I have made two superior stones out of one. (Please don´t try that)
I just wanted to know if this stain on my Charn (230x55mm) on pic 1 is an oil spill or a natural discoloration. It smelled not oily but this spot definitely looked like a spill and it did not leave me in peace. Now I know, this stone is so hard and dense that it does not absorb any liquid. I really like this stone, it gives those edges where I always think - man, that was a shave. It comes from the north and because of its nice black stribes I call it the "Viking Stone". Ok, it comes not directly from the homeland of the Vikings but they occupied and inhabited Nottingham and Leicester and the Charnwood Quarries are in between.
I took the stone in a pot with some dish soap and tried to clean it. I got a call and was negligent and the water was heavily boiling when I looked at the pot after half an hour, it was way too hot. I lifted the stone out of the water and recognized a humongous crack right trough the stone. I wore gloves and I could part the hot stone bare-handed exactly in the middle. Ok that is strange, isn´t it? I had two stones now with a sickness of a bit less than 0,5". I thought the best solution to prevent thin stones to break through is a good backing. Some of my best stones have a backing and I wanted a superb one for my "Viking Stone". I ordered two BBW from Ardennes Coticule with special dimensions and I got two perfect stones which are outstanding performers for razors. They are fast and fine when used with a thin slurry, idial to use after a 1k bevelset. This two sided stone with a BBW and a Charnley slurrystone is all I need after bevelset to get an edge with a optimum sharpness and a buttery shave.























How I lap long stones. I use a couple of cheap diamondplates, often sold for less than $10 in a set of three. I removed the plastic and glued it on a flat stainless steel sheet that I ordered from a garage. Works perfect, nothing else that I know is faster. For final lapping I use good 1.2k w/d for Charnley Forest stones.



Here you can see the performance of the BBW (Rouge Du Salm). I use a 1k (pic1) and after about four minutes on the BBW with a thin slurry from a small BBW I get a very good HHT result, the arm hair falls down by touch. I know the pics do not have the best quality, my setup is pretty old school, but to me the pics have meaning.
When I switch from the 1k to the BBW there is a pretty loud honing noise. I thought what is this for a coarse stone? But this is normal and depends on the condition of the edge. The stone gets very smooth and silent after a few minutes and the edge gets better and better. A fantastic stone in my opinion, you can hear and feel how sharp the edge currently is. Compared to a progression on artificial stones I would not say it is a slow stone, it takes roughly the same time to get a very good sharpness.

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I had a similar experience with a ZY razor hone, minus the boiling water. I had just gotten it, flipped it upside down over my lapping pan, and the half with the freshly lapped honing surface fell into the pan.

Still debating if I want to finish lapping up the backside so I can turn it into 2 hones like you did your CF.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You screwed up and lucked out in the best way possible. I really like that you backed them with BBWs.

A few years ago at Sham's (HiBudGl) house, I showed him my huge brick of a Charnley Forest. Now Sham really likes these stones and I feel that he pretty much was responsible for introducing Charnley's to the shaving community. Given that I know how strongly Sham feels about pretty much all hones, I decided to mess with him. I asked him to test the hone and after looking at the resulting scratch pattern under the microscope, he told me that it was one of the best Charnley's he ever had tried. In response to that, I told him that, since it was so thick, I probably could cut it into at least 3 or 4 slices. Sham literally snatched the hone out of my hand and cradled the hone in his arm like a baby and exclaimed "Don't do that!"

I promised him that I never would do that.

Apparently I also need to be sure to never boil it.

Boiling it will only split it in two...that's less than 3 or 4, so it's OK right?