I got the last one of these off ebay.
---Michael
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I got the last one of these off ebay.
---Michael
this is the honing progression i'm using for the I.J DT and my other DT. from top left to right 325 dmt 1k boker 2k naniwa 5k shapton 8k naniwa snow white the two DT's and a soft ark . i used the soft ark to bread knife the razor (it had a small frown) used the dmt to start the bevel just to the point where i couldn't see the edge shining back up at me. then on to the 1k,2k,5k,8k next up the DT duel hone then the I.J DT last .
Out of curiosity did anyone else buy the three hone set? I'm super happy with the DT and LM and haven't played around much with the mystery extremely hard black stone yet as I need more sandpaper to get that one lapped.
Yea, I got that 3-stone set as well. Mine arrived almost perfect, worked it a little on a dmt then used the slurry stone to polish it up. Only had 2 shaves so far, used a swedish wedge for the first test - shaved off the DT and the LM so far, doing the finer one tomorrow. So far it's good fun, I'm very happy.
i didnt get the 3-stone set but did get a llyn melynllyn just shaved , very smooth shave . i used a coticue with slurry, then water . the LM with slurry to water.shaved off the rock. got to say this stone can hold its own with any in my stable. tomorrow ill strop with Linde A and then leather, ill bet she splits atoms
Looking forward to get my DT/LM, after reading your experiences I'm really exited to try it out, hopefully it will arrive tomorrow, I've also ordered a USB microscope to do some visual comparison both of the DT/LM and some other finishers.
Rene, doesn't the the stone absorb the oil, and won't that cause a problem when using water later on?
Or is the stone so hard that it won't absorb the oil?
I used sewing mach oil.
sewing machine oil dans whetstone oil and buck oil is some of the thinest oils i have come across.
Well, I finished the initial test of all 3 hones. I used the same hardware for all 3 shaves, (uberlather and a swedish 7/8 smiling wedge) and touched up the edge first on the Dragon's Tongue, then the Llyn Melynllyn, and finally the black slate. I used 15 strokes on slurry, 25 to dilute down to water, and last 10 strokes on a clean stone with less and less water. I followed by a stropping (10 canvas, 75 leather).
In my opinion they all are fine finishers. I could happily shave off the DT. The LM was finer, and the last stone left nothing to desire (1-pass shave to BBS, minor touch-up below jawline on the non-dominant hand, an area that always takes a little extra effort for me). The stones appear to be fairly quick stones, I suspect that fewer strokes than what I used are required. I find them quiet and with a good feedback, and a joy to hone on. They all slurry easily. I polished them all before use.
I'll test on a french hollow ground next, in the same manner, but I do not expect my findings will be much different.
My DT/LM arrived today, and of course I had to test it immediately.
Honed up a vintage Dovo 6/8 half hollow I got a couple weeks ago, set the bevel on Chosera 1K, then Naniwa SS 3-8K before I went to the DT.
Started with slurry, diluted and finished with 25 strokes on water, then to the LM, same procedure, slurry diluted to water and finishe with 50 strokes on water with absolutely no pressure, stropped 50 linen/20 Kanayama suede/50 Kanayama Cordovan.
The razor got wicked sharp, my light arm hairs popped 2cm over skin level before the edge hit them :p
The shave was great, smooth and effortless, no signs of irritation, not even on my "tricky spots" on the neck.
Very promising so far, I will do some more "scientific" tests in the near future as soon as my scope arrives, i.e. comparing them to other stones/finishers etc.
I believe this was money well spent :)
I found the dual stone to be big and heavy, and I do prefer single hones so I decided to try to split them up.
It was fast and easy, I poured a little bit of nailpolish remover (aceton) directly on the joint between the stones, let it work for about 10 seconds, poured on a little bit more and let it work for another 10 seconds, then I could easily split the stones apart.
I have now two smaller and lighter stones that are much easier to work with.
Absolutely, if it hadn't been for the freaking mailman that decided to end his week on thursday and not deliver any mail to me until yesterday I would have had the stone in four days :)
I was thinking of maybe lapping both sides, and use one for oil and one for water.
I have pulled the trigger on one LM hone. It will be my first oil stone.
I read this and other threads, but still didn't made my mind on how to use this hone.
Some start a slurry and keep adding water until it finishes without any slurry, but others said that by using oil, the hone really took it to a different level.
How will I use it? Water or oil? Or both?
You can go either way. I will be trying the GT85 oil but have used sewing mach oil on the LM. Just wash it off. Play around with it. I would start with a slurry. You realy dont need tons of laps. We did 50 on the DT on water and it made a huge diff on the edge. The LM really polishes the edge. My skin is a little more sensative so i got a little irritation. I found the slurry help and the oil on the LM helped with that also. I haven tried just going to the LM to see if its the DT super sharp edge that is giving me that. Again only a tiny irritation on my jaw line. Which is somewhat common for me.
Thanks.
I'll start with water only and see where I can go from here.
Mind you that I only purchased the LM, I didn't get the DT or the English Thuringian as you call that black stone.
I too have sensitive skin, so I'm looking forward to play with it.
The seller told me the stone is lapped, but some gents that got their stones suggest lapping some more to remove some scratches. Also, some went all the way up to 5K lapping. Isn't that too much? How was the surface of your LM at arrival?
WOW 5k. I would not go that high. Mine was flat but i did use W/D sand paper and it only took 5-10 min. I used 320 then 600 after. I dont have the Thuri also but the DT is WELL worth it.
Hello Rene and gents. I am reading your toughts about those stones, and I am very interested , I will buy some this week. How you compare the edges from those stones with the edges from the vintage thury you bought from me, Rene. Why I asked you is because I get some excellent edges from that stone, and if you said the edges from those english stones are comparable or better, it will be a huge punch to thuringian and coticule market.From a practical point of view for me is don't matter if is a DT, ML, or thuringian if I get an excellent edge.At this rate you get an amazing deal, 3 stones 6x2 with slurry stones. I am sure in the years to come those will be the new coticule or thuringians.Thank you.
Still waiting on my LM purchase from last week, despite a $30 ship charge. I'm a little miffed about the shipping - does it actually cost that much to send stuff from the UK? Perhaps I'm just spoiled by EMS and SAL economy air shipping from japan, which costs a third to a half as much, and usually gets an item to me (either one) in less time.
I would probably try a couple of other stones from the seller if the LM turns out to be OK, but not at the shipping rates. $40 to ship three very small hones? $20+ to ship one very small hone? I've ordered MWF by royal mail small packets, as well as CDs, and the sellers have charged a couple of bucks.
I am going to do some comparison testing soon, but from the two tests I have done so with the LM so far, the results seem to be at least on par with my vintage Thuri.
Tested on my full hollow Gotta yesterday, straight from Norton 8K to LM, starting with quite heavy slurry, diluted to plain water, did about 10-12 strokes between each dillution, finished with ~25 strokes on plain water.
The edge was smooth, but it didn't get the same level of sharpness as I got on the Dovo, from what Rene said I suspect this comes from that I didn't use the DT first, and maybe too fast dilution.
Before next shave I will take take it to the DT first and see if it improves the result.
An example, for his tri stone set he quotes £24.00 ($37.96) that's International signed for including post and packing, The Royal Mail site quotes £16.98 ($26.86) International signed for up to 1Kg small parcel, He is charging $11.10 for packaging, judge for yourself if you think that is fair or not.
I don't even want the signed for. To include another $7.50 of shipping charges (the cost of the "signed for") to cover yourself as a seller on a $30-$40 item, I don't like that so much - it's bad relations for the 99% of buyers who aren't going to make the false claim that they didn't get their goods. Just the signing fee is almost as much as small items come SAL economy air from japan.
For the very small stones, I'd gladly pay $15 to get them shipped, but when it's creeping up on $30, it's principle, despite the fact that the stones are cheap, the allocation doesn't seem right. Even less so if you get something broken that needs to be returned (i never return anything to anyone, so that's hypothetical, but..).
We'll see how the big purple LM turns out when I get it, it sounds like I'll be happy with it. I would've been up for multiple stones, but the shipping thing on principle just makes that idea a non-starter.
I'm lucky, if I want to send anything to the USA my wife can get it shipped overnight by courier for free, I wish it worked the other way because I could then buy razors and stuff on USA e bay which works out hugely cheaper than ours, get them posted to my son's address in Mississippi, then couriered back here, labelled as a gift, I would save a fortune.
i have to agree aj is tops.i got a LM custom cut ( i like to hold the stone as i hone) 13cm x 8cm with a huge slurry stone ( its a useable hone in itself ) honed up my ti.and just for a lark my spyderco manix. shaved one side of my face with the ti the other with the spyderco . there was a difference in the shaves but not as great as you would think
Finally got the very dark green/black 3rd hone of the 3 hone set lapped and tested.
It's very hard and has the same hone feel as the LM. The razor was previously honed on a Norton combo, then C12K, I did 20 laps with slurry and 15 with water. It definitely improved the edge!!
I think the shipping is reasonable. I recieve it in about a week. Im still waiting for a package from a diff guy in england that was mailed the same time.