Thread: Llyn Idwal ?

I bought this stone black with oil, in a wooden box without a lid, thinking it was possibly a large Thüringen.

Soaked it in Simple Green for a few weeks and this is how it came out. It is pretty flat and smooth to the touch on one side, so I did not re-lap just beveled. The other side is un-lapped with saw marks. It is a hard stone but softer that a Black Ark and definitely not a Thüringen.

I honed a Pony razor that had a fairly wicked chip. I bread knifed the chip out and knocked the corners of the edge off with a 600 DMT at a 45 degree angle. I then did some circles bringing the bevels almost to set, leaving a thin line of steel on the edge.

I slurried the stone with a 600 DMT, a thin watery white slurry reminiscent of an Ark abut bit more and easier to raise. The stone face was smooth to the touch but honing with a razor felt a bit grainy, like a Lilly White or hard Ark in feel.

I was surprised at how quickly it removed steel, swarf visible on the stone after a few laps. About100 half laps and circles and the bevels began to come together. Another 40 or so and it set nicely.

I washed off the stone and raised thin slurry, added a couple drops of Smith’s Honing Solution and did about a hundred smooth full length X laps. The bevel was hazy, not polished and sharp.

I shave off the edge without stropping, it was similar to an un-stropped Black Ark orTranslucent edge, Keen, Toothy but not uncomfortable.
It removes steel quickly and yet is capable of producing a finished edge. I believed the stone face could be improved and I have had luck prepping C12K’s, burnishing the stone face with hard steel as done with Finishing Arks.

I put 2 old hard Carbon steel cleavers, I am planning to re-handle to the stone. Again I was surprised at the quick swarf produced. I used lots of pressure with both my thumbs and fingers over the bevel and doing high pressured half laps. My goal was not to sharpen the knives, but to burnish the stone, but it put a wicked sharp edge on both cleavers, being “old” carbon steel might have had something to do with it. Love those old knives.

The stone was left in a hazy finish not polished like Arks and the grey stripes popped darker than before, more so that the photos show. What was surprising was the corners of the stone were sharp, even though they had been beveled, they could easily cut skin.

An LI search did not reveal many matching photos and varying markings. This stone has the dark grey Tiger strips and black & brown dots and is greenish grey in color, grey dry. Also the size is somewhat distinguishing 9 7/8 x 1 13/16 and 1 inch thick on one end and 1 3/16 the other. Rough saw marks on sides and bottom. It is hard but will scratch fairly easily. It is a nice stone with a lot of potential and I love the length, you can put some lapping mileage on a razor in a hurry.

Your thoughts? LI?

Your stone is a Grecian Hone, one kind of Llyn Idwal.

Bush Dr.

Thanks, the color is best represented in the last photo I posted. I always thought Grecians were mostly grey with dark grey and reddish streaks. This stone wet, is green similar to a yellow green Thurigen.

I just read in an old SRP post here, that Grecians perform best with oil, which explains improvement with Smiths. I will try it with some mineral oil to see if there is any further improvement.

It is a nice stone and I am pleasantly surprised with its performance.

Thanks

Looks to be a 'Grecian...as said above. Check out this thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...lyn-idwal.html

WP34

It does look like photo of Grecian, one of the features I found most interesting is the ability of the stone to produce a burr after burnishing with carbon steel.

I have never seen that, I have seen where a sharp corner is formed this was more like a sharp burr but if they are crystallised in nature it makes sense still never seen that even with a Translucent.

Thanks

Usually I don't use oil on stones to hone, just water also on oilstones, and I don't use slurry with Grecian, performance are similar to the Charnley Forest.

Bushdoctor is right. However water or oil is personal preference.