Thread: Zulu grey...first hone

You will find that the ZG slurry stone requires quite a bit of pressure and repetition to produce even a very lightly cloudy slurry - this is due to the Zulu Grey being actually quite a hard stone and so doesn't easily slurry like other softer more clay-like hones do. But, you will find that with even a hint of cloudy water there is benefit to the Zulu on Zulu slurry.

What I do is simply use a medium to fine DMT card-sized hone(DMT D3E 3-Inch Dia-Sharp Sharpener Credit Card Sized Extra-Fine - Amazon.com), that is well worn. By 'well worn' I mean that it has been previously and properly used on a hard surface (like lapping an Arkansas stone for a good while..) This will knock off all the coarse high-spots of the new DMT.. You are only trying to produce slurry not lap the Zulu Grey, so you only need a fine sprinkle of diamond dust on the plate to get the process going... This will create a much thicker slurry as you would expect to see on softer natural hones, and it will also leave the ZG with a crisp/fresh surface that isn't glazed.

If you are not going to need slurry or if you simply want to use the Zulu Grey as a true finisher with only water etc. Then you can also thoroughly dry the hone and use a small square of 1500 grit wet/dry paper (use it completely dry) to essentially polish the hone surface back to what it was when received. The hone is so hard that with a square of 1500 grit paper you practically aren't changing the flatness of the hone at all - just keep the polishing action light and consistent across the surface. This will give a nice mirror surface good for final finishing with light strokes using water only. I also like to use the hone dry for a few very light x-strokes just prior to clean stropping.

Cheers,
- Mike