Thread: Revisit on the Welsh Slate hones, and their speed

I have the three Welsh Slate hone set sold by AJ on ebay and I know a lot of you have it laying around as well. I recently notices that the one rated the finest, the so called Welsh Thuringien stone also exerts a lot of drag force on my razors especially when used with a litle slurry and pressure, a lot more drag anyway then what I get from the Dragon tong or the LM.

To me this suggested that it is probably pretty quick, I don't know if Drag froce equals abrasive power but I would think so.

So yesterday I decided to test this, took a nice shaving edge, dulled it by three strokes on glas so it didn't shave armhair anymore and started honing. to my suprise I got it back to shaving armhair within 2 minutes and using the dulicut method I had a shaving edge within 10 minutes, that's quick right?

And since I don't think that my stone is special I was wondering what your experiences are on this stone speedwise.

I don't know anything about Thuringien's or their relation to Welsh Slate.
But;
I do have a stone from AJ that was said to be Welsh Slate, it's one of my best finishers to date. It's a slow cutter & I use it post 8k, or even coticule, sometimes.

When I hone , I take my time & push the edge as much as I can. I don't hone everyday, so I'm in no hurry.

I'm not educated enough to state for a fact, that drag/friction equals abrasive power, but I do know that different types of steel can provide different results/feedback on the same stone.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

I don't know anything about Thuringien's or their relation to Welsh Slate.
But;
I do have a stone from AJ that was said to be Welsh Slate, it's one of my best finishers to date.

That is obviously an Irish Phig.

I have experience with vintage slates, yellow lakes and salmens mainly. But I do intend to buy one on AJs in the future.
I wouldn't call them fast. And, you can bring the edge easily after lightly dulling a razor on glass, with any stone.
But I do have one vintage soft welsh stone. Coticule soft, and this stone cuts quite fast indeed, but it's not very fine.

From my experience, the dragging, means it's hard. Some slates, zulu stone, Chinese stone, Arkansas fine varieties, very fine/hard Japanese, all of them have it. All of them are very hard. And, in most cases, hard means slow, and fine.
If you use it with oil, or some drops of soap in water, this drag disappears.
It happens because the flat and hard surface of the stone meets the extremely flat and hard surface of the back of the razor. The high surface tension of water holds them together like two flat pieces of glass. If any of them had any pores or scratches, this would be felt in a lesser degree. And, with wedges, it's even harder to move your razor over them.
As an experiment you can try to hone on a piece of glass with water. You'll feel the same. And, glass is not fast.

Originally Posted by Steel

That is obviously an Irish Phig.

Oh snap, you hit him with his own line!
Drag has nothing to do with cutting power. Feel and feedback vary from hone to hone. I'm surprised that you could get an edge back from that far away with a stone of that high of grit. That is a very aggressive cutter.

@RezDog, that the drag force doesn't equal cutting power I understand but I would still think there is some relationship there. I was suprised as well about getting the edge back so easily

@Vasilis, I'll try it with some soap to test it but I don't think it is the surface tension because I have to put a litle pressure on the razor for the dragg force to become so significant (When using the same pressure on the DT or the LM the drag doesn't become anywhere near as large as with the finist of the three), I'll try restoring the edge on the DT and LM as well to see how significant I dulled the razor initially.

@Hirlau, this hone doesn't realy have a name but according to the seller AJ it has been compared to a thuringien and called a Welsh thuringien but that's beside the point, how do you know it is a slow cutter? could you use it after your 1 K just to see what happens? I think you might be supprised

[QUOTE=Bram;1306546 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
@Hirlau, this hone doesn't realy have a name but according to the seller AJ it has been compared to a thuringien and called a Welsh thuringien but that's beside the point, how do you know it is a slow cutter? could you use it after your 1 K just to see what happens? I think you might be supprised [/QUOTE]


I have no idea how yours cuts, but my Welsh Slate stone from AJ, is a slow cutter, I know this because I have finished over 8 razors on it. It is a great finisher for me.

Yes, I guess you could use it after a 1k, but you better pack a lunch & a tent to sleep in, for when you get tired of honing it to shave ready status. I have a feeling the shave is going to be a little rough.

It takes either a skilled and aggressive hand or an aggressive hone to go from 1K to finish. It can happen and Lynn and Glen did a video on it called one stone honing. I've tried it and I think you need a better working knowledge of pressure and honing than I have to do it on an Escher. I have used other stone though that are able to do it without much skill, because I didn't have a hard time getting there. I am no master of the hones but have messed with a lot of hones.

I also have the set of 3 from aj I can't say mine is fast but it doesn't take a it doesn't take very long to get a really sharp edge maybe 20 - 25 passes. I looked and waited a long while for the price of the Eschers/Thuringians to go down and the Welsh stones came along and my looking for a Escher/Thuringian has stoped unless I find one dirt cheap.

Welsh Thuringien?