Thread: something interresting comming my way :)

ok, I'm kind of excited, so far I've been used to my coticule edge and only experimented with the Welsh tri hone set as an alternative but to my experience so far the Dragon Tonge is just a smooth slightly duller coticule edge and AJ's 15K Gray stone is simple to sharp for me or at least not smooth enough or maybe I just still haven't figured this stone out (the LM I haven't done much with it jet)

the reason I haven't turned to thuringian hones is simply the $$ one needs to spend to obtain one

now this one is comming my way for €22 and I'm kind of excited



now of course looking at this picture it could be anything but there is a label on the box you guy will recognice



it's a small hone 3 X 15 cm (~1"X6") but I feel comfortable with that since I learned to hone on a 4X10 cm coticule

I'm hoping this stone will give me an edge that is sharper but still smooth

by the way, the point of this thread is to get some advice on this specific hone, what to expect and what to look out for

Nice find, wtg!

Did you not like the Welsh stones? I ask because I have three heading my way now. You will have to give us a full report on how that one hones when you get it.

I think the welsh stones are fine, but the bottom line is not that they're too sharp, it's that they're too coarse. If you look at the edge they provide, it's a bit toothy compared to something like a finer slate-ish hone (thuri or a japanese natural). It can still feel keen because there is no orderly wire edge or defects, but a deeper coarser groove will feel keen but rough.

If you are addicted to green chromium, you'll find even a thuri feels a bit dull, but otherwise, if that stone is similar to an escher and you use it well, you'll appreciate that it is a cut (or two) above the welsh slates.

I don't know about that Dave, with the tri hone set I notice a distinct dragg force comming of the dragon tongue shaving WTG and I can also shave ATG while after using AJ's Gray hone I notice a lot less dragg shaving WTG which is no problem at all but shaving ATG leads to a lot of iritation afterwards.

but enough about the Welsh Slate hones, any advice for the La Lune Special stone?

No clue, never used a la lune. I had three of the AJ hones, and figured out that even with tools, they came up short of shapton pro 15k, etc. They just don't put on a bright polish, and the finest finishers put on a bright polish on hard steel. All of the japanese hones do, and the finest of coticules will do it. I know longer have my slates, sold them elsewhere. They would be a decent budget option if the shipping wasn't a killer to the US, and if people would use them without slurry for a while and let the surface dull, but the ones I got (including a gray one that AJ called 15k) could not put a bright polish on steel, and always had a bit of a toothy edge, especially if used on slurry.

The finer stones (the jnats and the eschers) are pretty much point and shoot as long as they're not slurrying.

Maybe some of the hones aj sells are variable (from hone to hone) and some approach the more well known stones, but mine didn't. A super keen stone should go with and ATG without sting - even a true hard arkansas will do that.

Mhh doesnt look like a Special Stone on the first look, but youll see when it arrives...it should be one ;-)

By the way, why are thuris expensive? This is coming up several times, especially unlabelled ones are easy to get, also there are people around selling nice stones.

If youre comfortable with smal stones you could also get a smal thuri for about 30-40us...

That stone should be used with a light oil, no pressure at all and a very low number of laps. Misuse will destroy an edge in short order. Special stone/la lune extra fine is beyond escher level. I'd say the only better western finishing hone you can get is a Vosgienne but they are incredibly hard to source. Not every razor can handle the special stone fwiw.

BTW, when it arrives please log your experiences in the french hones thread. There has been an effort for seemingly months to centralize info/data about the tremendous stones from France.