Thread: Apache natural hone

I agree. If you use pastes, that is your edge. For years I strayed away. Hated them. Made the edge worse for me and I. Didn't need anything after my finisher.
Lately I tested a newly developed concoction. Was amazing what it did to an already great edge.

My best edges are what I refer to as a "Post Office" edge. To achieve this level of keen,comfort and ease, I mail my entire razor to buddhist monastery.When it returns , I remove the residual jnat dust and unicorn urine and my beard melts when I gaze at my reflection in the blade. But more often than not I hone to 8k and finish on 12k ss, or ark or AS.

Originally Posted by rickboone

I agree. If you use pastes, that is your edge. For years I strayed away. Hated them. Made the edge worse for me and I. Didn't need anything after my finisher.
Lately I tested a newly developed concoction. Was amazing what it did to an already great edge.

So...? Tell us more about this concoction...

Originally Posted by Wirm

My best edges are what I refer to as a "Post Office" edge. To achieve this level of keen,comfort and ease, I mail my entire razor to buddhist monastery.When it returns , I remove the residual jnat dust and unicorn urine and my beard melts when I gaze at my reflection in the blade. But more often than not I hone to 8k and finish on 12k ss, or ark or AS.

and a second "Like" to your post

I also agree that to test a stone only plain leather should be used, no pastes or what have you.

I just ordered a small hone from Terry, I'm already wondering if it will beat my favorite coticule, We'll see

Arrggg still waiting for both Apaches which are on the way to Germany...

So i had to buy a 10k Naniwa Specialty Stone to skip the time ;-)

Originally Posted by Bram

I'm already wondering if it will beat my favorite coticule

that should be a given for any capable stone!!

your opinion of the finishing capabilities of coticules is realy that bad??

I usually prefer smooth over what I call 'too sharp', an experience I had with AJ's 15K grey hone. I also shave against the grain, I'll see,... if this doesn't beat my coti I'll try a black ark,..... I guess I should note that I already get a nice shave, I guess I'm just suffering from a litle HAD searching for edge nirvana

the reason I went with the Apache strata instead of a black ark is because this is a one man operation of a guy who spend a lot of time rockhounting and finally found the right stuff, who knows even how much quality stuff is out there or wheter or not he will still be doing this the next year. the black ark I know I will be able to get in the future

No, they're not that bad if you get a good one. I've got a couple that can make a decent shaving edge.

My experience with AJ's hone wasn't that it created too sharp of an edge, but that the edge was actually deceptively coarse given what he called a rating of 15k. It was a small edge (as in not wide) it had tiny toothiness to it. I like coticules better than those, and I know lots of folks like those.

What I really like to do is float the coticule thing out there, just because there are enough people who have only bought one or two and not gotten a good one who will think it's funny

Got mine a couple of days ago... very dense hard stone - not quite as hard as the Zulu Grey but much faster. I would say mine comes in around 8-10K and definitely will sharpen a razor. I have yet to try the razor I tested on it (Hart) but it's stropped and ready to go... On a side note the stone has a high coefficient of friction with steel - more so than most hones - I would attribute this to it's resistance to slurry and it's cutting ability. I did use my trusty green plastic DMT to raise some slurry (which was milky white) as the included slurry stone of the same material was useless. I lapped it using an Atoma to knock it down and then my SGDLP to finish the surface - took a while.

-john

You guys are killing me with all this Apache talk... Found myself browsing the available stones on their website today...