Thread: Apache natural hone

After purchasing a small grey/tan apache when they were first being offered I just bought a larger Apache Red. Interested to see the difference between the two and if they compliment each other or not.

Iam i in die Apache Club now ? just HAD to buy two stones ;-)

That second stone has some nice lines and is a looker!

yesterday I finished a blade on the apache hone and shaved with it and it was a decent shave, I do think it can do a lot better since this time I had only lapped my apache hone on 150 grit wet en dry paper and honestly wasn't even done on the 150 grit (corners are still a bit lower then the rest of the hone). besides that I did a dulicut routine using coticule slurry on the apache hone.

so what I want to say is: I did a sub optimal job preparing the hone and introduced a lot of unknowns at the same time in my progression, honed a razor with some geometry issues (smiling frameback) and I got an acceptable shave.

so I'm definitely going to try to get the maximum out of this hone to see what it can do

Honed my Testbed blade today

Lightly killed the old edge with a few TNT's and then went Chosera 5-10
Light slurry raised with a well worn DMT 325 about 5 or so figure 8's
10 Swooping Japanese honing strokes each side
10 Swooping X strokes
Dilute
10 Featherlight X strokes
Dilute
10 Swooping X strokes
Dilute
maybe 7 or so finishing X strokes

Strop 30/60 Linen Leather

Test shave routine

Arko Lather on the face using a Semogue 1305 brush minimal prep for test shaves I want to test the edge not my prep skills
Results with a single Multi-directional pass were quite impressive
The Aqua-Velva splash after the Cold water rinse resulted in zero string

Impression of the stone after one razor, very soft action the slurry reminds me of the slurry from a really good J-nat with a silky feel to it..
Really like the action on the hone while honing
Polish on the bevel under magnification is also reminiscent of a Hazy finish from a J-nat
Good enough on the first try for me to move it into serious testing now

Very promising

Glen, which type stone do you have? There are lighter tan/beige stones and more greyish ones, as can be seen in Sebastian's post. I prefer the darker grey stone by far personally.

Originally Posted by eKretz

Glen, which type stone do you have? There are lighter tan/beige stones and more greyish ones, as can be seen in Sebastian's post. I prefer the darker grey stone by far personally.

The bottom one, from Kevin he graciously sent it out for me to test

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ml#post1408584

Yup that's a grey. I got a beige one first and it wouldn't cut at all - only burnished. Terry hooked me up with a grey stone for a replacement and I'm much happier with it.

Without looking at my log, I am guessing I have refreshed over a dozen blades on one of two Apache Strata. Every one has been improved.

Friday I did a Bengall. Shapton Glass1k,2k,4k,8k, and Apache.. water only. Somewhere around fifty - sixty x's (I don't count. The Apache has wonderful feedback.). This edge is my crowning jewel. Buttery smooth, close and zero irritation. So close, I left it at a two pass shave.

The Shapton/Apache combo are it for me.

Originally Posted by eKretz

Yup that's a grey. I got a beige one first and it wouldn't cut at all - only burnished. Terry hooked me up with a grey stone for a replacement and I'm much happier with it.

Thanks. I have a little tan one and I really really like it. I wondered how the grey stones compared.