Thread: New Cretan hone

Originally Posted by Oustoura

i found this one today in morning. i thought it was a finishing hone (10k or +) but now i'm not so sure. when i found it, i smelled the oil scent (a powerfull smell >_< )

so wanted to ask you if this is a cretan hone or a finishing one? and its grit proximately?

i may also add some pic from back side of the hone if this is not clear enough to identify...

Cretan stones have grades. After this one has been soaked in oil for so long it's not visible, and it's way easier to identify them before they get soaked in oil, but there are basically three grades.
The grade that looks white before it gets submerged in oil. It's soft, faster than the other two grades, and in the 4-6k approximate grit. It's also a somewhat rare find, a pure white stone. Then there is the type than when is extracted has a grey color, which is the most "abundant" type found, in the 8k grit, slower than the white type, but still faster than a soft Arkansas, and finally, and the most important for us razor guys, the blue type. It's hard and the slowest, finisher grade, like a translucent Arkansas stone, but still extremely fast for its grit. And that's a fact for Cretan stones; they are extremely fast stones, even compared to man made stones. That's why they are also prone to overhoning, so, do be careful.
To find out if your stone is a finisher or not, clean-flatten it and try it.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

Cretan stones have grades. After this one has been soaked in oil for so long it's not visible, and it's way easier to identify them before they get soaked in oil, but there are basically three grades.
The grade that looks white before it gets submerged in oil. It's soft, faster than the other two grades, and in the 4-6k approximate grit. It's also a somewhat rare find, a pure white stone. Then there is the type than when is extracted has a grey color, which is the most "abundant" type found, in the 8k grit, slower than the white type, but still faster than a soft Arkansas, and finally, and the most important for us razor guys, the blue type. It's hard and the slowest, finisher grade, like a translucent Arkansas stone, but still extremely fast for its grit. And that's a fact for Cretan stones; they are extremely fast stones, even compared to man made stones. That's why they are also prone to overhoning, so, do be careful.
To find out if your stone is a finisher or not, clean-flatten it and try it.

i added some recent pictures in here if you interested to see. i'd like to have your idea about its grade

Originally Posted by Oustoura

i added some recent pictures in here if you interested to see. i'd like to have your idea about its grade

I did saw the stone, but it's hard to recognize, sorry. The best way is to try it on your razor or tools/knives, and see for yourself. Light pressure, you can use it with WD40 or something similar, thin oil, and find out how good the shave is.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

I did saw the stone, but it's hard to recognize, sorry. The best way is to try it on your razor or tools/knives, and see for yourself. Light pressure, you can use it with WD40 or something similar, thin oil, and find out how good the shave is.

did it with WD40 even with hot water but it ain't go further. so i left it but i have some razors to need to hone. i will give it a try soon.

Originally Posted by Oustoura

did it with WD40 even with hot water but it ain't go further. so i left it but i have some razors to need to hone. i will give it a try soon.

For cleaning the stone, I would suggest dry sandpaper. Start with 80 grit or somewhere around there, and progressively finer up to 400-600 grit. Finer sandpaper won't chance the behavior of the stone. After that, wipe with paper or cloth and clean it with oil or water and soap (but then you'll have to let it dry and reapply oil), and it will be good as new, almost.

Enjoy the view good peeps.

What we have here is some good variety of Cretans. I've been playing with these stones in the last few days and I gotta say, I am thrilled! They are so much fun!

White/grey are very fast, nice and "coarse" (2-3K EDIT: I am probably wrong here, they are closer to 5-6-7K, it's the speed that tricked me!), just what I wanted for bevel setting.

The one that looks dark grey (in fact has a touch of blue - first photo on the right) I am gonna call " the hybrid". Not sure if our friend Vasilis will agree with this categorization? I haven't tried it yet to be able to tell if it's much different. Just ran a razor over it and noticed it is a lot less scratchy, so a lot finer than the white stones... so I am inclined to believe it is something between white/grey and blue - Hybrid!

The blue stone is really something else.. Really smooth and very fine, just like Vasilis said above. I am very impressed so far and looking forward to do a full progression on these.

Blue on the left, "hybrid" on the right - dry.


Same as above, wet this time.


Blue and white in my lightbox... artsy fartsy...


The whole variety, white, grey, hybrid, blue:

The softer one, the white, it's not a 2-3k approximate grit, it's quite finer actually. It's the speed that makes it feel like a coarse one because of the metal it removes. I have tried dozens of soft white stones, and the edge is quite similar to a Norton 8k.
If you use it with pressure, it will cut coarsely, but with no pressure, just the weight of the razor, it leaves an edge that you can shave with it. The Cretan stone is "pressure sensitive" to an extreme degree. The more pressure you use, the more metal it removes, and the lighter the touch the finer the edge.

Thanks for the clarification Vasili. I did forget to state my astonishment with the stria I observed on the bevel.. the amount of metal removed certainly doesn't correspond to the fine lines left. I did use quite a bit of pressure at first and eased up as I went on. After only 10 hard strokes on the white stone you can see and smell the metal left behind. Just great! It will make a fine addition to the arsenal. I am optimistic about it replacing my synthetic bevel setting hone for good... Or for the most of the work I do on my shavers.

Vasilis is whrite - they are 4 - 5 k levell and they are better than the washita stones .Very good stones .

Really want to try this stone, Vasilis, is it worth your time to get razor grade stones to sell to those of us without? I would pay a fair price for one or two stones.