Thread: La Luna stone?

Originally Posted by dan656

I bought an unlabeled La luna from a french guy who was selling coticules on Ebay. He had pictures of himself holding the cotis in front of his stone collection and I noticed 2 or 3 labeled La Lunas in the back round so I go his email address an asked him if he wanted to sell one. He replied saying that the labeled ones were not for sale but he had an unlabeled extra fine one which he said was about a 12000 grit.he would sell for $100. He sent me pictures of the one that was for sale along with pictures of labeled ones to demonstrate that they were the same - same saw marks and same glittery honing surface. I sent him the 100 buck then I did not hear from several him due to the huge storm in France which cut power to a large part of the country but yesterday the stone showed up. I put a Filamonica 13 that was coticule sharp on the stone for about 6 to 8 laps with water and the razor got way sharper. When I shaved with it I got an incredibly close but rather harsh shave. I read the post about using it with oil so today I dispatched my wife to the sewing machine store she uses to pick up some oil. As with most things there seems to be a learning curve with a La Luna. I attempted to upload the pictures but the JPEG files are to big and I don't know how to work around that.

There are differences between the two variants, the blue metallic ones, or the one you bought are interesting and very fast and effective cutting stones. I also find them scary sharp resulting in a harsh feeling...

The purple ones are those i mostly would recommend, just because the results and the feeling of the shave is much better in my point of view. They give a close and quite smooth shave, a very balanced shaving result in the end.

Originally Posted by doorsch

There are differences between the two variants, the blue metallic ones, or the one you bought are interesting and very fast and effective cutting stones. I also find them scary sharp resulting in a harsh feeling...

The purple ones are those i mostly would recommend, just because the results and the feeling of the shave is much better in my point of view. They give a close and quite smooth shave, a very balanced shaving result in the end.

Question though, are these like most other stones that are able to create that scary sharp/harsh edge though? That is, after a few shaves and some really good stropping, does the edge become more comfortable to shave with?

Originally Posted by Marshal

Question though, are these like most other stones that are able to create that scary sharp/harsh edge though? That is, after a few shaves and some really good stropping, does the edge become more comfortable to shave with?

My experience is that surely the edge changes after stropping....so yeah it kinds gets a bit more comfy to shave then. But if you like that kind of feeling? in the end is a type of personal preferation, so in this case the edge gets never to the stage where i personally would love to see it....thats different with the purple stones which in the end reach more that point i like and create the shaving result i normally prefer....

Gotcha. Actually I dislike it too. I have a few stones that can leave a harsh and somewhat unforgiving edge. But that feeling only lasts 2 to 3 shaves at most from those stones, and then it mellows out and they become OK to shave with. If they were as you described and just stayed harsh I would likely not use them at all for razors.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Gotcha. Actually I dislike it too. I have a few stones that can leave a harsh and somewhat unforgiving edge. But that feeling only lasts 2 to 3 shaves at most from those stones, and then it mellows out and they become OK to shave with. If they were as you described and just stayed harsh I would likely not use them at all for razors.

Well they were sold to be used with razors and i wouldnt say there not usable for that. You know there are a good amount of guys around loving ultra sharp edges experimenting with CBN, Diamondspray, Nano Cloth and all the other stuff....so iam sure there people around who like the shaving sensation of those...

I never liked any result of synthethic stones (8k King, 10k or 12k Naniwa), so i mostly prefer naturals. Even if the shave was very good and close...i just didnt like the extreme sharp/harsh esges.

Originally Posted by doorsch

Well they were sold to be used with razors and i wouldnt say there not usable for that. You know there are a good amount of guys around loving ultra sharp edges experimenting with CBN, Diamondspray, Nano Cloth and all the other stuff....so iam sure there people around who like the shaving sensation of those...

I never liked any result of synthethic stones (8k King, 10k or 12k Naniwa), so i mostly prefer naturals. Even if the shave was very good and close...i just didnt like the extreme sharp/harsh esges.

Do you know where I can get a purple one?

Originally Posted by doorsch

There are differences between the two variants, the blue metallic ones, or the one you bought are interesting and very fast and effective cutting stones. I also find them scary sharp resulting in a harsh feeling...

The purple ones are those i mostly would recommend, just because the results and the feeling of the shave is much better in my point of view. They give a close and quite smooth shave, a very balanced shaving result in the end.

OK, I did manage to buy a 4" X 2" labeled purple La Lune from my guy in France and yes it is much less aggressive. Under magnification the sparkles are far less numerous and they appear to be smaller in size. How do you recommend using it? All my razors are hone sharp and I do not want to dull one to fool around although I did run one over for about 10 laps and I will try it later today. Any advice will be appreciated. Tx, Dan

Experiment with slurry, much like a coticule or Jnat, go from thickish/ cream like, to thin, finish on a thin water slurry. Experiment with the number of laps.

A drop or two of Smiths honing solution or Ballistol is nice for finish or added to slurry.

I like it off a solid 8k edge.