Quote Originally Posted by S0LITARYS0LDIER View Post
Immensely helpful Dave, I do the same from slurried or rough washita, fine never lapped washita, fresh unlapped black and have to wait until I have a broken in other side of the black and life will be good. Not everyone can get one of those. Would I benefit at all from grabbing a hard and going wash to hard to black?

The black I've got now isn't a very fine finisher as it's not burnished yet.

I found yesterday that maybe 25 laps on a coticule gave me an acceptable no razor burn shave. Just not as close as I would have liked but no real complaints.


As for the oil
I like the baby oil it's a little smelly but it works.
I think the various hard (that are not true hards like black, trans, etc), washita and soft stones are all in the same category, so there's no need to have more than one of them. They can all cut a bevel when they're slurried and they can all do pre-finisher work when they're not.

I have a jones for the washita because of what it can do when it's not in a rotation, it has a very wide range, but it's not a razor finisher. that very wide range is something ultra useful for tools, lets you use a single stone for almost all of your work. the cheaper non-washitas aren't capable of the upper end of the range like a washita - if they raise a wire edge fast, they're coarse, and if they can make a satisfactory edge, they're not fast. The washita can be both. But it can fit fine in a razor rotation, too. It takes some method modification to get one to finish a razor, though, and it's not an easy always-works-out kind of thing. Under my roof, it requires a linen and a rough shave or two, and then some discretion to not remove the edge again on the next refresh.