Thread: Apache Black Gila

Edge is amazing.. 2 passes with some touch ups on 4 days of growth. I'm not going to lie and say it is as comfortable as a coti edge or better still sitting with a trans ark for 300-350 laps, but it is like 85% of the way there in that department, plus hugely keen and it gets there in a small number of laps.

Originally Posted by kcb5150

Edge is amazing.. 2 passes with some touch ups on 4 days of growth. I'm not going to lie and say it is as comfortable as a coti edge or better still sitting with a trans ark for 300-350 laps, but it is like 85% of the way there in that department, plus hugely keen and it gets there in a small number of laps.

Nice!! Out of curiosity what was on the strop? Would clean leather have smoothed it even more while maintaining the sharpness?

As for me...



About 2hrs in...should have about another 2 left lol.

Just normal stropping surface, I don't use pastes or sprays.

I am always interested in a new stone and have been let down by nearly all of them. I understand your guys excitement. I tried for years to find local stones that were razor worthy and came up bust.

I also was pointed to a nearly similar thread started on another razor site back in July of this year. Here is my suggestion to you: The most knowledgeable natural stone guy I know of is Sham over at Razor and Stone. Get his opinion on the stone and it will be an opinion that you or anyone else can stand on. Heck, around most all the straight razor world we send stones around for testing and evaluation. It's what we do...

Originally Posted by shooter74743

I am always interested in a new stone and have been let down by nearly all of them. I understand your guys excitement. I tried for years to find local stones that were razor worthy and came up bust.

I also was pointed to a nearly similar thread started on another razor site back in July of this year. Here is my suggestion to you: The most knowledgeable natural stone guy I know of is Sham over at Razor and Stone. Get his opinion on the stone and it will be an opinion that you or anyone else can stand on. Heck, around most all the straight razor world we send stones around for testing and evaluation. It's what we do...

Terry's sent a bunch of these out for demo, though I'm not sure who all has received them. I know Nelson and Keith have, but that's all for sure. I think he'd send one to Sham if approached, but I don't know for sure of course.

As for me, I tried to sign up at Razor and Stone...but they never sent me an email to confirm my account. I tried contacting Sham on his youtube channel, and he replied to contact someone else since he can't log in either. Problem is, I can't contact anyone there because my account isn't activated lol.

I doubt Sham will approach anyone to give his opinion, it's not how he is. That would be like a brain surgeon asking my opinion on an upcoming surgery...

Originally Posted by shooter74743

I doubt Sham will approach anyone to give his opinion, it's not how he is. That would be like a brain surgeon asking my opinion on an upcoming surgery...

I didn't necessarily mean he needed to be approached by Sham, lol. If you would like Sham's opinion on the stone, you could broker the demo yourself. Terry's a super nice guy, and I pointed him at this thread. I think he's a little gun shy about posting in the forums because he got banned at another forum for talking about the stone (they took it as marketing I think, which wasn't allowed). Who knows? Maybe he'll approach Sham himself?

First thing first, you will not get banned for an opinion here...unless you are just downright rude or trying to market this stone. Classifieds are a place to market something, not the open forum. Rudeness is not tolerated at any level.

About me. I happen to know a thing or two about stones too & have the experience to back it up. I've shared my edges & stones with many. Lastly, I'm quite to the point. Just check around...

You have to understand, we have seen a LOT of so called new magical stones appear that are supposed to be as good as a Escher/thuringian...guess what, they weren't. Closest thing I have seen that has come close to any claims is the G20 & I haven't gotten rid of my Eschers...but I do like it.

Now to cut to the chase, you guys are ranting on about how wonderful of a stone it is. You reference several natural stones I know of & have experience with & gotten rid of. To a point it seems like you are indirectly trying to market it. I give you a option to get a pro's review of the stone and I get stonewalled. Anyone who questions the validity of this stone gets stonewalled.

If this is a "looky what I found & am having fun with thread", then cool. If you are trying to help market this stone, then quit as I would hate to see a person new to honing to try their first natural only to be frustrated so much they give up. We here on SRP try to help one another, which is noted in my first post on this thread.

One, I never spoke to the guy who runs this business in my life, two the stone has been vetted by at least one really respected person in Bayamontate, three, if anyone should be testing stuff through here, it probably should be lynn, four, I just offered data on an obscure rock someone else started a thread asking about, and five, you're being rude/hostile for no reason. Nobody has been rude to you.... Making accusations about motives is not very nice... I think I even said here that if you want finishing value, buy an unlabeled thuri or an ark and condition it...

Originally Posted by shooter74743

First thing first, you will not get banned for an opinion here...unless you are just downright rude or trying to market this stone. Classifieds are a place to market something, not the open forum. Rudeness is not tolerated at any level.

About me. I happen to know a thing or two about stones too & have the experience to back it up. I've shared my edges & stones with many. Lastly, I'm quite to the point. Just check around...

You have to understand, we have seen a LOT of so called new magical stones appear that are supposed to be as good as a Escher/thuringian...guess what, they weren't. Closest thing I have seen that has come close to any claims is the G20 & I haven't gotten rid of my Eschers...but I do like it.

Now to cut to the chase, you guys are ranting on about how wonderful of a stone it is. You reference several natural stones I know of & have experience with & gotten rid of. To a point it seems like you are indirectly trying to market it. I give you a option to get a pro's review of the stone and I get stonewalled. Anyone who questions the validity of this stone gets stonewalled.

If this is a "looky what I found & am having fun with thread", then cool. If you are trying to help market this stone, then quit as I would hate to see a person new to honing to try their first natural only to be frustrated so much they give up. We here on SRP try to help one another, which is noted in my first post on this thread.

I'm not sure if this is directed at me or not...but if it is, I think we've got some misunderstandings going on.

First, I'm not trying to market anything. For me this IS a 'looky what I found and am having fun with' thread. I met Terry because one of my customers pointed me at his site, and said 'hey, those stones come from your home state right??'. So I contacted him to find out where he was located. I picked up the first three stones from him (one as a gift for the friend who pointed them out to me), then picked up the second three stones, including this Gila. I've never seen Terry face to face, have talked to him on the phone once, and there is no benefit to me in 'marketing' his product. The benefit to others (meaning anyone swayed to buy this stone from the completely HONEST discussion on this thread) isn't really for me to judge. I'm new to razor honing myself, with less than 2 months into it. Granted, I'm a full time bladesmith and have a background in general sharpening which may give me something of a head start, but f I have picked it all up this easily, I'm sure most others wouldn't have a problem. kcb5150, if you look around, is rather experienced himself in honing...with a MULTITUDE of well respected stones...so if anyone (in general) is paying attention to anyone, it should be to him, or Nelson, or Keith (all of whom have good things to say about this stone, and from my understanding are trusted and respected members of this forum).

I'm just sharing my experiences.

I also want to make sure that it's understood there has been zero animosity or rudeness intended in ANY post I've made on this site. I'm really enjoying it here in general, and this discussion even more. When you came in and posted that if we (I'm guessing the people discussing the stone?) wanted approval we should send a stone to Sham...I was kind of taken aback. There was no approval being sought out...just discussion and sharing our experiences. That's why I said to you, if you wanted to get his (Sham's) thoughts, you should contact Terry and see about getting one sent to him. I would send him mine, but I'm too busy using it on an almost daily basis, and honestly, wouldn't want to give it up for however long such a demo would take. It's my best finisher out of a few respected finishers (nothing historic etc...just stones known to do a good job). Period.

I do want to make one direct question to you. What are you talking about 'stonewalled'? Dave and I have gone back and forth discussing this stone through the entire thread. No stonewalling there. I admitted that it could very well be .5 micron diamond particles increasing its efficiency at a mirror polish, though I don't personally think that's the case. I didn't 'stonewall' you, either. I simply have no need of a 'pro's' review...as I am doing just fine with the stone myself. IF I were marketing them, then such a review would absolutely be helpful. I'm not. kcb5150 was given his stone by Nelson (who I actually thought was a respected pro himself? Do I have that wrong??) in trade. Nelson has another of the stones that he kept, and from my understanding speaks highly of. So does Keith (Gamma). So again, I'm not sure where this 'stonewalling' thing you're talking about is coming from, but I'm guessing it's something you're perceiving that I'm not trying to convey...probably from a somewhat understandable misinterpretation of my intent in the thread.

I hope my post here is taken in the spirit I'm intending it. I'm a super easy going and friendly guy...and can get along with virtually anyone...but as you said, I'm also direct/to the point, and sometimes rather blunt about it. That often comes across differently than it would if we were standing around a stone talking about it.