Thread: help with welsh slate hone

My 15K Welsh hone is more or less on a par with an Escher.

Originally Posted by Kees

My 15K Welsh hone is more or less on a par with an Escher.

So is mine, i would put mine at 10k-12k equivalent, it's natural so a grit rating is subjective .
I do 20 laps and test on mine, it usually takes about 60. I also never slurry mine as I don't want to lose the glassy finish that it's taken on.

Rob, 20 laps and test. What test do you use? If you did 150 laps would you have overhoned? Wasted time or steel? I'm not sure when I should be done, so I usually over do it...

personally ready to give up on natural hones. way beyond my level of expertise or interest. Lesson learned.

Originally Posted by tintin

personally ready to give up on natural hones. way beyond my level of expertise or interest. Lesson learned.

What naturals have you used before? If you are having major issues with them I would do a normal synth progression up to 10-12k then use a finishing stone that you are sure is up to scratch like a jnat. I have an Ozuku Asagi and it is by far the best and easiest finishing stone I have.

I also have a couple of coticules and a charnley forest. As well as the welsh slates and C12k but I would not consider my versions of these stones good enough to finish on.


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Originally Posted by cau

Rob, 20 laps and test. What test do you use? If you did 150 laps would you have overhoned? Wasted time or steel? I'm not sure when I should be done, so I usually over do it...

By test, i tend to assume its a reference to shave testing. Or whatever you use to determine a razor is finished. These stones are slow and don't remove a lot of steel, at least when suitably smooth & burnished to finish a razor. It would be really hard to over do it.

Tintin - any chance you could post a photo or two of the honing face of the stone?

Random thought, is it possible you could use less pressure when using the slate? They are harder than most synthetics, I've seen it mentioned that harder synthetics give some folks trouble until they adjust. I'm wondering if maybe a similar thing could be happening here.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Tintin - any chance you could post a photo or two of the honing face of the stone?

Random thought, is it possible you could use less pressure when using the slate? They are harder than most synthetics, I've seen it mentioned that harder synthetics give some folks trouble until they adjust. I'm wondering if maybe a similar thing could be happening here.

I'll get a picture of it this afternoon. My only experience with naturals is this and a PHIG. i'm just wondering if the difference between a 8k SS and a 12k of any kind is just too small for me to notice the improvement? Or maybe i just don't like the feel of 12k and it seems like it's degrading the edge?

Is that what you're currently finishing on, an 8K SS? Have you tried a synthetic 12K stone?

It could be that you don't like the feel of anything passed that. For the longest time I just used my Norton 4K, 8K then moved onto a natural stone because the first shave fresh off the 8K hone was prickly. Too keen and easy to create razor burn. Natural stones for me seemed to tone that down, and I was afraid synthetics would compound the issue.

Long story short, I picked up a 12K synthetic and what I actually found was I just needed to adapt to the new sharper edges. Less pressure, better technique etc.

I guess my last question is, what do you mean by it degraded the edge? Did it tug/pull the hair? Or did you just end up with more irritation that you would have coming off the 8K SS?

Originally Posted by Marshal

By test, i tend to assume its a reference to shave testing. Or whatever you use to determine a razor is finished. These stones are slow and don't remove a lot of steel, at least when suitably smooth & burnished to finish a razor. It would be really hard to over do it.

This has been my meager understanding. I read about finishing on a Charnley with 200+ x-strokes. Few hundred laps on a black Ark. I have a Vermio, and don't think 30 laps would amount to much. In the time it would take to lather and shave test I could finish my 150 laps. But I'm never sure I'm not wasting time or steel. Figured I'd ask...