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Thread: Yellow Lake shenanigans

  1. #11
    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    Last time I played with this I neglected to upload this side picture of the saw marks. The cross-hatch pattern is kinda interesting, and I believe I've seen this on other examples of Yellow Lake stones from the original mine:

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    And gratuitous pics of the final product:

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    I polished it up on .5 CrOx, then wiped down the excess with mineral spirits. Then I treated it as I had for the rest of the tests, 30 on the (freshly lapped) Norton 8K, and 125 on the final burnished Welsh Slate. Shave test was pretty good. Cold water shave, 1 pass with a little dry touch up on any missed areas. Close, clean, comfortable. No razorburn or tingle from aftershave (splash of Old Spice Original). I feel like this last little bit of polish squeezed out as much as I'm able to of the rock. Shaved right off the stone, no tugging, pulling or discomfort and more comfortable than a Norton 8k right off the hone.

    Just for kicks and grins after the shave I took it back to the hones. First I checked the stria under my 30x loupe, then went back to the Norton 8K for 8 laps. Checked it, then did 25 laps on the slate. Just to comfirm that it wasn't bias or my imagination when I said it improved the 8K edge. I still think the Yellow Lake looks (and feels) better of the two. And of course at this point I had to hit the blade with my Shapton Kuromaku 12K. Probably won't surprise anyone when I say the Kuromaku is finer. So off pure water the Yellow Lake lies somewhere between the two.

    So I guess the next phase will be comparing Llyn Melynllyn to Yellow Lake to Black Slate. I have a sinking suspicion that when I try to squeeze every last bit of performance I can from the Yellow Lake and AJ's stone they'll come out remarkably similar. We'll see what the Morley has to say when I touch it up on them and give it a shave.

  2. #12
    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    I finally got around to really putting this stone through it's paces. Put the Gold Dollar away and took out a Germania Cutlery Works razor that was shaving fine (previously honed on a coticule). First step was to reset it on my Norton 8K. Once I was sure that was set, the blade got 125 with pure water, then the same with shave lather on the vintage Yellow Lake. I really want to say after being given the royal treatment it created a 12K edge, and it shaved beautifully. 25 passes on linen, 50 on leather, 1 pass nearly BBS on the right side of my face. No tugging or pulling, and very little razor burn (which I'd attribute to my skill - or lack there of).

    I took the blade back to the Norton 8K at this point while it was fresh in my mind what the blade shaved like. 30 passes, just to be sure the edge was 'zero'd' so to speak. Then it got the same treatment on my Purple Slate, with remarkably similar results. Same almost mirror polish, same shave on the left side of my face. One would almost suspect the two were quarried side by side, though we know that's impossible since their respective quarries are a few miles apart from one another.

    On a side note, the vintage Yellow Lake also did an excellent job polishing the nib of my fountain pen and making it glide smoothly across paper. No more scratchi-ness!

    I like this fella, I think it's a keeper.
    xiaotuzi and BWH1980 like this.

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to Marshal For This Useful Post:

    dinnermint (07-25-2017)

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