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Hi there! I have come to realize that I am not terribly good at setting a bevel, but I am constantly improving on making a good edge even better.
Do you have a favorite kind of finishing stone? One that gives a nice and smooth edge?
Bonus: does this stone typically come with a slurry stone? I sometimes like to use slurry, and I also apply it to one of my strops.
Used coticules for years. Recently started experimenting with jnats. Lots of fun for sure!
jnats? Let me guess: Japanese natural stones?
I use a Vermio to finish after a coticule. Much less expensive than most Jnat finishers or high grit synthetics and pretty easy to use. Griffiths sells them with a slurry stone although I don’t actually use the slurry stone much.
Yes Japanese natural stones.
One more thing: any good oil finishers out there? I am wondering about that option too
Coming back to the Vermio. It is not porous so you can use oil or water. I prefer glycerine and water, but I have also heard of folks using honing oil. A quick wash with dish soap and you are back to the original stone.
If you are not good at setting a bevel, you will never be good at finishing a razor.
It is just the way that it is. No disrespect, but if you master a bevel set, the best shaving edge is 10 honing minutes away.
I would not be so sure. Because I think you touch on the real reason right there: I don't have the patience to work away on nicks and such, and because I get impatient I make mistakes. However, I have definitely improved the edges on some razors before, with my fine Chinese stone plus slurry (from the same) on a strop. Of course, it might also be that I simply don't have the right stones to go all the way from a blunt edge to a super fine one. Either way, I have several razors that have been honed by people who are pretty good at it, and I have been keeping these alive mostly with stropping and slurry "paste". I just thought I should give a new fine stone a try, the Chinese one has some veins in it that makes it slightly uneven. My idea is that I wanted to try a stone that is so fine that I can skip the paste, and see how I like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve56
If you want a stone that is so fine that paste is unnecessary, look into the Suehiro 20k. I got one several years ago. After buying it, I have not bought another stone. Done. It’s easy to use, super fine, and delivers consistent results. Some people love to play around with hones. If you do, this is not for you. This is auto transmission. I hone because I need to. And I like a very keen edge. No slurry needed. No magic or voodoo.
Thanks for the tip!Quote:
Originally Posted by OCDshaver
That sounds like a nice stone. Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by DZEC
I have a few nicer finishers but picking no one would be like picking a favourite child.
The most important hone in my line up is my bevel setter. Naniwa 1K.
I second what Rez says. Sure, I got a bunch of finishers. But the Green Brick is the main stone!
Mine would be a Blue/Green Escher, no slurry on the final laps
The Greek Vermio stone is one of my best finishers. It produces a very keen, yet smooth edge. I got mine from Matt at Griffith Shaving, but they are currently out of stock. They are a very dense, very fine stone. I also have a Welsh Yellow Lake slate, a Zulu Grey, and an very fine Imperia La Roccia that will produce similar edges. The ILR has a love them/hate them reputation among SRP members. I love mine, even though I do not know the origin of the stone. Each of the stones will produce a better edge than my Naniwa 12K.Quote:
Originally Posted by DZEC
I cannot get edges anywhere near that level of keenness and smoothness with my Coticule, my modern-mined Thuringian, my Chinese Guangxi, or my Tsushima Ocean Blue. However, since natural stones do vary in performance, results with your stones may be either better or worse than mine.
I have a hard black Arkansas (Dan's) that will produce a great edge, but only with more patience than I normally exhibit, so I rarely use it.
The Vermio stones can be used with oil or water, with a slurry or without. My favorite way of using them for final finishing is to use shaving lather or a mixture of liquid hand soap and water on the stone and then dilute slowly to plain water.
My favorite finishing stone (s) with slurry is an easy question for me but ask again next year and it may be different. Right now though it is a thuringian (light green from Hatzicho or yellow green Hohenzollern stone) with slurry from slurry stone from Hatzicho and a jnat with many different slurry stones (nagura).
The jnats have provided a SLIGHTLY keener edge retaining the smoothness but the thuringian stones are MUCH less effort for me at this time anyway.
A translucent or surgical black Arkansas stone is also an amazing edge but if you don’t have patience and like working with slurry I wouldn’t look in their direction.
My favorite is this one, I have a few others but this is the one I always reach for, very fast and very predicable
Attachment 306798
I've fallen down the finisher rabbit hole in the past(also the present and probably future), and in my experience, I've found that each individual razor I own seems to have it's own idea of what its favorite finisher is. As far as my favorite finisher, I've found that the strop has much more control over the final finish on the edge than any of the stones I've used. Maybe one day I'll find that hone that gives me that perfect edge across the board for my face.:o
Attachment 306814
You guys have me more and more intrigued by the Vermio. Dinnermint aka John sent me his months ago to play with and possibly buy. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't done much with it yet. Having said that, I have four re-scales in my honing cup just waiting, so I'm gonna try finishing on them.Quote:
Originally Posted by RayClem
My usual approach these days is to tweak a blade as far as it will go on the Nani 12, strop the #$*t out of it, and test-shave. I almost always follow that up with a "thin-to-thick" session on one of my arkies, usually the 8x3 SB. This gives me keen, smooth, precise edges almost every time.
Oh, and ditto what the others said about a bevel-set. Probably 96% or more of a fine edge is work done on the green brick or other 1k bevel-setter. I have never gotten a good edge off of any razor that wasn't on-point after that stone. Hell, I have even shaved off of mine with pretty good results!
I'm looking forward to messing around with that Vermio! Do you guys usually hit that after a Nani 12 or similar synth?
Also interested in the vermio. Would be a perfect touch up hone for a razor if it’s as straight forward as everyone says.
I’m pretty set for stones I think.
Attachment 306815
That being said this is my favourite set up right now.
Attachment 306816
Nice collection of coticules on top of everything else ; )
Thanks! Cotis were my go to stone for years.
+1 via the Vermio. Mine sat while I toiled with my 2 coticules, a couple of years. I managed decent, acceptable edges, but never anything great. Glen convinced me to buy 3 Naniwas to get my edges done and suggested I retry the Vermio. I'm happier now.
A Japanese natural barber hone I got from one of our members. No fancy stamps, glued on an ugly piece of wood. Matching slurry stone. Perfect edges.
It needn't be fancy to be good. It is the cheapest Jnat i own.
I have one of those Japanese Barber hones. I never did give it a chance. Dont know why. Someday i will break it out.
I could not find some of the natural stones people were suggesting, so I ordered a used Suehiro 20K which is in very good condition. We'll see how this works out :)Quote:
Originally Posted by OCDshaver
Used? Dont think Ive seen may sell used. Hope you saved a few bucks. Good luck. Its hard to go wrong with a used one. Unless someone has worn the middle out of it. Than the lapping would be scarry!
Without question, my black convex Ark finishing stone. It puts an amazing edge, high polish and works very fast compared to other Arks I have tried.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jkatzman
I’m waiting for one of those in the mail. Excited to try it out.
I tried mine dry just to see what would happen. The edge had a high polish and the shave was very good. I then went back and used just enough food grade mineral oil to put a fine covering on the stone and did 25 laps. Really brought the edge up and it's the best so far.
Good buy! You will look long and hard to find a better natural stone. I doubt that you will ever find one that wears like an Ark, but yet is blazingly fast.Quote:
Originally Posted by trondsi
