Thread: This might sound silly...

So anyway, I was messing around with a DMT C today and decided that going through all the stones was a PITA so I did this out of pure laziness. I got it passing the HHT with the DMT C and stropping. Then I went straight to my Unknown Renge stone and did a heavy slurry worked on the edge using the diluting method until only water was on the stone (just to clear things up, the jump was from the DMT to the JNAT) and the grinding noise was basically nil. The shave was AWE inspiring. Trust me I BS you fellow folks not, one of the best shaves ever BBS with one stroke XTG. Hope someone tries this just for reference.

My DMT C is pooped out lol, but I've gone from 1k SGS to the assagi and got pretty close, I don't think I stayed with it long enough

My well-worn DMT 325 (c) is my go-to bevel setting stone. And I go straight from it to very high grits with outstanding results. Once a bevel is established, most any finishing hone will quickly take it from there to a fine, finished edge. And that includes J-nats, Eschers and even barber hones. I just finished a study with 9 different images from a number of different finishing stones and techniques in an article on my site.

My conclusion.... the "middle stones" are unnecessary.

Well, I just did the same progression again on a puma and jeez did that thing get sharp and not only did it get sharp but also I spent the least time ever from butterknife to sharp, I agree with proper technique the middle stones seem to be unnecessary at least I now feel all I need is a DMT C and my renge stone which is cool.

Originally Posted by PapaBull

My well-worn DMT 325 (c) is my go-to bevel setting stone. And I go straight from it to very high grits with outstanding results. Once a bevel is established, most any finishing hone will quickly take it from there to a fine, finished edge. And that includes J-nats, Eschers and even barber hones. I just finished a study with 9 different images from a number of different finishing stones and techniques in an article on my site.

My conclusion.... the "middle stones" are unnecessary.

Is the process faster than using "middle stones" or is the same amount of work spread over 2 hones ? I suppose different types of slurries may be an influence on speed.

I really haven't timed myself doing this but my guess is the process goes really fast, most time I have spent is probably 10 min. The idea though is to make sure that the DMT C leaves an edge that after stropping passes the HHT, after that it is slurry heaven and just working that edge, one other thing I forgot to mention is that I do 2 types of x patterns first starting with the heel and then starting with the tip or nose or whatever you want to call it.

The reasoning behind this came to me after lapping a couple of stones, I notices that sometimes I couldn't get rid of some pencil marks unless I changed the direction of the scratches, so I guess it works the same on razors. One other thing is that on all the razors that I have tried this I would have to say that they are pretty hard razors (meaning on the HRC scale, what gives them away is that while stropping you can definitely hear it sing a very high pitched song) on the not as hard type I find the edge of a coticule works better since it appears to be a more robust edge for some reason.

The key when using this method is that when you are done you should hear almost no noise from the honing, think of it as the hone whispering to you, like a very tender shhhhhhhhhh when you run the blade across the hone. Hope this helps !!!

Interesting concept & I'll try it on a junker that needs a DMT but I'm not about to put any of my good razors on a DMTC

Originally Posted by Memorael

Hope someone tries this just for reference.

Sure! Just send me your unknown renge stone

Originally Posted by Memorael

So anyway, I was messing around with a DMT C today and decided that going through all the stones was a PITA so I did this out of pure laziness. I got it passing the HHT with the DMT C and stropping. Then I went straight to my Unknown Renge stone and did a heavy slurry worked on the edge using the diluting method until only water was on the stone (just to clear things up, the jump was from the DMT to the JNAT) and the grinding noise was basically nil. The shave was AWE inspiring. Trust me I BS you fellow folks not, one of the best shaves ever BBS with one stroke XTG. Hope someone tries this just for reference.

Awesome!

Here's a tip: next time, try it without dilution, just hone until the slurry is gone.

Originally Posted by JimR

Awesome!

Here's a tip: next time, try it without dilution, just hone until the slurry is gone.

So just make some slurry and then keep honing until it is all gone? could you please expand on this a bit? how do you usually do it? I am betting this is gonna be good, just two hones a bevel setter and a finisher seems to be up my alley and ways to get better results are very welcome.