Thread: A Charnley forest quick test

Just the other day I received a Charnley Forest hone in a beautiful wooden box.

I was immediately intrigued by this particular stone, and decided to do a little study of how it performs.
What I wanted to do was compare it to my Y/G Escher, which I absolutely love, and use on all my razors for finishing.

I quite simply took 15 of the 30 razors in my current rotation(all honed with Naniwa 2-5-8-12K, and with good bevels) and went ahead and gave them all a round on this new stone of mine.(the other 15 got, or had, the similar treatment on the Escher)

This took me a good 16 hours to do

What I think I experienced, and wanted to ask the knowledgeable members on this board was this:
It seemed that the feedback of the stone was somewhat easier to read, in comparison to my Escher. What I mean by this is that I was able to, I think, feel the stone doing it's work on the scratch-marks. I felt more readily able to "feel" when I had reached that super polished feel. This may be way off, but that was the feeling I had when using this stone.

Does anyone else have any thoughts and experiences regarding these 2 fine finishers?

As to the resulting test shaves, I wasn't able to separate who got finished on what stone. They all felt sharp, and smooth. Perhaps I will be able to someday, but I'm quite simply not experienced yet

you have nothing unusual stuff worry about. couple years ago when i got my cf had similar feelings.
Only differences was i have HAD and tried with oil ,water , dry etc to mix everything out to find better edge.
have a lot fun.

I find the Charnley sharper on some razors, the Escher is definitely smoother IMHO. Different steel responds differently.

In terms of feedback, I would say the Escher provides alot more. The Charnley is a much harder stone and often repels water to a slight degree, some repel it completely. I do not know if the ones that repel it almost completely do so because they were once used with oil, although they have been sufficiently lapped.

The Escher is a softer stone and whets nicely without issues of water beading on the surface. It cuts comparatively quicker, and taking into consideration my Escher is half the size of my Charnleys it cuts even more quickly. There is nice suction with the Escher and it will 'tell me' when it is time to dilute the slurry or when the razor is at its sharpest.

The Charnely does provide feeback, but not to this extent. Some hollows can simply glide over the Charnley without any abrasive action if the hand honing the razor is inexperienced. They take a little work to master, where as the Escher is more fool proof. The Charnley can feel 'scratchy' to hone on while the Escher is an absolute pleasure every time.

I have used 7 Charnleys and one stone which I am not sure of its origin, although I suspect it is a Chanrley of some sort; and while there is a fair range in their feedbacks from very little to decent feedback, none are the same as my Escher which is a 'Barber's Delight.'

I have however, only used one Escher.

Even more I am looking forward to see your CF in London next month. I have no comparison to Escher as I acquired one only on last Wednesday and just partially lapped it today therefore no time for play yet.

Originally Posted by adrspach

I acquired one only on last Wednesday and just partially lapped it today therefore no time for play yet.

You've had 3 days! And you call yourself a rockhound??

Sorry. 1 week old baby (boring) and 14 new stones.

You planning on bringing a pallet and a fork lift to the razorcon I see?

Yes however I had to turn this idea down as I would need a special permission to go to that part of London with a large lorry.

I was thinking more like a manual one....unless all your hones exceed more than 2tonnes in weight!

Not all just few of them.