Thread: How to aquire a charnley

Interesting, I was under the impression that Charnleys were more common locally in England, and that they were only difficult to find in the US. I'm fortunate to have bought a good Charnley mounted in a big mahogany box (my only one) about a year ago in the SRP forum Classifieds, from a very trusted seller. Charnleys show up occasionally in the forum Classifieds. Local UK antique stores would be another likely source, but old oilstones are so difficult to identify without being lapped, it would be risky to pay well for one without being certain.

They seem to have gained dramatically in both reputation and price over the past year, maybe it runs in cycles. At the time I bought mine, it seemed they were viewed as kind of an odd "collector" type stone more than a confirmed top-end finisher like an Escher or quality Japanese natural. I bought mine to see if it was any good and because it looked so cool, not because I was certain it was good based on reputation alone. They show up on eBay every several weeks or so, but generally cloaked as generic honing stones, not named in the auction title as "Charley Forest." The ones I've seen named in the auction title are generally extraordinary and showy examples, and go for high prices.

In my experience comparing them with other stones, the Charnley is very good at it's niche. It is extremely hard, similar to an Arkansas translucent, but slightly easier to lap, and definitely better feeling and performing in use. For me, it does only one thing - take an already sharp razor to a higher level of keenness and smoothness. They aren't versatile like an Escher or Japanese because they can't really be used to generate a slurry, but they polish and smooth an edge as well as my very best Japanese stones. They are much slower than Eschers or (most) Japanese stones, and would be tough to initially sharpen an edge on, in my opinion.

I use mine exclusively as a final finisher/polisher, with water only. Hi_bud_gl recommends oil for best results, which is true, but I find oil messy to hone with and don't use it. So I use water with a dollop of dish soap to get close to the oil effect. The stone has a wonderful, smooth, oily suction and smooth resistance on a good razor edge. It's a waste of time on an edge that isn't already developed on something like a coticule, Escher, Chinese 12K, Naniwa 12K, Shapton, etc. Mine is so fine and slow I now use it for final polishing after a Japanese natural! It has a similar effect to a CrOx stopping. In fact, I sometimes shave right off my Charnley without even stropping on leather at all. Smoooooth.