The seller has blocked communication via ebay and is not shipping to Turkey so no way to learn for me.. I don't see the red iron marks on this stone unlike other Chinese stones.
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The seller has blocked communication via ebay and is not shipping to Turkey so no way to learn for me.. I don't see the red iron marks on this stone unlike other Chinese stones.
It's gray like the others, I asked :)
I have two, a 175x50mm which isn't that great and a 8x3" that so far seems awesome.
I got my Chi-Com nat from Woodcraft. It seems to be a slow cutter, even with slurry. However, Zib suggested trying a drop of CrOx added to the slurry. It works MUCH better like that.
My stone is the same gray with chocolate brown/black "tiger stripes" as pictured elsewhere in this thread.
At this point, I can't see it replacing my coti/BBW. I'd like to get one of the new Thuringians to try...
Yes, this is definitely the case. I asked Zib (Rich) to verify what I have discovered by a lot of experimenting with my own C-Nat stone using various slurries, and his results were exactly the same as mine. We both experimented with various light and heavy slurries, and found that it leaves a superb edge when used with a heavy CrOx slurry, and it cuts faster.
The CrOx slurry we both got best results from, is pretty heavy, to the point of making the top of the hone look like green paint.
Below is the way I get absolutely great results on most razors -
I set a bevel with a 1K stone, then I take my C-Nat and create a nice proper slurry with my DMT 325 on it. I hone only with the C-Nat's own slurry, diluting it to plain water. After that, I clean up the C-Nat, and coat it with a nice heavy CrOx slurry. The feedback is absolutely silky from this point on, and I dilute it once again as I hone to the point of almost plain water again. I use quite a lot of honing strokes (about 100 or so) to finish it off this way, but the final resulting edge is absolutely spectacular.
Interestingly, one of my C-Nats have very heavy striations of tan coloring patterns in it, and when I kick up a slurry with that one, it is even more tan than the color below. It seems like it is a softer type of striation inside some of the C-Nats. It does not appear to make much of a difference with the honing results, but I will still experiment more with that one. I have not spent much time on that specific C-Nat of mine with the heavy tan coloring.
As the seller also stated on E-bay by answering your question, it is just the light in this specific photo that makes it look like a tan / brown colored C-Nat, the actual color is grey.
I got great results off Burt's "C nat" with the crox slurry. It holds up on it's own just fine too. It's better than any C12k I've owned. The crox slurry is like a steroid, and 100 strokes seems to be the norm. The SRD mix is perfect for the job, or if you have powder, you'll have to experiment until you get the mix right. The crox should look like green paint on the hone. I've come off Coticules and Naniwa's/Norton's to it, always improving my edge.
It's been a while since I've used this method. My next test will be using crox slurry, start to finish, just keeping it wet, little dilution.
The crox acts like a Nagura.....
Looking forward to the result of your next test Rich!
I like the way you describe what it does, you're spot-on with your description, the CrOx slurry really acts like a steroid to the (already great) little C-Nat and it takes it up a serious notch to a very high level of honing excellence.
I am curious, does any one know if the Chinese people in China still use straight razors. Are these stones sold within China as razor hones? Alx
Hi Alx,
Straight razor shaving is not very big in China, so the hones are not sold as straight razor hones. They are sold as excellent quality finishing hones for sushi & kosher knives, scalpels, precision scissors etc. Some guys even use them to take their woodworking tools to the absolute next level of extreme sharpness.
The reason they are so popular with the western straight razor community, is the fineness of their particles combined with their relatively good cutting ability. And of course you can not beat the price for what you actually get! You can get a $30 Chinese hone that is equivalent to (or sometimes even better than) a $300 Escher if you are lucky! If you have a good quality Chinese natural hone, then it really leaves a superb edge on a straight razor.
Guys, I'm finding this thread most interesting from the standpoint I just picked up a Chinese stone myself, and I wondered if it was any good.
Here is the link to my ebay purchase. Did I just throw away 30$??
Just starting to try my luck at edge maintenance and I thought this was the way to go...
12000 grit natural whetstone for fine honing. 7.8" long | eBay
Thanks, hope you can view it, :)
Mike
Well, that's actually very cool, cuz then there is hope, right! heheh. Really for that much money, what have you got to lose? You might actually get a good stone. This guy claims one side is already lapped and chamfered (sp?), so I don't know if I should trust the lapping, but I have little choice. Next I'll get a lapping stone and I'll see how close it really was.
Thanks for the answer! I've heard some very good things about these generic C12K's (I love the name, BTW). Can you tell me what a j-nat (japanese natural? maybe) is?
Thanks again!
Mike
Heck, no Mike, it is probably one of the best purchases in your straight razor collection, if you ask me! If it really is a 12K Chinese Natural (And it certainly looks like it in the photos) then I can almost guarantee you that you have bought a great hone for almost no money.
I also see that the seller guarantees its performance, and will refund you the money if you are not happy with it. Give it a go, and you will probably be pleasantly surprised!
Use the slurry stone to make a nice slurry, and thin it out with a couple drops of water as you go along, until you have almost no slurry left. Then rinse the hone, and try out some Chromium Oxide on the hone (as I described earlier in this thread) to really give you a superb edge.
You can just lap the hone after you are done, and none of the CrOx will be left on the top of the hone.
Enjoy it!
i used the c12k tonight to touch up the edge on my daily shaver
i made a few laps with h2o and decided to try something different.... i put 3-4 drops of .5 micron diamond slurry i got from starshaving on evilbay... and went to town with slow steady laps *(1 layer of tape) as i made passes i could feel the edge smoothing out... more like dragging a squeegy across the stone than a razor.... i made ~60ish laps and headed for the bathroom..... it failed the HHT and i stropped it some more but still it failed the HHT... anyway i just lathered up and gave it a try.....
what a pleasant surprise.... got a DFS on my neck *(which is as good as i ever get due to weird hair growth patterns on the neck) and BBS on the cheeks/mustache part of my face....
this is something i will be repeating... the diamond slurry on the c12k brought it to another level..... i r happy...
We must be soooo lucky here in Australia ' cause I picked mine up for $15 (8" x 3" x 2") so I got a 6" x 2" x 1" ($10.00) and cut it up for slurry stones.
It lapped fairly quickly using a sheet of 320 wet and dry on 1/2 glass.
It makes such a lovely slurry - milky white and smooth as talc.
I'm real happy with it so far.
Geoff
Glad to hear you are getting great results out of your c12k! They really are some of the most under-appreciated hones out there.
During experimenting I also tried the diamond spray on mine a couple months back, but I got the best results from using Chromium Oxide spray. Give it a go and you will be even more surprised!
It seems to be a perfect combination to the Chinese natural hone, especially the ones from Guangxi province. I am guessing that the particle size of the CrOx is just filling up the grit pattern on the hone, thus creating the perfect surface for extremely good honing. I also tried it with some other natural hones of mine, but the results are the best by far on the C-Nat hone.
It just seems to be the perfect combination...!
I compared both hones, and posted about it here:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...tml#post843268
Leadingedge, I appreciate your methodology 110%. Sort of like a nice button down collar shirt; sharp, neat, understandable and very relative to the moment. alx