Thread: C15k, PHIG, C12k+, People's Hone of Unknown Grit

These pics were within 30 seconds or less of each other.



Soaking wet to bone dry in under 2 minutes. I can rub the surface of the stone with my finger and bring water back to the surface. The surface is very smooth to the touch.

This was the initial surface as received. Note the rough saw cuts.


This is the 16 inch x 3 inch x 1 inch thick stone with a light bevel and lapped to 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper using the 12 inch x 6 inch x 1/2 inch black granite next to it. To the very far right is the second ugliest piece of micarta ever. The ugliest piece is in the kitchen trash can, still attached to the piece of granite that was used to press it. Don't ask.


All 4 pieces. I'm surprised by how noticeable the difference is between the lapped and unlapped pieces.

I like the patterns from the sediment. You can see the banding from where the halves were separated in the heart of the stone.



Water brings the color contrasts out even more.

Once again, pics taken within 30 seconds and you can see how quickly the stone absorbs water.

They look wonderful nphocus. 'Very nice work w/ that big brick. May they give many smiles.

'Curious about their speed, compared to a C12k. Maybe raise a light misty slurry and see how many strokes it takes before you notice the slurry starting to turn gray from metal swarf.

Well, now you have enough stones to open your shop.

This is a great thread. As soon as I saw that monster stone I though "whoh Nelly, he better gut that thing up!" It turned out better than I would have expected. Great result! If you weren't so far away I'd be trying to buy one of those off you.

+1 to the person who said back it with a piece of wood. It will make it a lot more stable and give you more knuckle clearance.

Double checked with pencil grid marks on the c15k and my norton 4k/8k. I also beveled every corner on that stone with 60 grit dry sand paper.
https://picasaweb.google.com/nphocus/Honing#



The phig is clean after less than 30 seconds of wet 400 grit sandpaper on a half piece of granite flooring tile.



Corner beveling mess. This is only after 1 stone on 60 grit dry sandpaper. My wife really loves me.



RAD caused me to buy alot of ebay blades. HAD caused me to buy alot of stones. Now I feel restoration disease rearing it's ugly head. That's Bloodwood and East India Rosewood that a friend cut into 1/8th inch strips for me. That's alot of scales.


This evenings test subjects are a freebie Gold Dollar that I received as a bonus from a seller here at SRP. That thing is a total turd. I can not begin to count the ways. I believe that if I can put an edge on that, then anything else is child's play. The other razor is a St. Louis Kopper Kid. It should be a shumate-like quality blade.

I used my coticule slurry stone to raise slurry. I discovered that this stone has alot of stiction. I also learned that the blade and stone will exhibit stiction when the razor has reached it's limit on that particular stone. The GD was already shave ready from my 8k norton and 200+ laps each on linen and leather. I have shaved with it a couple of times and both times it was nothing to write home about. It was decent for my own first edge off of an 8k. 10 laps on slurry on the phig took it to another level.

That was nice to see. So, I started experimenting with strokes and slurry and diluting and eventually on dry stone. I like the extra run out length alot. It lets me focus on my stroke alot more, rather than keeping the correct movement angle to make sure I hit the entire width of the blade.


I'm not experienced enough with honing and stones to talk about HHT and what not or to even compare it to other finshers like coties, thurries, and jnats.... yet. My combo coti should be here tomorrow. Hopefully my thurry will be here by monday. That being said, I'm happy with the stone. I'm very happy with the length. I need a bevel setter, either a 1k chosera which is going for 90$ right now or a DMT 325 for lapping and a DMT 1200 that I can break in by lapping the remaining phigs. I can get both of the DMTs in 8x3" sizes for the price of 1 chosera.

"10 laps on slurry on the phig took it to another level." Go phocus Go! It would be encouraging to get results that fast. Keep going!

From last night:

I beveled every corner on the c15k.

I put the 1" square slurry stone under the 16" phig in such a way that the phig balanced on it evenly. I then started making my passes, so that I wouldn't apply any more pressure than the edge of the blade. What I learned was that alot of effort is put into counter balancing the scales to keep the spine and edge even.

I learned about Stiction tonight. Sticky friction. I had experienced a little bit of it on my 8k norton without realizing the significance of it. I spent enough time sanding and lapping the phig and truing my norton that I felt it again. I then noticed it yet again when I was touching up my Gold Dollar on the 8k and then on the phig. That stiction is where it's at. I believe that that's the tell-tale for when you're ready to move on. I felt that in my blades tonight. Very happy.

The Gold Dollar was taken to a new level on the phig. I know that it's low hanging fruit, but the entire edge is sharp. I mean, I was resting it on an area of my leg to test and felt it start to bite. The sound of it cutting is different. The angle to cut is DRASTICALLY reduced. It cuts almost horizontal and wipes the hairs away. No squeegee effect, but it's a vast improvement from the prior finish on my 8k.

I overhoned it on the phig trying different stuff and working to hit the toe. I'm almost proud of it now. I need to shave with it a couple of times and see where I need to further refine it, but it's in a good place now.




From this morning:

I did a short section of test shave on the Kopper Kid. The bevel isn't right. It's also stainless steel. I need to start at the beginning with that one. The tip on being able to shave arm hair all the way across the blade from the bevel set is really good advice. The other tip on the bevel set being 90% of the edge is another really good piece of advice. I believe both hold true.

I shaved with the Gold Dollar this morning. It didn't feel like the same razor. I can now see the shortcoming in the steel itself. It's a softer steel, not the same quality of hardness as the ST. Louis & New York steel that I've set my standard by.

That being said, the edge was good. It was good from toe to heel. Granted, it was already shave ready from the 8k and I was able to shave with it, but the harshness was obvious. The new edge really doesn't feel like the same blade. No pulling, no burn, no skin abrasion at all. I could shave with this edge and be good.

I did more than 10 laps with the Gold Dollar on the long stone. I just tested it after 10 laps and noticed a difference. I did alot of different things after that on coti slurry, water, and finally dry. I actually had an issue shaving atg this morning starting at my neck because the edge seemed like it wanted to stick to my neck. It's not scary sharp at all, but it has no problem making stiff hairs fly.

I need to work on my honing techniques. The long stone lets me focus more on what the blade is doing and what I'm doing in relation to it and I can zone in on the wave that it's pushing and adjust my pressure and touch accordingly.



In other news:

My belgian combination BBW/yellow coticule should be here today. I'll experiment with bevel setting on thick slurry on that. The coti slurry stone seems xtra hard. The 15k slurry stone has alot of thick red striations in it and seems extra extra extra hard. The phig I've been using only has two light red bands in it. 2 of the other 3 have significantly more red banding on one half of the stone. I'm betting that those are also extra extra hard.