Thread: A comparison between the purple and greenish hones from the Tri Hone set

There has been much talk about the stones in the Welsh Slate Tri Hone Set available on Ebay, and I have been in contact with the seller AJ to talk about the naming of the stones, how they are sourced and how effective they are.

He asked if I would like to do a direct comparison between the Green stone aka the Welsh Thuringian and the Purple one aka Llyn Melynllyn and I said I would and that I would post my findings be they good and bad.

First off I lapped the stones, they were very close to being totally flat so it wasn't a big job. I took them from 240, 400, 600 wet and dry and also did the slurry stones.


To test them I took an ugly razor, but one that takes a good edge, and put it through the same progression
1) Dull razor on a bottle so that it doesn't shave arm hair.
2) Use the 1000 grit side of my King combo to reset the bevel
3) Move to the 6000 grit side 20 laps on slurry, dilute & repeat, then rinse the stone and do 40 laps on water.
4) Move to Welsh slate that I was testing and do 40 laps on slurry, dilute and repeat, then rinse the stone and do 80-100 laps on water.

So the 1st thing to note is that there was very little difference in the edge that the two stones produced. Both provided a great shaving edge, which was both sharp and smooth there was very little resistance in the 1st pass and the coupe de maitre was very comfortable (which I always think is a good indicator of the sharpness of a blade)

Of the 2 the Welsh Thuringain (to use the nickname) seemed to be marginally better than the Llyn Melynllyn but only just. In comparison with my usual finisher (Naniwa 12k) I would say the green was about the same maybe a little better and the purple was close but not quite as good. The Naniwa obviously wins on the amount of work needed to produce the edge being much much less, but I was surprised how good the stones were.

Quite a personal thing as well but I preferred the feel of the WT while honing it seemed to give me more feedback.

I have not tried the WT, but for the LM this reflects my experience as well, I find it to give a nice, sharp and comfortable edge, very close to the Naniwa SS 12K I have primarily used as finisher the past year.

Today I used the Possible Cutlers Green (or Cambrian Green as I prefer to call it) the feel was a little gritty on slurry and the edge after water was more akin to a coticule edge than the ones from the tri hone slate set. An interesting stone that warrants more investigation.

Very good feedback from you guys and love the expert knowledge and experience, very helpful, it's what I love about this site, a big thanks. Keep up the good work, Rudy.

Originally Posted by Jeltz

First off I lapped the stones, they were very close to being totally flat so it wasn't a big job. I took them from 240, 400, 600 wet and dry and also did the slurry stones.


.....
4) Move to Welsh slate that I was testing and do 40 laps on slurry, dilute and repeat, then rinse the stone and do 80-100 laps on water.

Hi, I've been lurking for a while. I started shaving with a straight about a month ago and didn't expect to have to hone for a few months but ended up chipping the razor. I could still shave with it but wanted to get the chip out anyway so I go the tri hone set, hoping the DT would do the trick.

The DT got the chip out eventually (was an invisible chip but could feel it with thumbnail). I moved up to the Purple WHIG and couldn't get it to cut arm hair without resistance (yeah, my first time) I assumed I was either using too much pressure or not enough. I lightened the pressure. Did about 100 laps with slurry. Diluted and did another 80. Then rinsed and did 100 on water. Rinsed again and another 100. Still not a sharp enough edge to wipe the hair off my arm. Scored 0 on the HHT.

Moved up to the Green WHIG and went through the same process. Had some success with the arm hair and HHT, but no-where near a shave ready edge.

So I tried again today after refreshing my memory on the different strokes to use and methods.

I thought I'd give the pyramid method a shot and it did produce a better edge, but I think the main difference was the increase in pressure I applied to the spine of the blade.

So I have two questions for you.

1) AJ says he wouldn't recommend lapping the slates beyond 320 grit paper. You used 600. Would you recommend I do the same?
2) When honing I have read it is best to apply as little pressure as possible. Since keeping the blade flat on the hone is crucial, is it not advisable to apply sufficient pressure to the spine in order to support the razor's weight during the x stroke, or should the stroke carry the razor (I imagine that would require a remarkably steady hand)?

I'll wait for replies before I hone again.

Try the Dragon's Tongue with heavy slurry until it cuts arm hair, then move up. See if that helps

I always lap my stones to that kind of level and it seemed to work well, I didn't try lower.

These stones work well after the bevel is set, as has been said the DT with a heavy slurry might work, but having honed out a chip I'm guessing that the bevel might not be quite right. I'd still recommend that you have a 1K synthetic to set the bevel to start off as it will take a lot longer otherwise.

Using as little pressure when finishing a razor is important but equally when setting the bevel on a low grit stone I do use a little pressure. In fact I easy off as I go through the progression.

honing takes some time to master hang in there and you'll get there.

Thanks for the advice. I've tried the DT with heavy slurry and while it will cut arm hair if the blade is placed against the skin, it won't if it is just makes contact with the hair (as in a HHT). I still can't get it to do that after using the Green slate either, but it will cut hair down to skin level with no resistance.

I'm looking at the 2000/5000 combi stone for about £23, or there's a 1000k White Corundum available from a seller in Hong Kong for around the same price. Would a 2000k be sufficient for creating a new bevel?

Well I use a King 1000/6000 and a small cheap diamond plate to raise a slurry when I move from the 1K to 6K side.

I can't recommend and other stones as I don't know them but the King works well for me, and was recommended to me by Neil Miller.

I used the Cambrian green stone again today. After honing my Seehund to 6000 on my King Combo I moved to a slurry which I diluted periodically then onto plain water and finished with spraying GT85 (a light oil with PTFE) and several dozen laps.

The edge was very fine and sharp but I would say that it was rather more engaging than I am used to even maybe a little harsh as a result although extra stropping may well rectify that. My experience of using oil on the likes of a DT or Coticule is that it yields a crisper edge and that would be the same for this.

As it stands I think this stone is a fair bit faster than the stones in the Tri Hone set but I don't know that the edge it yields suits me as well as the LM or WT. Next step is to try those with oil and with this razor and also to see if the WT or LM mellow down the edge produced by the CG.