Thread: Method to test stone's finish?

The microscope has been a wonderful device for many undertakings. Surface mount electronic building got me started. There are lots of good scopes on the auction sight and this one was about $75 four or five years ago.

The limitation to visual observation with the scope stems from the lighting source and angles so anything viewed is only relevant to identical equipment configurations which in my case is manageable. The face is a far better measuring device than any visual observation as so many others have pointed out numerous times. Shave ready isn't nearly as valid as shave tested and shave tested on my face well YMMV.

My face is not conducive to shave testing. I can tell if it flat out dont cut or pulls really hard but thats about it. Either that or I really am a that good at honing on my first two tries and my shave-ready dovo really was shave-ready, cuz I did not feel anything for either of those 3 fresh, just heard the wiskers getting cut and my face was free of hair. Yea, I doubt the shave ready/honings too.

Back to stone finishes. Yes, based on everything said I find that when the penciled numbers wear off two like stoned ... The tongue is still the best determination of which one is ruffer.

My second job at the tender age of 15 as a dishwasher was the first time I got out of my little town and went into the big world. I have a vivid memory of spending more than an hour on a special detail for the head chef. He sent me to the basement for the spoon stretcher. Yeah took me an hour before I got it.

I have a feeling licking the barber's hone is a similar ruse with a sick twist.

I will for the time being settle at rubbing razor hones on my stubble to check for smoothness and relying on shave tests to give me results.

Originally Posted by jaswarb

My second job at the tender age of 15 as a dishwasher was the first time I got out of my little town and went into the big world. I have a vivid memory of spending more than an hour on a special detail for the head chef. He sent me to the basement for the spoon stretcher. Yeah took me an hour before I got it.

I have a feeling licking the barber's hone is a similar ruse with a sick twist.

I will for the time being settle at rubbing razor hones on my stubble to check for smoothness and relying on shave tests to give me results.

LMAO oh the tricks we played on the newbs in the Nightclub business over the years I was in that...

But really the stone licking thing is true, but like you I am just not going to go there I can tell everything I need to know from just touching them,..

If they feel rough the are a low grit, if they feel smooth but have texture, they are medium, and if they are better than glass smooth they are higher then 8k and I am going to try a shave

Oh yeah if they feel really rough they are Knife hones hehehehe


g


PS: A litte info I have learned honing razors,, Grit numbers meen nothing unless they are to compare the stones in a system of the same brand..ie: I know a Norton 1k is lower then a Norton 4k is lower then a Norton 8k but I do not KNOW that a Naniwa 5k is higher then a Norton 4k or lower than a Shapton 6k

Barber's hones have no reliable grit rating, and Naturals are only rated by someone trying to sell them

Originally Posted by jaswarb

Is there some method to test stones against one another to determine which will finish smoother?

The obvious answer is to hone and shave with them both but is there a more direct less subjective method to limit the variables which doesn't involve electron microscopy? My honing skills haven't developed well enough to be eliminated as a variable.

I would like to determine if my HSB & CO OVB is adequate as a finisher. I have a Norton 8k and sometimes I will finish with a few strops on a crox paddle.

All things being equal there is a thing some call "feedback".
When moving from one hone to the next the feedback can be a big help in this.
At first the next finer hone grabs and you can almost feel the steel being
removed. Then the razor seems to sit down and stick to the hone a bit as
the two surfaces mate up tightly.

It will however be a rare barber hone that is finer than the Norton 8k.
But when used correctly a barber hone will do a fine job because
of the limited hone stroke count, light touch and often lather. In addition
the barber hone will often be allowed to glaze a bit so that it acts
finer.

This "barber hone" technique will take you full circle back to
the shave test.

Five light hone stroke pairs on a barber hone once a week and
smooth light stroping with a "dirty" or pasted (CrOx) strop can
result in some good shaving.

The trick that makes it hard for some is the restraint that a
relentless light honing regimen demands. The razor is never
permitted to get dull so there is minimum contrast from shave
to shave to shave.

Originally Posted by 111Nathaniel

Sediments from standing water settle biggest first then the smallest. I was just thinking if you took the slurry for two stones and added them to two small glasses of water, which ever settles last maybe the finest finisher. I know this is a crazy hypothesis, but i think it could work with some comparison/experimentation. But some of these grit sizes may take years to settle. And i don't know how the binder in synthetic stones could effect this.

Yes Stokes law applies here -- Stokes' law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
however barber hones are not slurry generating stones like water stones.

Leather and balsa hones tend to hone finer than the grit because the grit
pushes down into the soft media.

Water stones release grit into a slurry of tumbling bits and the true grit size
matters.

Hard matrix hones like barber hones and even Arkansas hones can hone
much finer than the embedded grit. The hard matrix holds the grit and can
keep it's head down so to speak and with a light touch make very shallow
scratches on steel.

Some hones like the Coticle are interesting because the slurry stone
can release garnets that start out as aggressive grit then shatter
to less aggressive bits and with dilution the hone transitions to a hard matrix
action and with a light touch will finish a razor in a way that many love.

Of interest this hard matrix action can be taken advantage of on a Norton.
The last ten hone strokes in Glenn's (gssixgun) or Lynn's videos seem to
do exactly this on their Norton 4k/8k only hone videos.

So play with your hones... technique as much or more than the hone
can make or break the save test.

Enjoy...

Samuel Pepys who lived in 17th century London (famous for Pepys Diary) reported that he got a very smooth 'shave' by removing stubble with a pumice stone. This just goes to show that there is nothing new on earth.

Originally Posted by UKRob

Samuel Pepys who lived in 17th century London (famous for Pepys Diary) reported that he got a very smooth 'shave' by removing stubble with a pumice stone. This just goes to show that there is nothing new on earth.

I always thought I could pull that one off.

niftyshaving's post has me wanting to try out a coticle, aggressive at first to a nice fine finish. That is exactly how my CH12K behaves, except its not too aggressive at the start with the slurry. I swear by slurry, dilute, rinse off, dry and just 5 or 10 last strokes on the dry CH12K stone.

Originally Posted by UKRob

Samuel Pepys who lived in 17th century London (famous for Pepys Diary) reported that he got a very smooth 'shave' by removing stubble with a pumice stone. This just goes to show that there is nothing new on earth.

I believe that some of the 'NEW' devices that we see on TV to remove Leg Hair goes back to the Pumice idea. Nothing new under the sun!