Thread: Method to test stone's finish?

The smoothness of a blade on our face also depends from the steel and its hardness. You can try shaving with an authentic yanagiba, but, no matter the way you hone it, something harder than 60-62HRC will not give you a smooth shave. The question was more about new hones, the ones that are not sold on internet. I have found more than a few, and I was wandering how we can establish a reliable method for testing their grit, again, without microscope. Rubbing hones on a face is comparable with licking them, or passing them from our lips. If you use a 50 or 100 or 300 grit sandpaper to lap them, the feeling will be different. If they get mirror like, it will be ever more difficult to distinguish them, the fine from the finest.