Thread: Norwegian slate

Did another test of the new hone today.
I used the same razor for both hones, a C. V. Heljestrand Mk 4. It was shave ready from yesterday. I attempted to test it against a dragon's tongue.

On both hones, I first did 50 laps on water (no slurry) to redial, then 25 on glycerin to set the appropriate edge. I then stropped 10 linen and 50 leather before shaving both times. First I applied the dragon't tongue, and shaved half my face wtg, reapplied lather and then went atg, one pass each, no touchup. I then rehoned to the norwegian slate, rinsed my face and reapplied lather to eliminate lather dryout affecting the test, then shaved the opposite with the edge from the norwegian slate, wtg, reapplied lather, then atg, no touchup.

I was meticulous about beard prep before I started, as I wanted to minimize effect of different beard prep between the sides. I prepped my entire face for 10 minutes plus before I started the test, first with water, then with lather. I think this should suffice to achieve maximum beard swelling even for the first side.

My findings: Both hones gave a very nice wtg shave, and removed most of the hair in one pass. Against the grain showed some difference, the dragon's tongue gave a little pull or discomfort, whereas the norwegian slate still felt smooth. I finished my shave there, no touchup on either side.
I rinsed off the lather and applied my high-alcohol splash. Both sides were fine, no horror show from either side, but still significantly more burn on the DT shaved side, almost none from the other.
30 minutes after the shave, the skin has had a little time to dry and the beard has dried out, checked for stubble. There is more stubble on the DT shaved side than on norwegian slate side, although both has little and only atg. Still, significantly more on the first side.

Verdict: It seems to me the norwegian slate has the DT trumped. Of cource, there is a chance my test was flawed, although I did my best to reduce the differences. I'll test it against the Llyn Mellynllyn tomorrow, time permitting.