Thread: South African Hones....

Originally Posted by jeffzeitlin

I used my Zulu-Grey to do a touch up on my Zowada. I did 20 circles then X strokes until the blade was ready. I went from the Zulu-Grey to 20 strokes on Crox on felt then to the strop. A very sharp and smooth shave - I am quite pleased. It was a better shaver than the original Escher prepared edge.

I would think it would be hard to discern the actual feel of the edge if you go to crox afterwards. jmo

Originally Posted by RogueRazor

I would think it would be hard to discern the actual feel of the edge if you go to crox afterwards. jmo

I never could understand someone paying big bucks for a finishing stone and then going to a dollars worth of chrom-ox to change the edge entirely . Different strokes.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I never could understand someone paying big bucks for a finishing stone and then going to a dollars worth of chrom-ox to change the edge entirely . Different strokes.

Because most are looking for the silver bullit (that do's not exsist)

Thanks for the comments - I now realize what you both are saying. I do like the way the Zulu-Grey puts on an edge. Next touch up I will go directly to the shave test without chrome.
I have been following the techniques that Tim Zowada has published on his Web pages with success. Not to hijack this thread - but do most of you that have the Zulu-Grey go right to leather after the honing??

Originally Posted by jeffzeitlin

Thanks for the comments - I now realize what you both are saying. I do like the way the Zulu-Grey puts on an edge. Next touch up I will go directly to the shave test without chrome.
I have been following the techniques that Tim Zowada has published on his Web pages with success. Not to hijack this thread - but do most of you that have the Zulu-Grey go right to leather after the honing??

I go first to the hard wool felt (30-40) then leather (100). I always do 100 after any touch up or honing. If it is just a touch up, I may go directly to the leather. I have tried it both ways and like it better after the Zulu first go to the felt, then leather, instead of leather only. All subjective, I say try it both ways to see which you like best.

Also agree, that by using Crox after the Zulu, would not give you the true effect of the natural hone on the edge, that wouldn't prevent me from experimenting (later on) to see if I like the combination better than just the stone. I have .5 diamond spray, .5 Crox, .25CBN and .01CBN. Some I'll use as final slury to experiment and others to strop after the Zulu, and compare. However not before I can get consistent results with the Zulu slury, which probably puts me about a "year" out of experimenting with the sprays. Having too much fun with this honing thing to just stop at the Zulu alone.

I think I may have contracted the HAD virus! I said it before , i'll say it again, "it's all Jimmy's fault". Double O

Any finisher is just that, A finisher. You should be getting good shaves off it, No matter what it is.
An 8k, a Shapton 16k, Escher, Coticule, Charnley, whatever...No need to go to pastes or sprays.

Although, I confess, I have gone to SRD's wool felt with .50 diamond spray many times after all of the above mentioned finishers. I'd bet many other's have too.

Before you do that, You should have a good shaveable edge off your finisher, the spary or paste would be icing on the cake.

Some folks will use Liquid Crox or Diamond spray on the hone itself.

Ok , after long delays with health and hurricane issues, I finally lapped and tested my zulu. I honed 3 razors and found similar

results to previous posts. I find thestone is very easy to use, compared to the jnats that was pleasant. Most describe their

results as "sharper" more "keen" etc. I would say this stone provides a very smooth comfortable edge. I have a german blade.

uncle hiram, that needed to get refreshed so I decided to take it first to my shoubudani asagi lv5. I got some slurry up and did

some circles (warning: I normally don't count, just get a feel for the edge). Then I went to some x strokes and finished with some

of Glen'spigtail stokes at the end. Went to the bathroom and shaved 1 side of my face. I then went to the zulu and repeated the

whole process over again on that same blade. The rock felt "harder" then the jnat and under magnification the edge seemed more

polished then that produced my the shoubudani. back to the bath room after the leather strop(did that with the jnat too) and

found that I got a much more comfortable shave. The edge was noticeably smoother on every passand wiped hair off effortlessly.

Conclusion:


I like the stone very much and was impressed with the edge it produced. Granted it was just one razor tested, but it seems very

promising. I will try the other 2 I honed, but expect the same results. For the cost of the stone I would say it is a very good

investment. I don't get caught up in hype till i try things but I am very happy I spent money here and i would do it again.

Coach,

So I'm assuming you used slurry on the Zulu as well? What did you use to raise a slurry?

Originally Posted by Milkylee

Coach,

So I'm assuming you used slurry on the Zulu as well? What did you use to raise a slurry?

yes, I used a credit card DMT 1200

A well worn DMT 325 will work, any size, or an Atoma. It's really personal preference. I believe, and I could be wrong, but I think the Atoma is easier on the surface. It's prefered by the Jnat user's just for that reason, especially Ozuku's, and Shoubudani's.