Thread: South African Hones....

I have only used mine with water and been very satisfied. My razors have seen a Chinese 12k first so they are very good but not perfect by the time they see Mr. Grey. As far as lapping it goes, a Zulu Grey comes exceptionally well flattened by MichaelC. IMO it will be a very long time before it needs lapping unless you lap a lot. Upon arrival mine was very smooth, shiny and with nicely chamfered edges. I tried with a straight edge ruler on top of the stone. It was dead flat, no light shining through.

I agree, you will not need to lap these stones when you get them. Mine arrived completely flat and had a mirror shine.

Originally Posted by jpcwon

Great, thanks for the advice leadingedge! I currently have a few different finishing options, including a C12k, a Naniwa 12k and a Thuringian, so it'll be interesting (and fun!) to compare/contrast the different edges now that the Zulu is in the mix..

I'll be sure to keep you all updated

Read my very first post in the thread. I think I explained exactly how I used it.

As far as laping goes, I'd ask Mike when you order it, I don't know what he's doing these days. I'd check it with a straight edge at the very least. Leadingedge's stone and mine needed quite a bit of laping, rough cut basically. They were the first two out of the quarry.

Originally Posted by zib

Read my very first post in the thread. I think I explained exactly how I used it.

As far as laping goes, I'd ask Mike when you order it, I don't know what he's doing these days. I'd check it with a straight edge at the very least. Leadingedge's stone and mine needed quite a bit of laping, rough cut basically. They were the first two out of the quarry.

Then I am glad I waited for the second or maybe it's the third batch. Smooth as glass, and flat as ... something ... really flat. Exceptionally rough on the back but that is kind of neat, you can see what a pretty rock it came out of.

Originally Posted by zib

Read my very first post in the thread. I think I explained exactly how I used it.

As far as laping goes, I'd ask Mike when you order it, I don't know what he's doing these days. I'd check it with a straight edge at the very least. Leadingedge's stone and mine needed quite a bit of laping, rough cut basically. They were the first two out of the quarry.

Will do, zib!

I received my stone yesterday and these are images of what It looks like out of the package.

Nice stone, Grump! Can't wait for mine to arrive!

Just want to say,again, how much I love this stone. For me it is almost the perfect finisher as it leaves the edges VERY sharp but almost as smooth as my coticules! I've experimented with heavy slurry, light slurry and water and find that for me plain water gives me the edge that I prefer.
I used this W&B pure wedge yesterday and while still sharp from the last honing on an Escher it wasn't as smooth as I like, so I put it on the Zulu for 80 laps on pure water and today it was perfect.

Mike....I think your mailbox is full.

Originally Posted by Freehand

Mike....I think your mailbox is full.

It keeps filling up, then I make space, then it fills up, then I make space..... sigh.. Making space again now, apologies indeed.

- Mike