Thread: South African Hones....

PM me, I have a great idea for the remnents

I traded an early adopter a labeled Escher 1x7 for his other Zulu, I am not sorry! I like the hone very much and am glad to see some other size options. The Zulu will be a part of one of my natural hone wet progressions for a long time.

I will agree with the narrow stone idea! A few slotted slurry stones would be a nice use for a few of them. My go to hone in the loo is a 1x5 blue green Thury; which I equal to the Zulu in cutting power and finish. I use it dry, usually. A stone strop, if you will! The big Zulu is also a good finish hone used dry. I assure it is clean before use.

So, If you decide send a few starved Zulus I would be on the list for one! A full length one would be a good hone also. I have a 10" long 1" unknown, black, finishing stone that I love.

Thanks for making the Zulu possible for us.
~Richard

Originally Posted by MichaelC

Hi Guys,

I fear this thread is becoming a bit unwieldy, but thanks indeed for all the dedicated contributions to it.

I wanted to post something a bit off topic and was hoping you guys could give me your thoughts on this.
During the cutting of these hones, I often have to trim/split bigger pieces to create as neat a hone shape as I can, but in the process there are a lot of what I call thin-cuts that are accumulating. In particular there are trimmed pieces that are about 1 inch wide x 8 inches long and they are of differing thicknesses. Now I for one feel that a 1 inch hone is very handy especially for smiling blades as they offer more control in the rolling-X action. I personally even prefer narrower hones in general as they seem to allow me more control in contacting the edge all the way along..

My question is do others also prefer narrow finishing stones? I know Neil Miller appreciates the narrow hones, but was interested to see what the general consensus was among you guys.
These thin-cuts are growing in numbers, and my thinking is that they can quite easily be lapped and mounted to small wooden paddles and put to work!

- Mike.


Attachment 118819

With some of those stone slips (finished) I could make some 100% african paddle hones,from african ebonys to real pre ban ivory,what a trip that would be

Well, I finally had a chance to sit down and play with my new Zulu Grey tonight. I told Mike that I would do my best to post all of my experiences with the stone, so here goes the first one.

I have a Henckels #401 that I bought about a month ago. I got it off of ebay & the seller said it was shave ready, but I ended up killing the edge & re-honing it from scratch as I didn't like how it shaved. So I reset the bevel with a Naniwa SS 1k, and did a "one stone hone" with a coticule bout (La Dressante if it matters). Anyway, the razor shaved good after that, but not great. So I figured it would be a perfect candidate for a touch-up on the Zulu.

Now when I unpacked the Zulu, I was amazed at how smoothly lapped the stone was, and I didn't want to mess with that so I left my DMT up on the shelf. I figured I would start with something very straight-forward; 40 X-Strokes on just plain water. I started in with the x-strokes, and I was taken back by how "glass-like" the surface of the hone felt. VERY little resistance could be felt between the razor and the stone. In fact it was so glass-like, that I began to wonder whether the stone was even doing anything.

After I finished the 40 x strokes, I did an HHT which passed with flying colors (and this was before I stropped!). I then did 30 linen/60 leather on my Tony Miller, and went in for a test shave. All I will say, is that I was introduced to a whole new level of smooth tonight! The resulting shave was superb; I was able to get BBS in 2 passes (WTG & ATG) which is rare for me (usually it's three).

Long story short, I believe that there is something special about the Zulu. It's VERY easy to just pick up & use, and will give you a nice smooth, keen edge. Will it turn you into Lynn overnight? No, but it is a very user-friendly stone. Needless to say, I am VERY happy with my Zulu Grey. I plan on doing many more experiments/evaluations with this stone (different razor types/manufacturers, with/without slurry, dilutions, varying pressure, etc...), so I will be sure to post my experiences as I have them...

[QUOTE=MichaelC;1096033]Hi Guys,

...
My question is do others also prefer narrow finishing stones? I know Neil Miller appreciates the narrow hones, but was interested to see what the general consensus was among you guys.
These thin-cuts are growing in numbers, and my thinking is that they can quite easily be lapped and mounted to small wooden paddles and put to work!

- Mike.




Mike
If you take a look at the coticule website you will see they sell in all sorts of sizes Ardennes Coticule - Producer of the Coticule whetstone! I think if you simply list some of them along with sizes and prices then folks will soon take them off your hands. May be a chance for some to complete their existing stone set with a slurry stone...

Hi Daro,

Yeah for sure, this was my thinking pretty much. I know the coticule bouts are sold as a way of not wasting any part of the stone, so just wanted to see if guys felt this was useful.. and it seems that there is a place for it. Thanks so much to all the responses in this regard, much appreciated.

- Mike.

Yes, I'd be interested in the narrower stone. Have been using my Zulu on a a few eBay specials of late and its been working well.

Zulu Grey Review #2

Victim: Joseph Elliot 6/8" (slight) Smiling Wedge rescaled by me.

Honing Regimen: 1 Layer of Tape...Coticule Bout (La Dressante - medium-fast on slurry, and on water). Bevel was set on this stone w/circles (heavy pressure). I then moved to smaller ellipses w/dilutions, and all while lightening the pressure. After diluting 4-5x, I checked the edge using TPT and tree-topping arm hair (both of which passed). Put the coticule away & broke out......yes you guessed it.......The Zulu!!

Now I figured I would try something a little different this time (last time it was just 40 x strokes on water). Since it was a smiling (kinda) wedge I figured I would use a rolling x-stroke, but I wanted to see what the stone performed like with slurry. So I got my DMT 1200 Sharpening Card & created a nice milky slurry. I will say that the Zulu slurries very nicely; not too easy & not too difficult to raise a slurry.

I then started with 20x Rolling X-Strokes on milky slurry, then dipped the blade in water & repeated until I got down to a very fine, misty slurry. At this point, the stone started to give some incredible feedback; the blade was experiencing some heavy resistance as it was moved across the stone. For me, this signals that the blade is "ready", so I finished on the misty slurry. The subsequent HHT passed with flying colors (before stropping), so I knew I had finished at the right time. I will say that if you get to know your Zulu, then it will be very difficult to over-hone on it as the stone seems to tell you when the blade is ready.

I then dried the blade off, stropped 40/80 linen/leather & went in for a test-shave. Of course, the resulting shave was superb as I have come to expect this from the Zulu. Once again, this stone had proven to be a winning finisher! I am now collecting ALL of my razors that shave "just OK" and re-finishing them on the Zulu (abut 8-10). I have faith that each one will turn out very nicely! And I will continue to post my experiences with the stone...

Mike,

that sounds like a great idea. I like narrow and odd shaped hones a lot

After reading the latest honing reports, I re-honed my Pensilvania 6/8" all the way from Naniwa Chosera 1k, C12 (mine is about 3k!), SS 5k, 8k, 10k, 12k, then change of tape, and this time I raised some slurry on the Zulu with my mini DMT. Well, I hate to admit it, but I stand corrected: the result with slurry is significantly better than without. The Pensilvania has always been a very good shaver, just a tad shy of top shelf quality. Now it definitely is a member of my top shelf, and my new "go to" razor. The Zulu is an amazing finishing hone! Thank you very much Michael, for making it available to the shaving community!