Thread: My New Welsh Slate Stones!!!

http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...lynn-glen.html


There is the old thread

Originally Posted by Lynn

There is a lot of hype on a lot of different stones out there. This set is a lot of fun, but......... The LM actually works well on refreshing and finishing and to date on a couple hundred razors, I have had the best results with 15 weight of blade strokes using very light slurry followed by 10 with just water. Jury is out on the other two. Grits.........Oh yeah.........Grits...............Uh yeah............

The key with all of these stones including the Shaptons, Naniwas and Nortons is simply practice. The more you hone, the better you will get. You don't need anything fancy, but watching your pressure is key.

I have tried all three of these stones with a ton of razors using the One Stone method as well and had the best results so far with a plain nagura and the LM stone. One of the nice things about the naturals is that you can play as much as you want and try so many things. Usually you don't mess up a razor too bad and the worst that happens is that it won't shave and you get to try again.

Have fun

I have had a similar experience. Out of the 3 stones the Purple LM ended up being the finest finisher out of them all for me.

The idea of "grit" is itself just a measure. The idea that naturals do not have a grit really just means that they are not amenable to the process that leads to a grit rating like the synthetics have. However, that certainly does not mean that naturals do not have the underlying property that a "grit rating" is trying to measure.

The fact of the matter is that naturals are abrasive to metal, and therefore their relative scale of abrasiveness can theoretically be measured. The fact that the "grit" measure cannot be applied to them is neither here not there, apart from considerations of semantics. When someone says "My Jnat is about 20K" I always take it to mean that the edge it produces acts as though it were made on a 20K synthetic.

James.

Interesting reading. bought a big chunk of the LM, but haven't had much luck with it, probably more because of my heavy handed carpenters mitts still in sharpening chisels mode. The stone came with a slurry stone that was also LM. Ended up putting it away in disappointment. Is a slurry stone generally coarser than the stone you are using? Could that be where i am going wrong? Would a chunk off a 6k synthetic do the same job? Sorry if these questions sound a bit dumb, cheers.

I agree with Lynn they are fun stone and relatively new so there is much to be learned from them. I like my Purple LM best.

Grit rating who know with any natural, I have a fair collection of Arkansas stone and they are all over the map, as are Coticules to an extent. Some finish, some not so well. To the name purist, how do we know that any stone is a… whatever? Except for Eschers that still have labels or the box it came in and even that doesn’t mean that it is the stone that was in the box or with the label? Kind of like first editions and dust covers, have you noticed how many Frictionite stones are surfacing?

This is a big world and there are lots of rocks out there. A bunch that no-one has put a razor to and if they have, we probably have SRP to thank. Is there another … Coticule or Thüringen out there? Or something very similar in another part of the world or perhaps even better? Yea, probably.

The other day I read a thread of someone mining rocks from South Africa, where I am sure only locals may have ever used them. Now, maybe he has found something new or “Like” something else. Getting it out to the masses with his skin intact, may be another story.

So are these rocks what AJ claims or “like” what he claims? Don’t know. But I also don’t really know if any other rocks on EBay are what anyone claims especially rare, unusual ones.

Grit ratings are another thing and really anything over 6-8k can be a finisher. I agree with Jimbo, if the edge performs like an X grit synthetic then maybe, but yours may be X grit mine may not. Bottom line for me is, if I can comfortably shave straight off the edge, it’s a finisher in my book.

I have read all the threads here on these and agree the posts on grit ratings have gone up, but that can be said for other stones as well, like fishing stories, “It was that big”. So I don’t know what AJ has found, but the ones I have are finishers. I am happy with mine and I do agree he has been somewhat maligned, but to be fair his claims are “other people are saying”… and most of us do agree, they are nice rocks at great prices. I’m sure Lynn, Glenn and others can squeeze a lot more out of them, than I can and look forward to your tips.

Enjoy them Brooksie.

Grayzor

I like a 600 DMT to slurry and not the slurry stone. Just keep diluting the slurry and a light touch with the razor on the stone.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Grayzor

I like a 600 DMT to slurry and not the slurry stone. Just keep diluting the slurry and a light touch with the razor on the stone.

i will try that tonight after repeated views of Lynn's video. Being of Welsh descent, i am hoping i can learn to use it. If not, it will make an awesome doorstop, ha.