Thread: French Hones

Continuation of the story about the "pierre "aux croissants" of previous post:

First, I used 24h clear epoxy to save the stamp and sticker (I didn't trust using nail polish alone)

It took me a long time to flatten the bottom part of the stone smoothly, pretty hard stone!
The biggest problems were the chamfering, it took me a while to discover that the edges need to be VERY smooth,
the smallest pit, dip, ridge,... can ruin a razor's edge easily because of its hardness,
after figuring this out, things improved quite fast! My razor edges became sharper and sharper
The stone was very oily, and I wanted to use it with water, I bypassed tis by using a drop of dishwater soap, this giving a nice wet surface, not bothered anymore by the oil, cleaning the oil away at the same time.

My HHT's improved still further to an easy HHT 4, towards the 5, and a close, comfortable shave (even much better then last time)
Through the loupe I see a really nice polished bevel!
Still, not like my Jnat's, but I like to use this stone with water-glycerin in the future, should be even better...
Definitely above 10K stone!



A French hone that DOES come much closer to my Jnat's are these "Pierre du sud-ouest" or "Pierre d'italie",
one of them has the typical leaf - inclusions, but they all have the same kind of soft, smooth feel to it,
all giving also the same yellow-greenish slurry.

Also it is quite easy to hone on these stones, they are soft - mellow, but not too soft
The edge of my razor (same razor I've used to test "la pierre aux croissants", coticules and Jnat's)
is very sharp (bites like it's finished on a Jnat), but smooth, absolutely not harsh!
Shave was excellent, BBS!