Thread: Who uses what finisher on a regular basis.

I use ratty, worn-out pieces of 3 micron alumox lapping film. Lol

Originally Posted by eod7

I use ratty, worn-out pieces of 3 micron alumox lapping film. Lol

Pictures of your ratty, worn-out lapping film?

I could have stumbled on my best finishing combo ever just last week. I tested it with some of my roughest shavers and my best and it came out 100% each time.

I've been finishing with my 8x3 Zulu grey, mostly on water but sometimes from a slurry dilute and have been very veyr happy with the smooth result. I have hardly used my escher or oozuku asagi at all and haven't even touched my uchigumori in months:


it's been an amazing finisher for me even though it's not 'supposed' to be for razors. I've used it with just water and it never fails to smooth out whatever edge is on there to begin with.
( the skin)


So even though I was very pleased with the Zulu I thought an experiment was in order and took my normally tough to hone to smooth 5/8" F. Clauberg hollow ground blade through the Zulu on slurry to water and then 50 laps on the Uchigumori on water and man! it was the best this baby has ever shaved me!

Same story with my W&B 7/8 wedge and and so on and so on all week. Just wanted to share.

My one and only stone, a coticule which I think might be a la grise though I'm not entirely sure. But what ever layer it is, it finishes with a wonderfully buttery smooth edge which my face adores.

This is one of my favorite hone threads ever. It really just show exactly what everyone means when people discuss smoothness and preference in all other hone threads.

Also, it would be good for beginners to read for the fact that many people rely on synthetics rather than the uber expensive natural stones everyone wants - and looking at the poll right now, the Nanis are winning by a fair margin. Just shows you don't have to spend $500 on that eBay Escher to get exceptional results. (but I probably still will once I master this new JNAT )

I'm going to add myself to this poll when I have a bit more experience...am going to be experimenting with Zulu Grey, a Jnat, and lapping film once I have everything in front of me.

Originally Posted by ats200

This is one of my favorite hone threads ever. It really just show exactly what everyone means when people discuss smoothness and preference in all other hone threads.

Also, it would be good for beginners to read for the fact that many people rely on synthetics rather than the uber expensive natural stones everyone wants - and looking at the poll right now, the Nanis are winning by a fair margin. Just shows you don't have to spend $500 on that eBay Escher to get exceptional results. (but I probably still will once I master this new JNAT )

The Nani is definitely winning but if you were to combine 'naturals' vs 'synthetics' the naturals would be out front by far.

Most of my Razors are Sheffield, so i go with the Thuringian. But I just finished honing up one of epd's Customs on my Charnley Forest. Damn 01 can take a wicked edge.

Originally Posted by brooksie967

The Nani is definitely winning but if you were to combine 'naturals' vs 'synthetics' the naturals would be out front by far.

I agree but there are several things to consider. In terms of the poll itself, I would think it is set up to have naturals win simply because there are only 2 synthetics listed. If you take Nani/Shapton and Escher/Coticule, it's a pretty close race. If you look at the voting distribution; you'll see a lot of mods/mentors/senior members are somewhat evenly distributed. Lastly, a synthetic is going to be much more consistent for and in most cases, cheaper (really with the exception of the Shapton 30k)

I don't think it's really definitive on any level if naturals have any edge (zing) over synthetics.

Barbers hone are up there and the only other synthetic I could think of adding. I guess I could have put the norton 4/8k but didnt think that it was a really relevant finisher. What other options are there to make it less skewed towards a natural?