Thread: Zulu Grey, Slurry revelation

The Zulu Grey stone is fairly new to me, but I have tried it on a few razors, mostly for
touch-ups, with mixed results.

One razor in particular, a Revisor, was giving me fits: using water only, I wasn't making much
progress, even after 100+ laps. I tried a "milky" slurry, made with a DMT 325, but that
actually seemed to degrade the edge,

Then I tried just a very light slurry, "cloudy water" as someone here described it, and that did
the trick. After about 40 or 50 very light laps, the edge came true. All of a sudden, too. It just
"popped" after doing 5 or 6 light X-strokes at the end of a 20-stroke cycle.

I shaved with it yesterday, and it was as sharp as I wanted it to be, but it felt a trifle harsh.
So I gave it 5 or 6 laps on a leather strop treated with a light coat of cerium oxide.

Today's shave was very satisfying. The razor was sharp and the CeOx did a pretty good job
of taming the beast.

I just tried paste for the first time, and have a Zulu on order. It's all coming in to focus. Thanks for the info.

How would you rate your pressures used?

I borrowed a Zulu from Double0757 for about 3 months, finished about 5 razors on it coming off of a Norton 8k, ,,no slurry only water, with a count of 120 to 160 strokes, cleaning the surface every 30 strokes, then strop. Some of the best shaves to date.

FYI,,,I took some of the boy's Christmas presents back to the store & ordered a Zulu,,,it's on the way,,,,,,he'll understand.

Originally Posted by WadePatton

How would you rate your pressures used?

About as light as I could make it, and still maintain control of the blade.

My Zulu likes slurry and dilution to a point. It does not like plain water. Slurry is the flavor of the day for my stone and at some point in a typical honing regimen...heel forward, circles, X strokes the stone cries out for the blade to do a kind of ballroom dance on the hone, mainly one direction but with some hooks, quick angle Z's, and half circle with a forward flip (dangerous move) and a high speed run to the end of the stone.