Thread: Honing with a Guangxi, C12K, Phig, Cnat, ect...

The stone is known by many names. It is a natural stone that is mined in the Guangxi providence of China for the purposes of sharpening tools, knives, and razors. Although I am not a big fan of the quality of Chinese products this stone is neither Chinese nor a manufactured product. It was created deep in the earth through thousands if not millions of years and many rank this stone up there with some of the best known hones in the world. As with all natural stones they are all different. How much is the variance between the stones themselves and how much is in the hand or skill of the user I am afraid no one will ever know for certain. Either way, many people have found these stones to be more than capable of producing a superb edge.

One of the complaints is that these stones are very slow. They are. This is not a bad thing though. This is one reason they produce such an excellent edge. I have found a method that utilizes their slow speed in a way that can finish an edge in 15-20 minutes after a bevel set (1k hone) and using nothing but the Guangxi stone (also know as the One Stone Method). It all started for me with Glens video (linked below) showing that it is possible to hone using this method without any other stones after a bevel set. Following this method worked for me but not all the time. I wanted to find something that was more consistent so I looked around on this site and found Bart's method for the coticule (Diluticot Method). This sped things up considerably with more consistent results but it just wasn't consistent enough. I kept having to go back and do additional work to get the edge up to snuff. After watching Gary Haywood's video (also linked below) it gave me an idea that I could adjust Bart's method to fit my own stone and it worked. I now only use two stones effectively. A 1k King and my Guangxi.

I have now honed over 60 razors in a row using this method and only 2 times did I have to go back and do more work. Both times were due to not having a set bevel to start with (a rookie mistake which is fitting since I am a rookie). Even still that is over a 95% "hit" rate with enough types of razors (size, steel, origin) to instill confidence in the process. The edges are super smooth and sharp. Now for the disclaimer......

I am NOT a professional. I have only honed a little over 100 razors total. I hone for the fun of it and I only want to give back to this community since it was here that I learned the tools to unlock my stone.

Being natural stones they vary so you may have to "tweek" this instead of following exactly what I do. I only offer it as another option to try and perhaps spark ideas of your own. Take what you like and throw away what you don't like. Each stone needs to be unlocked individually and that takes practice and trying different things until you find a way that works consistently for you and your stone. As with any challenge the fun is in the conquering.

Here are some links

Coticule honing - Gary Haywood 1 - YouTube (Gary Haywood)
gssixgun Chinese 1 stone part 2 - YouTube (gssixgun)
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...nat-athon.html (Thread on Chinese naturals)

The method I use is:

After I set the bevel using a 1k King stone

I build up a slurry with a slurry stone I got with my hone (a piece of guangxi stone). I scuffed one side of the slurry stone with fine emery paper to facilitate the slurry building process. I build up the slurry until it's around the consistency of 2% milk and I error on the side of thin as opposed to thicker slurry. Then it is 3 steps.

1. I perform 15 half strokes (see Gary's video linked above), flip the razor, perform 15 more half strokes the other way and then dilute with a drop of water off my finger that I dip in a cup of water. I have found that using a spray bottle adds way too much water. This is one "set". The pressure I use is medium. Pretty much the same pressure as Gary in his video.

I do 10 "sets" and then using the slurry stone (keeping the slurry I have on the stone) I refresh the slurry to the same consistency as I started with (2% milk) and do 10 more "sets". This takes around 7-8 minutes total as the half strokes really speed up the process.

2. I then rinse the stone and blade and spray the stone with water and do 25 half strokes starting with medium pressure, flip the razor, and do 25 more. This is a "finishing set" and I do 12 of these spraying the hone when it begins to dry and decreasing the pressure to light around the 4th set and the last four sets being just the weight of the blade only. Since I don't have to stop to dilute or refresh the slurry this stage takes only 5-7 minutes.

3. I spray the hone down and finish with 30-50 X-strokes with the weight of the blade only and I am finished. This last part takes anywhere from 2-3 minutes.

That's it. The edges have been smooth and very sharp and I either strop and shave or I use an Iron Oxide paste and then strop and shave depending on my mood. The blades all pass BOTH the HHT and the Shave Test except for the tworazors I mentioned above.

As for the speed of this-I timed the different stages a few seperate times just to show that it doesn't HAVE to take hours with these stones. They are not times to shoot for or beat and I recommend taking your time rather than rushing. Gary's video showed me that using the half strokes really utilizes the "slow" cutting/polishing action allowing you to speed up the session considerably. You are flipping the razor far less and you are just going back and forth so even a beginner like me can do this fairly quickly while retaining control of the blade.

As you can tell, I did not come up with all of this or create anything new but just tried different things from different people here. It was a fun process, as it should be, and the results have been rewarding. A big thank you to Glen (gssixgun), Bart, Gary Haywood, Ace (for showing me what an edge could be) and all who contributed to the C-Nat-A-Thon. These were the main sources I used to unlock my stone. Hopefully this thread will contribute to someone else unlocking theirs in the future.

Steel

The particles in the phig aren't actually that small. As long as they hold their grit after you've rinsed particles away, they can pretty much follow a bevel setter and do everything else.

That's the case for any natural stone that's got particles in the 3-4 micron size range, and the PHIG might have particles a little bigger than that (coticules certainly do).

Many ways to skin a cat, but that's certainly a legitimate method for anyone who isn't going to try to hone 50 a day or set a time record.

With my PHIG/C12K, I use it as finisher and do three sets of 20 light pressure half x-strokes/side using water, then follow up with 60-75 normal light pressure x-strokes using water only.

I'll have to give your method a try

Originally Posted by rodb

With my PHIG/C12K, I use it as finisher and do three sets of 20 light pressure half x-strokes/side using water, then follow up with 60-75 normal light pressure x-strokes using water only.

I'll have to give your method a try

Yeah. It's all about finding what works for you.

I ordered a slurry stone from zib and have a coti on its way as well. I want to give the phig a whirl with a slurry dilution straight off the 1 k

Originally Posted by ncraigtrn

I ordered a slurry stone from zib and have a coti on its way as well. I want to give the phig a whirl with a slurry dilution straight off the 1 k

They are more than capable. I think if you start with whats outlined above you will be damn close to dialing in your stone. Let us know how it goes.

Originally Posted by Steel

They are more than capable. I think if you start with whats outlined above you will be damn close to dialing in your stone. Let us know how it goes.

I definitely will do that. The jnat I bought a few weeks ago was like a dream. It was quick cutting but refined my edge to the sharpest I've done yet. So I'm hoping the phig with a slurry dilution can come close.

Thanks, Steel! I've got to try this after my next bevel set. I've never felt confident with the PHIG I have (though I have to admit I've neglected it after getting a Nani12, and finishing on other much finer stones when honing with friends: Escher, Gokumyo 20, etc.).

Great post!

I am at about the same level as you are in regards to honing, I will give this method a shot

Originally Posted by Cobre

Great post!

I am at about the same level as you are in regards to honing, I will give this method a shot

Thanks. I hope it helps if nothing else it will give you some more tools in your "tool box".