Thread: Hone of the Day

Originally Posted by jnats

Nice kiita tomo! Looks edible.

Alex picked that piece up off the ground at the Nakayama mine site. It has some freeze cracks in the side which I sealed. Before I trimmed the lines off to make the tomo, I honed a razor or three on it. Medium hard, very fine, and full of grit. Makes a good tomo, wish I had more and bigger of the same stuff.

Cheers, Steve

I decided to experiment with using a PHIG as a base for synthetic slurry just for fun. I used this horribly ground Chinese razor which I hadn't worked on at all before, so the spine is too big and thick, and has really bad hone wear from the factory. I set the bevel on a Masahiro 1k after killing the factory edge. I then proceeded to use the slurry from the Masahiro to begin with, then a King 4k, King 8k, and then an Edgelogix 10k (which is an unproven chinese synthetic) which I diluted off of the stone more and more. I stopped when I felt some good suction on the edge and got HHT all along the edge, I'll try shaving with it within the next couple of days to really see how it does. I wasn't expecting it to work as well as it did. I may try 10k slurry on the PHIG as a finishing step on some other razors.

Well I've been busy trying to catch up on some honing and restoration projects. Add to that I just bought a true gem of a jnat. So first I dremel'd out a chip on this 15/16 butcher. I love these blades, and will always have at least a handful in my possession. As much as I wanted to put it to my new jnat I decided on the coticule instead. Then I took 4 blades to the lime kiita. It's an insane final polisher, very awesome feedback and results. The 4 blades honed on the jnat are iwasaki western tamahagane, friodur 472, wade and butcher, and a heljestrand mk32.

Touched up a Coral on a Nakayama sunashi suita with a tomonagura. The suita has a hard and soft side, but both about the same grit as far as I can tell. The softer side cuts like a chainsaw.

Cheers, Steve

Kind of a pin the tail on the donkey day.
First off, I am trying to figure out where this hone lives in my setup. I haven't done this before, so this is one challenge. Today I decided to use my synthetics up to 8K then go to this hone and shave, which I did.
The shave was unconditionally excellent.
Can I estimate grit now? Nope, but I'd shave off this hone any day. The next cool thing that happened today is that I decided to use Smith's on with this hone as I was not happy with water. First time with Smith's and it was disturbingly satisfying. I was prepared not to like it.
Then there is the razor, a sub $30.00 gamble which in an earlier time I would have said, thanks but no thanks. This stout wedge is a Plantagenet razor made to mount a blade guard. You can drop Plantagenet in the search box to learn more if interested.
And if this wasn't enough drama for one honing session...my 5K Chosera died today so I had to skip my normal climb up the grits. With some excellent feedback from fellow members I forged ahead.
In conclusion I learned something that I have read many times: Ugly can shave! Today is a great day in Montgomery County.
Oh yeah, and I think I could become a natural fan...if money grew on trees. I really like this hone which I assume now to be a Welsh Slate which was identified as such by a few of y'all.

Beautiful stone sir!

Cheers, Steve

When I first started honing, I bought this nakayama on ebay. I put it away in the back of my hone drawer, and hadn't really looked at it for over 2 years or so. I took it out today to play with, and it's quite nice based off my initial attempts. It's red and purple mixed with a brownish tan color, which creates a green slurry when honing on just water. I guess I didn't like it when I started because it's smaller than what I would have liked, especially as a newbie.

Originally Posted by WW243

The next cool thing that happened today is that I decided to use Smith's on with this hone as I was not happy with water. First time with Smith's and it was disturbingly satisfying. I was prepared not to like it.

Something that I really like about Smith's Honing Solution is that you can dial in your preferred viscosity by varying the amount of water that you add to it. Just put on some Smith's and hone a little and keep adding water drop by drop until you get it where you like it. For most hones I end up at about 50/50.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Something that I really like about Smith's Honing Solution is that you can dial in your preferred viscosity by varying the amount of water that you add to it. Just put on some Smith's and hone a little and keep adding water drop by drop until you get it where you like it. For most hones I end up at about 50/50.

Interesting comments Ron and WW243. Smith's is advertised as a non-petroleum solution of emolients, rust inhibitors and lubricators. The MSDS does not contain the ingredients and as far as I can tell, there's no CAS. So it's pretty innocuous - but I mention it for a couple of reasons.

One, is it safe to use on natural waterstones and synthetics like the Shapton Pro which Shapton cautions against using soap? Does Smith's say anything?

Second, just plain curiosity. Alex sent me a small sample bottle of Shaklee Basic H (not Basic H2) which is sold as an all purpose cleaner suitable for glass, etc. you could feel the film strenght honing, and the water spread out nicely over a hard polished Jnat surface. When I looked at the MSDS/CAS, I found that it was mostly surfactant and bore a close resemblance to JetDry, the anti-spotting stuff you put in the dishwasher. So I tried a slution of JetDry and it worked as well.

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by Utopian

Something that I really like about Smith's Honing Solution is that you can dial in your preferred viscosity by varying the amount of water that you add to it. Just put on some Smith's and hone a little and keep adding water drop by drop until you get it where you like it. For most hones I end up at about 50/50.

I used it full strength, a few drops and I could coat the stone. I was amazed how different it felt with the razor compared with water/slurry.
The counterintuitive part is that the stone with water felt like honing on glass, and the hone with the Smith's had a relevant amount of feedback. I'll spearmint with dilution.