Thread: Calling All PHIG Users!

Originally Posted by tintin

am i the only one to get a bad wood craft PHIG?

Yes,,,,,,,, that's the one I sent back and told them to keep it aside should tintin ever ask for a PHIG.

Originally Posted by J743

when you say "bad one" what do you mean exactly? Just curious? Do I potentially have a stone that dulls my edge? Seems like it...

I should really just shave and see what happens. I'm basing the entire performance of a stone off the HHT. I did find it strange it diminished the coticule's result. That's really what threw me off.

Ummmmmmmmm Yeah ya might try that

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Ummmmmmmmm Yeah ya might try that

LOL epic fail huh

I bought two from Woodcraft, one improved a Norton 8K, one didn't seem to improve or degrade

Originally Posted by Utopian

Probably not, but I think the odds of a bad one are greater on ebay.

I'm going to agree with this. The one I got from Ebay turned out to be a good stone BUT what was pictured was a mostly flattened ready to go hone. What I GOT was a stone that had natural exterior on one side, and tile saw kerf on the other. 10 hours (give or take) of lapping and polishing later I have a stone with 2 useful sides. Even if you get a bad one from Woodcraft, it probably won't take you 5 hours a side just to be able to start experimenting.

Also if you have a brick and mortar store nearby and they stock it, they might allow you to inspect the stone before you buy it. Which means you can look for the tell-tale signs of a good stone as outlined in Gssixgun's thread. If you can see those little black stripes, and get a stone that's more uniform (at least on the surface) your odds have already greatly improved over placing an online order and hoping for the best.

Originally Posted by J743

when you say "bad one" what do you mean exactly? Just curious? Do I potentially have a stone that dulls my edge? Seems like it...

I should really just shave and see what happens. I'm basing the entire performance of a stone off the HHT. I did find it strange it diminished the coticule's result. That's really what threw me off.

Gssixgun already pointed this out, but don't judge a stone by an HHT. Strop and shave. All it takes is a stripe or 2 to let you know where the edge lies. Don't fear the shave test. HHT is good, shave test is better.

Coming off the coticule I figure you should be able to do either very light slurry or pure water passes with no pressure. Little bit of dish soap or shave lather on the hone can make a world of difference as already indicated. Have you looked at the edge under magnification? There's always the possibility the stone has an inclusion or imperfection that escaped your polishing efforts (or was released when you built slurry). If I'm not careful with slurry on my Welsh slates a large piece of something will get dredged up and put microchips on the edge. The stones are somewhat friable so it could just be bits of the rubbing stone or stone itself breaking off and wreaking havoc. Might have something similar going on?

Definitely not a finisher. Just shaved.

I can get MUCH better results on a coticule. By that I mean keener. Smooth yes, keen absolutely not. i know some hate he HHT, but if I can't pop hairs I can't shave. It's that simple. My beard finds no-hht edges unacceptable, this edge would've def pulled atg. I'm feeling my mustache and I can whiskers where I went over the area twice.

I'll take another look under the scope but I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me my stone was a 5k.