Thread: ILR hone any tips?

Originally Posted by ovidiucotiga

If all you have is welsh slate to compare then it may be an upgrade...

Depends which Welsh slate you are having: the so called 15K Welsh slate hone I have produces a great edge. I don't own an ILR but by the sound of it the ILR is worse than a 15K Welsh.

So test shave done.
I say both edges are sub par. The first razor a Clauss was taken to 12k level then to ILR. It shaved better than my second blade but not effortless as a 12k edge normally is for me. It did leave my cheek smooth after the first pass but was not comfortable by any means.
Second razor Boker, this shaved poorly all around. I took this razor to a 5k then ILR. First pass down my other cheek was rough and also uncomfortable but more so than the Clauss.
I ended up finishing with another razor and believe next step will be more strokes for both on the ILR. May go with slurry diluting to just the stone. See where this gets me. So pretty much as of now, not impressed. I'm no honemeister just an amature that gets enjoyment from this. I'm not saying all of these stones are poor, I'm not saying this one is poor. Just that we have not found a common ground yet. Also I'm going to try the suggested ways you guys have given me as well. But one thing at a time so as to not muck this up with too many changes at once. Thanks fellas.

Keep us posted! Interesting experiments!

Too bad Eric, but in all honesty, you had a 50-50 chance judging by the reviews. If it managed to degrade the 12K edge, I would say it's a poor stone.... But I don't intend to ruin your fun by saying this Perhaps at some point you can get it to produce a great edge, but then there is an equal chance it will ruin it, and ruin your day too. Such stones are just not worth the trouble, in my book.

Judging by what Glen said, I am inclined to believe the maximum this stone had to give (him) was a nice burnish, which does lead to a better edge, if it doesn't ruin the apex along the way.... @gssixgun?

So with that in mind, and from everything I saw and read about it, it seems like this stone better not have any abrasive power, if it's gonna be any good. However, this is contradictory to everything we know and love about good razor hones.

Originally Posted by Srdjan

Too bad Eric, but in all honesty, you had a 50-50 chance judging by the reviews. If it managed to degrade the 12K edge, I would say it's a poor stone.... But I don't intend to ruin your fun by saying this Perhaps at some point you can get it to produce a great edge, but then there is an equal chance it will ruin it, and ruin your day too. Such stones are just not worth the trouble, in my book.

Judging by what Glen said, I am inclined to believe the maximum this stone had to give (him) was a nice burnish, which does lead to a better edge, if it doesn't ruin the apex along the way.... @gssixgun?

So with that in mind, and from everything I saw and read about it, it seems like this stone better not have any abrasive power, if it's gonna be any good. However, this is contradictory to everything we know and love about good razor hones.

Oh no fun ruined, I'm going to continue playing with it. I'm not going to spend months fiddling with it by any stretch. I believe burnishing the stone might be my best bet. I did a few strokes with the Class last night with slurry then diluting with water. It seemed to polish a bit better but I doubt it's improved. After I went to straight water clean stone, it sounds to my ear gritty when the blade is in contact. So to me this is not a good sign. But we will see.

I did try that as well - I went through about 5 different ways of honing. Heavy slurry, light slurry - both with and without diluting. Tried polishing up the surface of the stone like an Ark and using both water and oil after a 12k synth progression. The best edges for me were the light slurry finish with glycerine and the polished surface with oil. Have fun!

Hey guys I am reviving this thread. So last night I broke this ILR out again. I have been chatting with a guy on FB that sells them or owns the company not sure which. Anyway, this was my method and razors used. 1) Wade and Butcher Special 5/8, honed to a 12k level and known shave ready. Light slurry, diluting maybe every 20 to 30 strokes with just a squirt of water. Once diluted after maybe 150 strokes, I cleared the stone off and went another 30 or so strokes with plain water. Under my pocket scope, I saw stria where there was a mirror polished edge. The edge off this stone is a satin shine. Looks aside it takes arm hair easily which is what I use to judge how it should perform. If I was to associate a number to the stria I saw as far as depth and looks, I would honestly say it looks like the stria came from about a 2k level, so my assumption is I am picking up a misc. grit every now and again.

2) Another W&B special 5/8, this blade was honed to an 8k level which under my pocket scope had a mirror edge shave ready. Same process, light slurry diluted down and then finally plain water. Now, this one shows the same issues, stria. Again same satin finish on the egde. It seems to take arm hair easily. If I were to base things just on appearances, I would say this stone did not improve an 8k edge and certainly did not improve a 12k edge. Has any real harm been done I can not say because the only test I care about is coming tonight or tomorrow and that is the shave test. I am guessing that since things look better than my previous attempts that the shave will be better. If things are better I am going to try and stick with what works and tweak it ever so slightly to see what I can improve or not. Ill report back with the test shave results, not going to call it a turd just yet

At its best, I was able to get decent edges but not top-tier. Quite a few guys with good rep have found the same. It can certainly provide a shave, but I was never able to get edges like I get from other well known finishers like JNats, Arks, Eschers etc.

I'm starting to see that the reviews are pretty precise. Either you like it or, you don't. I'm gonna try a couple other things after seeing what these edges are like and if I'm not happy, this thing can pack it's bags and kick rocks.

Got to remember that these are natural stones too, so maybe you'll get lucky.