My African Zulu Grey

The Zulu that I got in the mail today is very smooth. Lapped and feels like glass on the finished side. The other side is rough cut and to lap it flat would mean to take off around a 1/8" of rock. Don't think I'm quite up to that job.

I had a Simmons #1 full hollow razor that I had put on the hones up to 12K this last weekend and have 2 shaves on it. Keen but not in the comfort area as of yet. Sometimes I manage to get a little comfort but most the time I don't. And this is finished on a 12K. So I went back to the 12K till it was undercutting clear water. Then worked up a slight slurry on the Zulu with its rubbing stone. That took some effort to do. And I noticed after cleaning the stone up that I had left some scratches on the surface of the stone making slurry. Then started honing and taking it to clear water. With the size of the stone (3X8) I had no problem keeping the water on the stone and it sure doesn't suck up water! After around 100+ laps I called it finished. Went to leather for 60 laps and will test shave tomorrow. Went to the Dentist today and had an infected tooth pulled, so I'm not really in the mood to shave. Plus with the painkillers I'm on, I might not notice if I slice my throat. LOL.

So here is the stone...
Attachment 284306

Really hoping this will be the finisher of my liking. I've tried a Thuri and Coti and they just didn't get along with me. Plus being still new to honing I know I got a lot to learn. Can't blame the stones. I've read a few post about people using slurry and others using water only. Working up the slurry with the rubber or a DMT Card. Also, I know Roy likes to use a bit of Windex on his final finishing laps. I haven't read anything about how many laps is normal with this stone. And of course, this is different from person to person. But being such a hard, Smooth stone, I'm thinking getting into the 100+ laps is not out of the ordinary. Like using an Arkie. Just guessing of course.

So, If you have any opinions, or want to post your regiment in finishing with a Zulu stone, please do. I can use all the help I can get. I got a great feeling about this stone and hope it feels the same about me. :)

Looks nice! Few years back, these dominated the threads.
I suppose most everyone has one.
They have a following. IIRC, they are a slow finisher.
Like to see how you do with it!

IIRC about 100 to 150 laps was being used in those old threads. Let us know how it turns out.

Bob

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Originally Posted by BobH

IIRC about 100 to 150 laps was being used in those old threads. Let us know how it turns out.

Bob

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That's right up Jerry's alley! He loves to hone! :)

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

That's right up Jerry's alley! He loves to hone! :)

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I haven't the patience for that so my Zulu Grey has been gathering dust these past few years. Really should give it another go sometime when I am in a Zen like mood should that ever occur.

Bob

I do that on my Escher, Hum de hum. Oh crap! Where am I? Hum-deHum.....
Beer.....:)

Been there too. Throw in a movie, start w/ slurry, end the show on water. What the..!! How many laps was that.?!

Yeah, sometimes the harder naturals will let you know. Sometimes not!

Is that the sun coming-up? :rofl2:

been using my zulu mostly as a base-stone for jnat nagura progressions.

Glad to hear it takes lots of laps. Tom is right though. I do tend to do more than needed. I bet i could do 400 to 500 laps if i wasnt counting. I cant help but count.

On my weekend ill check to see if it needs lapped. Who am i kidding. I will lap it! Better for it to be right to start with. I will post my finding on this first edge tonight. A bit excited to try it. I got a good feeling. BTW, this thing sure is heavy. Im used to the weight of the synthetic stones. Guess i hadnt thought about how heavy natural stone this dense would be.

Crossing my fingers!

Why not just use a straight edge to check it for flat? Not sure about everyone else but mine was flat. I used the slurry stone a couple of times, but my really well worn DMT. Is what I use now to raise a slurry if I even do that. When raising a slurry on the Zulu its doesn't raise a milky slurry so no need to work it hard, it'll break off some grit for you. I've said it before, it's a stone that's really hard to overdone on. My routine with my naniwa is just a couple laps to refresh, on the Zulu a hundred or so. It doesn't get used much. But a great finisher in my opinion. Tc

Among the very few hard stones I kept after downsizing Zulu Grey, HGH, Chinese Green Jade.
They all worked well for me. As naturals, they all differ from others of their designation.
The rabbit hole of discovery!
Have fun and share your discoveries!
~Richard

+1 to what TC said above. I have a small extra-fine DMT I use to make slurry with the Zulu. That works well, but as has been said, it's a slow cutting stone. So patience is necessary. Come to think of it, it has been a while since I've used mine. I blame Shaun for this as it was usurped by an HGH as my finisher of choice. :)

If you please, what is an "HGH?"

HGH = Haida Gwaii Hone

They come from the west coast of Canada and are made by SRP member Rezdog. Really nice stones!

OK. Thanks for that!

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

I do that on my Escher, Hum de hum. Oh crap! Where am I? Hum-deHum.....
Beer.....:)

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Well, there's your mistake. Beer needs to earlier in the process.

Jerry,

I value your opinion, please keep us posted. I'm curious to see how the ZG performs for you, I'm in a similar boat as you are. Nani12K is keen but not as smooth as the edge I shaved with after Logan719 put a J-nat finish on it.
I'm curious, very curious!

My only experience with the Zulu has been shaving with an edge that someone did for me. I respect his abilities as I've shaved off of many of his edges from different stones with fine results. The Zulu edge that he supplied to me shaved excellently and was very keen, but left a prickly feel hours after the shave. Only a sample of one shave, but I'd be interested to see if others had this experience with other Zulus.

One shave in, on my first try with the Zulu and im pretty happy. The keenness was still there but a small degree of smoothness was present too. A three pass shave then grabbed up the Alum and felt nothing. No sting at all. This was my first try with the stone and i dont think my 12k edge was perfect. The heal is where i have issues when i have issues.

But for my first attempt at using this stone, and finding progress, was a good feeling. Other naturals ive tried seem to just dull the edge. Although my honing keeps getting better, maybe i could do better with the other naturals now. But this Zulu was a no brainer for me. I just put the blade to the stone and went for it. I will try this stone on a few other blades this weekend to see how it feels with them.

A touch of comfort in an edge goes a long ways. Its not like i was shaving with a cotton ball. It still got to be sharp! But it felt like it was smoother on my skin. Nice when a plan starts to come together.

BTW, when i got the stone i sent an email to the seller letting him know i got it and told him that its too bad these stone are just grey. A little color sure would make then look better. He replied with, i told mother nature your request and she said that my new stone with a little color will be ready to pick up in about 30k years. Funny guy. It took him a bit of time to get the stone in the mail. Then shipping took 2.5 weeks but in the end, it made it here without any issues. With one using this stone once i would be hesitant to promote the buying of it to others but, it seemed to work for me on the first try so, Tom, if you got the funds id go for it.

Sounds like your experience with the Zulu Grey was similar to mine. To get the effect of added smoothness after my 12K I now do some laps on a crox sprayed hanging felt strop instead. More than one way to get to the same destination and the takes nothing away from the Zulu Grey and what it can do. Nice to be able to combine sharp and smooth in an edge.

Bob

Yes!
Sharp and smooth is a big bonus. Cant wait to try out my best shaving razor on this stone after i lap it. T.C. i did put a straight edge on it last night before bed and found the middle of the stone was a bit higher than the sides. So guess a lapping i will go. This is going to take some time for sure. Figure ill start with a dmt then w/d paper. And finish with some 600 or 800 paper to try to get a nice burnish on the stone. Any recommendations on this lapping? I habe a nice piece of marble tile for lapping on for flat.

Sounds about right, Jerry.

How long from ordering did your ZG take to land on your doorstep?

I think it was about 2 months. Maybe a bit less. I hear folks last year waited much longer than me to get them.

Question for the group. I will find this out myself in time but,
Do you find a certain steel works better on the Zulu that others? Or maybe one type doesn't match well with it?

Jerry your thread prompted me to re-visit my Zulu yesterday. It had arrived flat, I sanded it up to 1200k wet n' dry and then a quick polish with Micromesh up to 6000 (that's over the top but what the heck). Water only, keen and comfortable edge after the Naniwa SS 12k - although as others said nothing seems to happen until about 200 strokes....

https://i.imgur.com/EyXqvgT.jpg

Well, like some of you, I have a tough beard and sensitive, so I like my edges keen, yet smooth. I have been able to achieve that on a couple of finishing stones beyond 12K. I own a Jerry Stark custom which I beleive he finished on a ZG, but I was not satisfied with the edge until I rehoned it. However, I do not know whether that was due to the ZQ or the technique off its use. After I rehoned it on my stones, it has a nice edge.

I placed my order for a ZG yesterday. We'll see how long it takes to arrive. When it gets here, I will try some of the techniques suggested here to see what kind of edges I can get from it.

Good luck with your ZG. Be sure to post up your findings. And hope it dont take too long to ship. Its not very speedy coming from that end of the continent. I think it gets passed to 3 different places before it crosses the big pond.

Not sure I would like a slow finisher, my normal progression if all goes well and the undercut is good is 4K, 8K ( Shapton GS ) 12K NN then some passes on a Nakayama Kiita with a mist of slurry and then strop, time spent on each stone is about 3-4mins, I used to do long honing sessions on JNATS like 30 mins plus just on the finisher and finally figured out it was a waste of time

Dear Gasman,

To prevent scratching of the main stone during slurrying following was helpfull to me:

• First I've created some convexity to one of the surfaces of the Zulu-Slurry. This seems to provide multiple advantages (reduces sticking, increased contact, allows to slurry with less pressure)
• Smoothed out all edges and corners so that they would not "catch" the main stone
• Use very little pressure during slurrying
• I do list one end of the Slurry stone so that the curved part gets in contact with the main stone (just a little bit, sometime it's just a tendency to lift) until I feel it stops slipping and starts "working"

Attachment 286426

My Zulu main stone has created a glazy surface after some use. I do keep it as it is but I've read somewhere that some users don't like the shaves of the glazy-Zulu and do refresh its surface each time bevore using by a diamond card. The slurrying can still be done with its own slurry stone.

Happy adventures with the piece of africa :)

Philipp

I just ordered a Zulu Grey but in the mean time after reading all these posts, I decided to take out my Ark Black and try honing after a coticule. I did 70 spine first on a dry stone then 30 blade forward. Then went to linen and finally a strop. I am amazed how sharp and smooth the blade is. Very polished. The shave was like a hot knife through butter. Love the learning process.