Thread: My Natural honing experiances to date.

Now ya need a good Escher, Jerry. Its the last rock, u don't have.

When I perfected my different finishers, my razor behaved alike, but you notice slight differences.

I've come to a point where my 12k, thuri and coti all shave very alike.

Coti is the boss in skin friendliness followed by thuri and then the 12k.

They all shave very well without effort. Something about the synthetic that shaves very keenly though.

Cotis are tricky however, my La Grise is so slow my pre-Coti hone is a Thüringer, which removes metal at a higher rate than my Coti. Tricky little buggers that have caused me much frustration in the process.

Thüringers are boss though, their consistency make it a very desirable hone and they're perfect finishers.

The 12K is a no nonsense hone that does its job very well. Shaves are easy and smooth.



Aside from all that, I still find that the grind of the razor has more impact on the liking of the shave than the difference in finishers for me.

I see you did your testing with German steel. I wonder how your results might have differed if you had tested Sheffield steel or others types.

Your testing does show the trade-off between keenness of the edge and smoothness on the face. That is why so many of us pick different finishing hones as our favorites. If we could get a super keen yet super smooth edge, most of us would be satisfied, but that rarely happens. Normally, we have to find the stone and technique that produces an edge that is keen enough for our beard type and hope the edge is smooth enough for our face. Or conversely, we will try to produce a smooth edge and hope it is keen enough for our beard. For those with coarse beards and sensitive faces, there is not much tolerance either way. There is no one stone or one method that works for everyone.

Originally Posted by outback

Now ya need a good Escher, Jerry. Its the last rock, u don't have.

That made me laugh! You know, at some point, Jerry will have one too. That’s what’s so funny. Wait. Why am I laughing? I gotta get rid of some of these stones myself ......someday.

That natural stone rabbit hole is is deeeeeeep! But fun and very rewarding.

A labeled Esher? Maybe someday. Who am i kidding. You know i will have one someday for sure.

The keen vs. comfort is a trade off at this point. As said, as a new honner learns, keen is king. Than the comfort comes along and you say " if i could have both id have the perfect edge". Next come buying lots of stones chasing that perfect edge. This is where I was a few moths ago. Then you realise that its a trade-off. You cant have the best of both. I have found that you give up one for the other but in a tiny way. Keen but not the keennest. Comfort but not too much comfort as then you loose keen.

Its a presonnal balance of both for each person. This is what Im chasing now. By honing on 3 different naturals and getting good results in one sitting made me feel very satified with my abilities. I MUST be getting somewhere. Or i got lucky. That is always in the back of my mind.

If i had used sheffield razors enstead of german would it have gone the same way? I dont know. My findings at this time is i seem to get a keenner edge on german steel. So this is what i use most of the time in my testing. Not saying sheffield is softer or cant hold a finner edge as im no metal guy. This is just what i have found personnally.

Thank you all for the help over the years in my honing. Without the fine folks here i might not have gotten this far in the real understanding of level of honing. Its far beyond making a sharp edge!