My Natural honing experiances to date.
Last night i took out 3 natural stones and did some honing. Jnat, dark blue Thuringian and an African Zulu. I found 3 german razors that i felt i could do a little better with on there edges and sat down to do some honing. Took all 3 razors and lightly killed the edge. Put them on the 8k then a few laps on the 12k for a solid base.
I used all 3 of these stones in the same way. Around 100 laps with preasure on slurry, another 100 or so laps while deluting the slurry with preasure, another 50+ on clear water with preasure then finished on clear water with a light stroke about 80+ laps.
I also honed up one razor from scratch to 20k so i had 4 to test this afternoon. Test shave was very nice.
20k edge wiped the wiskers away with no issues.
Jnat edge was keen and smooth. Not as keen as the 20k but a little less harsh. Not bad at all. I would call it a nice step back from the 20k but just a little.
The Zulu was keen but smoother than the Jnat edge. The keenness might have been about the same as Jnat but the feel was smoother, more comfort.
The Thuri was an eye opener. It wasnt as keen as the others but damn close. But the comfort level was much higher than the others. A little loss in sharpness for a lot more comfort.
I was very happy with my testing. All razors turned out to be nice edges and all felt differently. And i honed them all in the same way. Now i was going to put an Arkie in the mix but its an oil stone and i didnt want to get that in the mix.
So, I feel my honing is getting better all the time. Synthetics are simple. A no brainer. And now the naturals are all coming together too. Fun, fun! Just wanted to let you all know about this Natural Rock Journey I went on.
If i can now learn to get along with my Cnat and Washita. Its a long slow trip but very enjoyable!