Thread: German hones continued

I also photographed the effect the hones had on a razor edge to allow comparison.
First set the bevel using 1500 grit wet and dry paper (used dry)

next 20 passes on the grey black with slurry and 10 passes with water

next 20 passes on the coticule with slurry and 10 passes with water

next 15 passes on the green grey hone with slurry and 5 passes with water

next 5 passes on leather pasted with chromium oxide

next 40 passes on a bovine strop

finally a Feather professional super blade edge for comparison


As I said they are all good.

Thanks! Great photos - did all of the similarly sized blade-imperfections in the 2nd photo get honed out?

Nice pics TY
The feather really shows the double bevel well, at least it looks that way.....

Nice pics! Thanks for taking the time.

The imperfections did hone out on the coticule I'm pleased to say. At 200 x magnification every blemish is revealed. Just a bit of sand on the 1500 grit will do that.

The Feather does show the second bevel very clearly and I think the blue is some kind of coating, probably, platinum.

I enjoyed making these photos and deliberately went from 1500 grit to 8000 grit to show the power of the black grey hone.

The green hone is superb if you like to shave off a natural stone (which I do). I'd rate it at 12000 grit which is plenty enough for me.

To be honest, if you like to use chromium oxide to finish, before leather, I would strongly recommend the black grey hone. Given it's size it costs very little and it is a powerful tool. I'm sure a big coticule is better but most of us can not afford the entry price. Can you imagine how much a 10x3 coticule would be. For the average user a big Thuringien is certainly easier to use than a small coticule and the quality difference is small.
The green stone, (I think technically it is a green /yellow escher) is not as flexible as the coticule. I think it starts were the coticule ends. It does provide a beautifully smooth edge. Again, much cheaper than a coticule but I don't think it replaces it.

I know there are blue german hones and Eschers and old stones and nos hones etc.,etc.,
But to be honest all the stone is old. Its been in the ground for millions of years and only mined in the last 100 or so years. These two hones are representative of the two types of German hone available. They come from a reputable supplier. The green stone has limited supply. It is suppled finished to a very high standard. It comes in a cardboard box with a good slurry stone. The black grey stone come in a wooden box, again with a slurry stone but it needs 10 minutes of lapping on wet and dry paper (wet) before use.

I would like to thank you for these photos! I currently stop at the 8000 norton then paste at.5 chromium, but Im looking for one more hone. Would you recommend the coticule or the black stone? would either be good enough to replace or substitute the pate? Also money is a bit of an issue so i think the green would not be an option...

Of the two, I'd recommend the coticule.

Having said this, the green definately gives the smoothest edge. You might want to purchase the thinner narrower one for arround 20 eoro's plus postage. These smaller hones will do just as good a job as the hone I purchaesd. Hone size is not everything. Hone quality is.

Hope this helps and I'm glad you enjoyed the photo's.