Thread: Welsh Slate Hone

I am looking to buy my first hone. Can anyone give advice re this welsh slate hone please? Inigo Jones Welsh Slate Products It mentions the forum on their website, so I presume it's a decent hone?

One thread on it.

I wouldn't recommend it, only because too little is known about it and there has been a lack of reviews or testing.

I bought one to play with -- how could I not, with the price?!? But no idea how to fit it into a progression. I'm not convinced it should be used after a coti -- I certainly could not discern an improvement and suspect it was possibly degraded slightly.

To be honest, I have kind of given up on it. I'm getting such good results from BBW/coti combo that I'm not particularly driven to figuring out the Dragon's Tongue.

I'm keen to hear others' feedback though.

This one is lapped and sitting on my honing stone shelf. I keep meaning to give it a thorough testing, but time has not permitted it yet.

Chris L

Well i like mine and find it very similar to the Chinese 12K..
I think the Dragons Tongue is a bit finer than the Chinese but just a bit and might cut a bit faster.... but again just a bit. They both work best with a nice thick slurry and when used that way cut acceptably fast and don't glaze or load up. They both take out the scratches of my Kitayama and leave it with an almost scratch free surface under a 30x loop. My biggest complaint is the size. I wish it was the size of the large Chinese stone with its width and clearance. I think these stones get a bad name because they don't cut like crazy. If you use them after a 1200 or 4000 you will spend a fare bit of time on the stone , but if used after an 8000 and use slurry they work fine and give a very fine edge..

Bang for the buck.. Chinese 12K

Best stone ....... Dragons tongue on pure finish quality but the Chinese might win on points...

Need more time with both..... ask again in a year.

Originally Posted by Newbflat

Well i like mine and find it very similar to the Chinese 12K..
I think the Dragons Tongue is a bit finer than the Chinese but just a bit and might cut a bit faster.... but again just a bit. They both work best with a nice thick slurry and when used that way cut acceptably fast and don't glaze or load up. They both take out the scratches of my Kitayama and leave it with an almost scratch free surface under a 30x loop. My biggest complaint is the size. I wish it was the size of the large Chinese stone with its width and clearance. I think these stones get a bad name because they don't cut like crazy. If you use them after a 1200 or 4000 you will spend a fare bit of time on the stone , but if used after an 8000 and use slurry they work fine and give a very fine edge..

Bang for the buck.. Chinese 12K

Best stone ....... Dragons tongue on pure finish quality but the Chinese might win on points...

Need more time with both..... ask again in a year.

I like what I hear. I don't doubt this. It's been said that judging a stone by tactile feel alone doesn't really tell you all that much. I'm not so sure. Every time I've lapped a new stone very smooth and felt it, even with my eyes closed for good measure, the smoother the stone the finer the edge. My Nakayama Asagi feels as smooth as glass and is certainly the finest grit stone I own. My point is after being lapped properly, the DT is smoooooth. Cool now I really need to move it up in the rotation.

Thanks.

Chris L

I do like these hones. I use it after my Norton 8k, followed by some CrO. Gives a very nice edge. But I'm still trying to figure out what grit it is as I don't have any other high grit hones to compair it with. If you don't have any other polishing stone, I would certainly recommend it (can't go wrong at the price either). Also, being a natural stone, mine has some very nice patterns in it, which just makes it a nice experience to hone with.

Newbflat: What do you use to make a slurry on the DT? I've got a small piece of DT, which I bought for that purpose, but it is almost impossible to use for that purpose.

Steven

Originally Posted by nerobot

Newbflat: What do you use to make a slurry on the DT? I've got a small piece of DT, which I bought for that purpose, but it is almost impossible to use for that purpose.

Steven

I don't doubt that a bit, Steven. I have a purple and gray slate hone and a piece of slurry stone. Attempting to create slurry with this stone and its slurry stone makes almost no slurry.




Chris L

I use a small 1"x 2 1/2" fine diamond plate to build a slurry and it works well. I really wish this was a bigger stone or at least thicker. It wont fit in my stone holder and doesn't have finger clearance. It might be ok for in the hand honing but its thinness means it needs to be on the edge of my table and not in my normal sharpening station. One last note.. I think the DT leaves a bit more of a mirrored/ shiny surface than the Chinese 12K.. the Chinese a bit more misty.

Originally Posted by nerobot

But I'm still trying to figure out what grit it is as I don't have any other high grit hones to compair it with.
Steven

Dragons Tongue is said to be 8K- 10K from the research I have found.