Thread: Slurry on a touch-up hone?

This has been an interesting thread!

Some things I am sure of

1. All aluminum oxide is not the same. It has different methods of manufacture and as a consequence it has different grain shapes and friability ( sp?), (the point at which it breaks down).
The same applies to garnets, iron oxides, ceramics and binders.

2. All barber hones, even of the same name (i.e. Swaty), are not the same. The abrasives used change as do the binders and the mfg process ( temperature, pressure, time).

This experimenting using a slurry derived from a different hone to change the effective grit of a hone is a very interesting experiment.

We here at SRP really do try to make sense of what we are experiencing when we hone. That effort frequently leads to a better understanding of what works, but not always to being certain of the reason why. We simply do not have the information or tools to get to the answer of why.

As has been said here at the SRP many times in the past, give it a try, see what happens, do it a few times, then post a thread.

Just my $.02,

Excuse me but I have a question. What would these various slurries do to the surface of your swaty? Has anyone tried this or should I go back downstairs into my hole and see for myself?

So far my Swaty has remained flat. However, that may be due to the way I'm raising the slurry.

In another thread I had read a suggestions to rub two barber hones together to ensure both were flat (and possibly de-glaze them?) Anyway, I've been creating a slurry by rubbing my Swaty and Apart hones together, then using the Swaty.

The slurry is extremely fine, which is no surprise, but I can feel a slight difference on the edge between the touch-up with water only and the very slightly more aggressive touch up with slurry.

It appears that the Swaty is tougher than the Apart, because it seems that the slurry is a more reddish than brownish, which matches the Apart.