Thread: The C-Nat-athon

I have never contemplated using the PHIG dry. I'll try that next time one of my razors is starting to fall off and see what happens.

The Kit:

Beginnings

Well I will post the setup at the start at the end of this post. Hopefully put some space between the pics lol.

Starters, I did not kill the edge. I Just dont want to spend the extra time bringing it in from that. That might have been a good idea as I notices an area of the bevel that gets kinda thin on one side. Opposite side is nice and consistent so im pretty sure the blade isnt warped. I am also incorporating my handy dandy pocket microscope into the honing foray. I have more experience sharpening much bigger blades, with a lot more complex geometry than the straights double bevel with a curve at the end of my round point dovo. Pre inspection showed a lot of little microchips

Started with passes on the 6x2 DMT Extra fine. 15 to 20 laps, an inspection showed a nice start. It showed it was working a bit more on just the edge so I gave it another 15 to 20 laps. This inspections showed a nice consistent scratch patter going along. A few spots I saw some old old scratches, probably from when I reset the bevel my first time honing. The perfectionist in my cried out to get them removed. I checked perfectionist because so far in my limited experience, sharpening is more of a feel and overall endeavor. One of those things where you chase every little minute detail, polish it out. Then you stand pack and look at the perfect edge on a tooth pick :-/ lol. You guys refer to them as X strokes on the DMT EF, I view them as my 45's. Oh and there was still a couple spots that looked as though they could be remnants of microchips.

Alright I have a good base to start. Moving onto the DMT Extra Extra Fine. This one is an 8x3 so I can do the whole blade in 1 push for my 90's. I have no clue if you guys do something like this, or what your term for it would be. 15 to 20 laps and pretty much all of my 45's had disappeared and be replaced my 90's scratches. I humored the perfectionist in me a bit and went for another 15 to 20 laps This inspection left me comfy that all the 45's were gone, replaced by a nice happy lines of 90's. I also did not notice any remnants of the microchips.

The CH12K had not been lapped in a while so it was due. You know the drill, lines and the DMT XC. repeat repeat & repeat & then repeat some more. I did up both sides and re-did my chamfers(word) on the edges. Then some more lapping. Then I ran them through the DMT's on both sides a bit to really smooth them out.

I worked up a nice soupy slurry with nagura and returned to the X strokes to get my 45's on the blade. I heeded a bit in here about the CH12K working slow, so I did like 20-30 laps. I went into the inspection and was kinda dumbfounded. There were remnants of the 90's, but no 45's to be seen. another 20-30 laps. Less of the 90's but still no 45's. another 20-30 laps. My 90's were gone, and there appeared to be the start of 45's. So I am not in this to work the metal more than removing the previous scratches, and I called it done. Though I do see where you would need to do 100+ laps. I did a foolish thing and put the microscope square to the edge and looked edge down on it. Looked pretty good lol for what I could see. I hope I dont regret this come shave time.

Here is a little pic of the setup, I am currently waiting on the CH12K to dry off as a few dry strokes have done me well in the past.

Got to have the shave report when you get to it!!

And yes, I found that it took sometimes as many as 300 laps to get it to were I wanted it, also found that no slurry worked slower, but got a better result on my stone.

Fill us in!!

M

I got my hone today from the ebay seller, it seems slightly different than my Woodcrafters stone (harder, finer?). I bought the un-lapped one so I've got some work to do!!

Pictures and report will posted later

I finished two razors on my new C-Nat (Polish Ebay seller).....it's MUCH better than the Woodcrafters hone, this one wants to make the blade stick to the stone more and for sure is harder. I'm very happy with this one!! The finished edges are very smooth

Originally Posted by rodb

I finished two razors on my new C-Nat (Polish Ebay seller).....it's MUCH better than the Woodcrafters hone, this one wants to make the blade stick to the stone more and for sure is harder. I'm very happy with this one!! The finished edges are very smooth

If you can show us what your stone looks like I'd be interested to see it. Glad you got a good one!

Sorry for the bad pics
The new one is way darker, almost black and without any of the lines and squiggles like my other one

Originally Posted by rodb

Sorry for the bad pics
The new one is way darker, almost black and without any of the lines and squiggles like my other one

Looks about the same as mine, if you have a hard time raising slurry score your slurry stone with sandpaper.

Originally Posted by xMackx

Looks about the same as mine, if you have a hard time raising slurry score your slurry stone with sandpaper.

Thanks, I'll try that if I have problems.
The new one seems to work better with slurry, the old one just water.