Thread: The C-Nat-athon

Originally Posted by xMackx

I have found that polishing the surface of my C-nat made it much smoother.

How do you, [or anyone else!] lap and polish these?

Tim

Originally Posted by 32t

How do you, [or anyone else!] lap and polish these?

Tim

Take a pencil and draw a grid pattern on the side you want to lap/flatten. Then lay some sand paper on a flat surface, 225 grit seemed to be the best for getting it done faster for me without scratching it up too much. When the pencil grid pattern is completely gone you know it's flat and level. Then to polish the surface you can do the same with 600 grit or 1000, then I use the slurry stone (thats the same as my c-nat) to polish it up and make a slurry at the same time.

I had a lot of trouble with it so I put it aside

Standardizing a progression w/ a natural stone is, ah, questionable. There will be alot of variations in the stones. You guys that get smoothness in your edges from the cnat are very lucky - most report crispy/harsh edges.
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It was my finisher for 7 months, and the value is very high w/ the stone. I'm not sure the value is there while learning to hone, apart from the price. Learn enough tricks, and you can get fine edges, but that's not the person just learning.
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My stone is one of the crispy ones, requiring further refinement to tame the harshness. I'd raise a very light slurry to begin with, do 40 circles each direction, each side, then 50 x-strokes. I would dilute the slurry, using a stroke that undercuts the water/slurry and scoop up slurry on the blade and save it off in a tupperware container. Add a few drops of water and repeat the 40 circles, 50 x-strokes. Sometimes it would take 2-300 strokes before I started using slurry & circles. When I had enough slurry saved, I'd reconstitute the slurry in the cup and paint the surface of a linen/cotten strop and give the blade 5-10 strokes on the slurry-painted strop to tone down the harshness. 'Worked moderately well. Tylerbrycen can tell you about the edge. 'Wasn't as good as a jnat or thuri, but gives a decent shave.

The shave was really smooth I enjoyed it I can't wait to get that kinda of edge with my c-nat stone

It's a very interesting stone to get to know the personality. It's based on luck if you end up getting a decent one or a high end finisher. From the people I have talked to they range from having a grit of 8-15K (comparison as naturals don't have grit ratings). They seem to range in color from whitish grey to black. I feel lucky because mine is jet black, surface feels smooth as glass, and has a very silky feeling like pushing milk over a glass plate and leaves a polished scratch pattern close to a 15k. Leaves an extremely keen edge rather than smooth but 60 laps on canvas smooths it right out, then 100 laps on horse hide. I'm actually very impressed with the edge it leaves.

I lapped both sides of mine tonight. Previously I had done only one. That side is of uniform color, grey to me. I noticed the other side has a pattern to it. Black and grey swirls. This has got me thinking, [Watch out!] has anyone noticed a difference from one side to the other?

Tim

Originally Posted by 32t

I lapped both sides of mine tonight. Previously I had done only one. That side is of uniform color, grey to me. I noticed the other side has a pattern to it. Black and grey swirls. This has got me thinking, [Watch out!] has anyone noticed a difference from one side to the other?Tim

The first one I bought was grey on one side and the other side was slightly lighter grey and had blue streaks in it. This stone was not even close to being a finisher.

Im in. I will start tomorrow

Thought I'd try my Chinese stone with a slurry finish as I've not tried that before.

1. Razor edge dulled on edge of stone
2. half strokes then x-strokes on a King 1k until it cuts leg hair nicely, I don't count laps at this stage
3. half strokes then x-strokes on a King 6k
4. clean off 6k then 30 or 40 laps on water
5. 100 or so laps with slurry on Chinese stone, diluting to finish.
6. 60ish laps on some Tony Miller latigo

Decent shave but not as sharp as I like. I think I need to work a little better with the slurry. I'm going to take it back to a water only finish on the Chinese stone, which is what I'm used to, and then do some touch ups on light slurry to see if it helps or hinders.

I've got another smaller Chinese stone which I should give another shot as a finishing hone, it's been living in the bathroom as a touchup hone for a while now.

Razor is 6/8 Gong hollow grind, if you put it near a strop it starts to sing. Same stone above and below - flash on, flash off.