Thread: The C-Nat-athon

Originally Posted by drwextra

I have bought one of the Polish fellows stones and it was not close to the finished quality of
the Woodcraft stones. It had a larger scratch pattern.

My experience has been exactly the opposite.

Razor: Utica Cutlery Co. Helma 88, 6/8 extra hollow.
Stones:Washita, Hard Arkansas, PHIG
Result: Couldn't find my big Washita so i had to set the bevel on the Washita on the Smith's tri-hone using sewing machine oil. Took a bit of time but finally got the Helma popping hairs. Next took it to the hard ark, also with sewing machine oil. Didn't count laps but got the stiction I was looking for after around 30 minutes worth of x strokes. Finaly I moved to the PHIG.This is the second usable PHIG that I own but it isn't as fine as my other one. For this I used a water based honing solution so as not to muddy the stone too much. It took about twice the time as my other PHIG used only with water but it got a beautiful mirror finish on the edge.

Now to the shave. Before the shave I stropped 50 on poly web and 100 on latigo. Face lathered the Speick stick and started shaving. Bar none the sharpest edge I've ever gotten from a PHIG. Not that smooth but wickedly sharp. It will be interesting to see how this razor settles in after a few shaves and stroppings. This will definitely lead me to continue the experiment with the PHIG and oil.