Thread: Lithide Barber hone thumbs up

Hi Gents,

I got my lithide through the post from Tilly yesterday (great service and nicely wrapped). Of course I had to unwrap it and give my dulling razor a quick touch up with it that very second .

Well, the hone looks very smart. It is jet black and looks really nicely formed with a lovely smooth surface. I bought this hone to use after my Japanese 8K to finish and also, due to its small size, I figured I could use it as a travel hone (my stropping is too unreliable to travel without a hone for an length of time).

Dispite the small size it is very easy to keep the razor flat on the hone. I think this is because it fits nicely in the palm of your left hand. It can be used dry too so is excellent for touch up work. I gave the blade 5 strokes on ech side and then jumped in the shower. The shave was fantastic. The razor was cutting arm hairs without making much of a popping noise too and passed the HHT. This is the sharpest I have had a razor. I will continue experiment with this hone. Does anyone else use a lithide? How many strokes is optimum?

Rob

No, I droped mine
Kind regards Peter

I have one of Tilly's Lithides and like it very much. I do a standard pyramid w/ it and one of her medium Wester Bros. hones. Now that I have razors that are pretty sharp I'll probably just use the Lithide for touch ups. My best guess would be 5 light round trips for a touch up. I did that for my Dbl Duck Dwarf and it worked beautifully.

Did any of you guys lap your lithide? I tried, and the experience was frustrating. After quite a lot of lapping, my hone has an area in the middle that's a different color than the rest of the hone.

And the surface is very rough, although I tried polishing it on several barber hones and high-grit sandpapers. I also tried lapping straight on glass, which had no effect.

I'm hesitant to use it for touchups, since the surface is so rough. Any suggestions?

Josh

I lapped my lithide with a fine (approx 600 grit) DMT diamond stone.

It worked very well, but dulled the surface.

While the surface doesn't feel as smooth as the original surface, it works as intended, but I've only used it a few times, so my experience is limited.

You can take a practice razor and use the hone several times, which may smooth things out a bit - also, I'm pretty sure that you can't make a hone coarser by lapping (assuming no cross contamination) - but I'm no expert.

Someone else reported good results when they lapped their lithide with a pice of another lithide hone.

You might also be able to buff the surface with a Scotchbrite pad - again this is just a suggestion.

In my limited experimentation with my lithide, the key seems to be very light, very slow strokes.

5 laps should be sufficient to refresh an edge.

I'm giving this thread a bump as I'm also interested in getting a lithide lapped smooth so I left it to collect dust especially after making that bench hone.

I have a Tilly lithide as well, and I like it a lot. It has become my "go to" touch up hone. As for lapping it, I use a 325-grit DMT continuous diamond plate (the D8C), followed by a rubdown with a scotchbrite pad, and it works famously. That lithide is dead flat and works like a champ!

I've got a hone test and 9 shave-tests to perform before I can give the lithide a trial run as a fine finisher. How many strokes do you give your average singer coming off the 8k and how often do you scrub the hone?

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

I've got a hone test and 9 shave-tests to perform before I can give the lithide a trial run as a fine finisher. How many strokes do you give your average singer coming off the 8k and how often do you scrub the hone?

Not that I'm the reference test case by any means, but... I go with 5-8 gentle strokes on the lithide, and I generally scrub it down every other use with a scotchbrite pad. What I find challenging about the lithide is that it's dark surface makes it hard to easily see swarf/residue... If the edge needs more than 5-8 strokes on the lithide, I switch over to a 16K Shapton for 5-10. I've only had to lap it once thus far - I think it's narrow width sort of inherently helps sustain flatness over time.

Originally Posted by entropy

If the edge needs more than 5-8 strokes on the lithide, I switch over to a 16K Shapton for 5-10. I've only had to lap it once thus far - I think it's narrow width sort of inherently helps sustain flatness over time.

Are you saying that you regard the lithide as a finer hone than the shapton 16K ?

Any ideas what grit the lithide is? What is it made from, i'm assuming it is not a natural stone.....