Is it me ?

Bob1955

Bob1955

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699
I find some straights take a great edge off of a Escher while some others are better with an Arky, I thought when I bought the escher that I would never use another finisher, now I' m thinking I need a coti to complete a finishing set... Why oh why did I get into the straight razor game :)
 
Looks as though you're getting caught up in the quest for perfection, that can be very expensive :confused:

Fortunately my budget maxes out at a range of lapping film and a couple of pastes, still i get damn fine shaves from my blades so i'm not complaining :)
 
I Use a Surgical Black 20 K Arkie for Stainless Blades...I Use My Escher Thuri as My Go Stone for Most Razors...I Also have a VERY RARE FINE Coticule for Finishing...Be WARNED Mind...A Good Finishing Coticule is HARD to Find..A 12 K Naniwa Super Stone will Out Hone Most of Em for Finishing...Mine will Pick Up a Naniwa 12 K Edge & Improve it...But Mine is a Proper Barbers Coticule for Finishing.... :cool:

Billy
 
Bazz said:
Looks as though you're getting caught up in the quest for perfection, that can be very expensive :confused:

Fortunately my budget maxes out at a range of lapping film and a couple of pastes, still i get damn fine shaves from my blades so i'm not complaining :)
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No not really, I've used film many times too and overall dont find it cheap at around 3 or 4 pounds a pop. Stones although can seem expensive but they do have a resale value, I prefer a stone now to film, if I feel a blade is just not there after a 12k stone I will slap it about on some high grit film...that usually works. My black ark is a nice finisher but it is sloooow!, The escher was picked up cheap as part of a box with four blades (Purpose built box) the escher and a unknown stone, at the time the blades were irrelevant to me coz it really was just the stone I wanted...tho the box is is very nice too....turns out the blades all honed up great and shave well, the fotos of the lot were very poor, but when I got everything I was pleasently surprised.
 
No, you're not alone. I thought the same when I decided that an Ozuku would finish better than a Shobu. Fortunately it did on one particular blade and even more fortunately on a vintage hand me down which just didn't take the right shine to the shobu. This hand me down on the ozuku is now the best edge I can produce but my other blades... old and new definitely still prefer the shobu?? I also have a 60's stainless which seems sharpest straight off a Shapton 16k although I probably haven't spent enough time with it on either jnat.
Remember though....it's not the destination but the journey.
 
The whole world of jnats are still a mystery to me, there are so many names for the stones....I find it bewildering, for instance, if I want to put a blade on a 8k stone, I kinda know what im gonna get, same with a 12k, I know what to expect....but with jnats there does not seem to be the same simple system of grit sizes, the two stones you mention...I have no clue to what they would do, what finish equivelent etc, It could become interesting.
 
I Can Only Talk Personally Here...Horses for Courses...A Top of the Range Synthetic Honing Progression is by Far the Most Consistent...I Use a Naniwa Pro Stone/Chosera 1 K for Bevel Setting...3 K, 5 K, 8 K, 12 K Super Stones for a Progression..I Only Use a Natural Purely for Finishing an Already Shave Ready Edge.. :cool:

I Use 16 K = 1 Micron Lapping Film Before Going onto My 20 K Surgical Black Arkansas & its a Quick Stone when a Shave Ready Higher Grit Edge is Used as a Pre Finisher...The Arkie will Turn it Over to 20 K in Just a Few Minutes...I Use the Same Method for My 17 K Escher Thuri...I Can Estimate the Grit Range of My Naturals by Knowing the Synthetic Equivalent & Honing Experience...(y)
 
Johnjo said:
Delving into jnats was definitely a leap of faith
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I got cut short... excuse the pun. They were a mystery to me too but having read so much about them that eventually the allure was too strong. I got a small Shobudani from a reputable guy in the States... it was a game changer. Got the Ozuku from a trusted seller in Denmark and the rest you know. I still use all my synthetics though an love em all... apart from the slightly over rated Norton 4/8k combo. Shaptons and Nanis are the biz though and wouldn't dream of selling any.
 
Johnjo said:
I got cut short... excuse the pun. They were a mystery to me too but having read so much about them that eventually the allure was too strong. I got a small Shobudani from a reputable guy in the States... it was a game changer. Got the Ozuku from a trusted seller in Denmark and the rest you know. I still use all my synthetics though an love em all... apart from the slightly over rated Norton 4/8k combo. Shaptons and Nanis are the biz though and wouldn't dream of selling any.
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Well I was very low on high grit film...so got two sheets (A4) .
Including postage it was £11 exactly...I think that is quite expensive over time compared to a lifetime with a good stone, as I already said, you can sell a stone on....film goes in the bin, I got 0.5 mic so it is really just a polishing grit, if I had to buy all the grits needed for a film progression I reckon it would cost plenty, also, when the film turns black, I bin it, I can feel how smooth it has gone and you can check the non grit side for a comparison, I dont think film wears like stone, ie: it loses grit at unequal rates, where a stone is more "uniform". How do you all decide when a piece of film has became u/s ?.

Bob.
 
Bob1955 said:
Well I was very low on high grit film...so got two sheets (A4) .
Including postage it was £11 exactly...I think that is quite expensive over time compared to a lifetime with a good stone, as I already said, you can sell a stone on....film goes in the bin, I got 0.5 mic so it is really just a polishing grit, if I had to buy all the grits needed for a film progression I reckon it would cost plenty, also, when the film turns black, I bin it, I can feel how smooth it has gone and you can check the non grit side for a comparison, I dont think film wears like stone, ie: it loses grit at unequal rates, where a stone is more "uniform". How do you all decide when a piece of film has became u/s ?.

Bob.
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I couldn't say, I've never used film. I guess the very fine stuff is useful for touch ups though.
 
Bob1955 said:
Well I was very low on high grit film...so got two sheets (A4) .
Including postage it was £11 exactly...I think that is quite expensive over time compared to a lifetime with a good stone, as I already said, you can sell a stone on....film goes in the bin, I got 0.5 mic so it is really just a polishing grit, if I had to buy all the grits needed for a film progression I reckon it would cost plenty, also, when the film turns black, I bin it, I can feel how smooth it has gone and you can check the non grit side for a comparison, I dont think film wears like stone, ie: it loses grit at unequal rates, where a stone is more "uniform". How do you all decide when a piece of film has became u/s ?.

Bob.
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As a film user i'd have to say at the moment i don't know, i haven't thrown any out yet!

I guess that what you use comes down to how much honing your doing, i've never used any course grit films, i bought a budget double sided (1K/3K) Naniwa stone and use that for bevel setting and first progression, then four progressions on film (9,5,3 and1 micron i think) then strop on Crox and finally on Ferox before regular stropping on leather and then napped leather.

I accept that my edges could be a bit finer, but they are still very sharp and give me a close comfortable shave, i don't hone for others and film offers me the best value for money in my opinion. The four sheets that i bought cost around £15, i have cut them into four and after a year i'm still on my first quarter of each, and they still look good to me.
 
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