Yellow Lake Finishing Stone

Apply a little pressure at the start, only gentle pressure and as you continue get it down to the weight of the blade only, you will feel it grab the stone and get heavier, add a little more oil and continue until you feel it is grabbing all along the blade, check with a loupe and whatever sharpness test you prefer, I use my thumb, give it a few on green crox then clean leather and you are shaving with superb comfort.
 
Bob1955 said:
Apply a little pressure at the start, only gentle pressure and as you continue get it down to the weight of the blade only, you will feel it grab the stone and get heavier, add a little more oil and continue until you feel it is grabbing all along the blade, check with a loupe and whatever sharpness test you prefer, I use my thumb, give it a few on green crox then clean leather and you are shaving with superb comfort.
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Thanks for the advice, oil stones are new to me.
My usual progression is Naniwa superstones 3k, 8k , 12k. Then pasted balsa .5u, .25u, .1u. After each shave 50 laps on .1u then 50 on clean leather.
 
Jaco said:
Thanks for the advice, oil stones are new to me.
My usual progression is Naniwa superstones 3k, 8k , 12k. Then pasted balsa .5u, .25u, .1u. After each shave 50 laps on .1u then 50 on clean leather.
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I would hope you see and feel a difference from the 12k, is it a stainless blade or carbon ?, I feel the carbon takes a better edge and quicker coz it is softer, a lot of SS blades are slow to cut
 
Bob1955 said:
I would hope you see and feel a difference from the 12k, is it a stainless blade or carbon ?, I feel the carbon takes a better edge and quicker coz it is softer, a lot of SS blades are slow to cut
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All my blades are carbon. I have shied away from stainless after reading that they are more difficult to hone. I have been SR shaving almost exclusively for the past three years. Odd occasions I will take the Fatib Picollo for a spin.
 
I think the only oil stones I have are a black ark and the yellow lake, the ark was bought lapped to 12k and I have never lapped it, the yellow lake had a dip you could easily see and I lapped that with water over two days....my arms were killing me, it is a very hard stone.
 
Jaco said:
Question on oils stones:

I normally lap my stones with a diamond plate. When lapping an oil stone, do you lap it with oil?

Was thinking it may turn into a sticky mess:oops:
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You Can Lap these Stones Under Running Water..Same as a Synthetic..They are Soft to Lap..Just Wash the Stone with Soap & Water Before Doing it..They Dont Soak Up Oil or Water So there is Zero Cross Contamination Issues..The Arks are the Same as Far as Lapping Goes..They Dont Soak Up Water or Oil Neither..Just Dry Em & they are Good to Go with Oil Again..(y)

Moreover..Stainless Blades are NOT any Harder or Difficult to Hone than Carbon Blades..Its a Forum Myth..They May Require a Few Extra Strokes on the Hones Compared to Softer Carbon Steel is All..I Can Tell Ya for Sure..Some Carbon Steel is Far Harder than Stainless..Some French Vintage or Modern Carbon Steel for Example is Mega Hard & Can Take a Bit of Time on the Hones..French Frame Backs Can be a Bugger to Bevel Set in Particular.. :cool:

Billy
 
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Got the stone today and it didn't need lapping.

I took a Filli 14 that is not a looker, but an excellent shaver and ideal to compare the new edge. This blade had an excellent edge achieved by stropping to .1u on pasted balsa.

Cleaned the stone carefully and started with what I think is a 3 in 1 general purpose oil. It felt a bit thick and the feedback from the stone felt like it was gliding on the oil rather than cutting.
I changed to Balistol and it felt better. I still couldn't really feel the stone working and I checked for evidence that I am removing steel by cleaning on a clean paper towel. Only a slight discolouration of the residual oil was visible, but I kept going for about 300 X-stroke laps, waiting for the suction to start, but I didn't achieve it.

I did a tree topping test and it was clear that it is not as sharp as it was when I started, but decided give it a chance. Stropped for a 100 laps on clean hanging leather.

I made sure my trusty Feather SS was on hand and started my shave. Well what a surprise!

It's a completely different feel. Soft on the face, but definitely sharp enough to remove the whiskers without any fuss. End result was on par with any of the pasted edges and almost no feedback from the alum block.

Very impressed, so far.

Next experiment will be to take the edge back to 8k, 12k then the Yellow Lake and see if I can replicate the edge.

Thank you guys for the advice!

This old dog can still learn new tricks!:)
 
Jaco said:
Got the stone today and it didn't need lapping.

I took a Filli 14 that is not a looker, but an excellent shaver and ideal to compare the new edge. This blade had an excellent edge achieved by stropping to .1u on pasted balsa.

Cleaned the stone carefully and started with what I think is a 3 in 1 general purpose oil. It felt a bit thick and the feedback from the stone felt like it was gliding on the oil rather than cutting.
I changed to Balistol and it felt better. I still couldn't really feel the stone working and I checked for evidence that I am removing steel by cleaning on a clean paper towel. Only a slight discolouration of the residual oil was visible, but I kept going for about 300 X-stroke laps, waiting for the suction to start, but I didn't achieve it.

I did a tree topping test and it was clear that it is not as sharp as it was when I started, but decided give it a chance. Stropped for a 100 laps on clean hanging leather.

I made sure my trusty Feather SS was on hand and started my shave. Well what a surprise!

It's a completely different feel. Soft on the face, but definitely sharp enough to remove the whiskers without any fuss. End result was on par with any of the pasted edges and almost no feedback from the alum block.

Very impressed, so far.

Next experiment will be to take the edge back to 8k, 12k then the Yellow Lake and see if I can replicate the edge.

Thank you guys for the advice!

This old dog can still learn new tricks!:)
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Filli's are very hard steel maybe (that's) why it took longer, I was using a 20k stone for touch ups then a crox felt strop followed by clean leather, now I just use the YS to touch up... still with the felt and leather tho and I am happy with the edges, a good report from fergiebilly persuaded me to get one ( tho I bought two )
 
I'm a convert!:p

My red label Yellow lake hone arrived yesterday so i obviously had to try it out, it didn't take to long to lap to 1000 grit on some wet and dry as it wasn't in too bad a shape to start with. I had a razor that was close to needing a touch up, a 5/8ths O.G. &Co. Elmo, but i really wanted to see what this stone was capable of so i took it all the way back to around the 6-8K region with a slurried Welsh slate and then onto the Cnat with oil, which is my usual progression. Usually from the Cnat i finish on 1 micron lapping film then pasted strops and finally plain leather, this time i went from the Cnat onto the YL with mineral oil, light strokes and spent a while on it.

I didn't bother with any pasted strops after this as i wanted to feel the effect of the hone only so i stropped for 100 laps on plain leather and went to the shave.

I think that was probably the best straight shave i have had so far! I always aim for BBS and this edge made that quite effortless with zero irritation at all, smooth and sharp :cool:

I don't think i'll be needing my lapping film anymore, and i now have a natural finishing stone that didn't cost a small fortune.
 
Bazz said:
I'm a convert!:p

My red label Yellow lake hone arrived yesterday so i obviously had to try it out, it didn't take to long to lap to 1000 grit on some wet and dry as it wasn't in too bad a shape to start with. I had a razor that was close to needing a touch up, a 5/8ths O.G. &Co. Elmo, but i really wanted to see what this stone was capable of so i took it all the way back to around the 6-8K region with a slurried Welsh slate and then onto the Cnat with oil, which is my usual progression. Usually from the Cnat i finish on 1 micron lapping film then pasted strops and finally plain leather, this time i went from the Cnat onto the YL with mineral oil, light strokes and spent a while on it.

I didn't bother with any pasted strops after this as i wanted to feel the effect of the hone only so i stropped for 100 laps on plain leather and went to the shave.

I think that was probably the best straight shave i have had so far! I always aim for BBS and this edge made that quite effortless with zero irritation at all, smooth and sharp :cool:

I don't think i'll be needing my lapping film anymore, and i now have a natural finishing stone that didn't cost a small fortune.
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Interesting Finishing Capacity for a Welsh Slate Aint they..Glad You are Pleased with it..I Just Got an Escher Thuri for a Friend in the USA in the Post Today..Like Glass..Got it for Just Over 50 Notes..They Go for Crazy Money in the USA..I Have a Few Friends in the USA that Get SRs for Me & Send Em Over as a Present on the Customs Label..Saves Me Paying Import Taxes..Two Way Street for Us All.. :cool:

Billy
 
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