I started my honing on lapping films,
they were reliable and consistent and I could get a whole progression from bevel setter to finisher and everything in between for very little money.
On the downside they swarf up quite readily, need replacing regularly and have to be measured and cut to fit my acrylic block. Then there’s all the messing about with air bubbles and little tiny creases and folds that tend to pop up here and there in the film which I need to avoid with the razor. It’s a nuisance.
I started to finish my razors on natural stones for these reasons but kept the films for repair work or for when I periodically took my razors back to 5k, 8k, to give the edge a nice deep refresh before going to the finisher.
It caught my attention therefore, when I saw an ad on ETSY for a ‘King KDS 1K 6K combination stone.
The seller was John Fitzgerald who I’d also bought my lovely Kitta Jnat from a while back.
John said that this combination stone would be perfect for a bevel setter and for the type of deeper refresh I was looking for.
He told me that the 6k side was very smooth and that a razor would comfortably go from 1k bevel set straight to the 6k then from there straight to any finisher I wanted to use.
This sounded ideal, a cheap combo stone which could take my razor from bevel set, through a progression leaving it close enough to make the leap to my finishers.
So I bought it and tried sharpening a couple of my kitchen knives on it.
It seemed fine so this week I thought I’d take one of my Gold Dollar 66’s all the way back to the 1k and work my way up.
The 1K side is a water stone and needs 10mins of soaking and the 6K side is a splash and go.
I used a lighted jewellers loupe to check the scratch pattern along the way.
I gave it 10-20 half strokes each side on the 1k side then began about 50-60 lightening x strokes.
I felt a smoothness at around 10-20 x’s and lightened right up.
Next I went to the 6k and did similar except I probably did around 100 x strokes as I wanted to be sure I’d removed all the 1k scratches.
This wasn’t all that obvious through the loupe as the edge looked frosty and I couldn’t see any scratches in any direction.
The 6k felt very smooth and my last 20 laps were extremely light.
Next I slurried up my jnat with its nagura and gave it around 150 laps I’d guess on slightly diluting slurry.
I usually need around 50 laps but I thought I’d do more as I was coming up from 6k.
Again the edge just looked misty/frosty under the loupe and I couldn’t see any individual scratches but everything I could see looked nice and neat and no issues stood out.
Next I gave it 40 laps on linen and about 80 on leather.
The next morning before the shave I tried a HHT but it wasn’t really happening so I gave it more stropping but it wasn’t really catching the hanging hair.
I wasn’t too worried knowing that the shave test is the one that matters.
The shave was good but not great, but at least it shaved.
The razor was sharp but on the bottom rung or two of my acceptability ladder.
I pondered my next move.
Should I go all the way back to the 1k 6k progression?
Or should I just take it back to a diamond slurry on the jnat, then finish on a Nagura slurry?
Or should I just repeat yesterdays finishing on the jnat and Nagura slurry and take a little more time and care?
I went for this last option and spent around 10 mins on the Jnat with slurry taking good care.
This morning I shaved with it again.
A big improvement on yesterday. The shave was quick and smooth and now easily on the middle rung of my acceptability ladder.
I can get it a little sharper again if I go back to the jnat I feel so I may give it one more go.
But for the time being my honing set up is now pretty much complete.
Using one combo stone and a finisher I can set bevels, fix small chips and bring a razor from dull to shave ready.
I can also keep my kitchen knives sharp on them.
On the downside they swarf up quite readily, need replacing regularly and have to be measured and cut to fit my acrylic block. Then there’s all the messing about with air bubbles and little tiny creases and folds that tend to pop up here and there in the film which I need to avoid with the razor. It’s a nuisance.
I started to finish my razors on natural stones for these reasons but kept the films for repair work or for when I periodically took my razors back to 5k, 8k, to give the edge a nice deep refresh before going to the finisher.
It caught my attention therefore, when I saw an ad on ETSY for a ‘King KDS 1K 6K combination stone.
The seller was John Fitzgerald who I’d also bought my lovely Kitta Jnat from a while back.
John said that this combination stone would be perfect for a bevel setter and for the type of deeper refresh I was looking for.
He told me that the 6k side was very smooth and that a razor would comfortably go from 1k bevel set straight to the 6k then from there straight to any finisher I wanted to use.
This sounded ideal, a cheap combo stone which could take my razor from bevel set, through a progression leaving it close enough to make the leap to my finishers.
So I bought it and tried sharpening a couple of my kitchen knives on it.
It seemed fine so this week I thought I’d take one of my Gold Dollar 66’s all the way back to the 1k and work my way up.
The 1K side is a water stone and needs 10mins of soaking and the 6K side is a splash and go.
I used a lighted jewellers loupe to check the scratch pattern along the way.
I gave it 10-20 half strokes each side on the 1k side then began about 50-60 lightening x strokes.
I felt a smoothness at around 10-20 x’s and lightened right up.
Next I went to the 6k and did similar except I probably did around 100 x strokes as I wanted to be sure I’d removed all the 1k scratches.
This wasn’t all that obvious through the loupe as the edge looked frosty and I couldn’t see any scratches in any direction.
The 6k felt very smooth and my last 20 laps were extremely light.
Next I slurried up my jnat with its nagura and gave it around 150 laps I’d guess on slightly diluting slurry.
I usually need around 50 laps but I thought I’d do more as I was coming up from 6k.
Again the edge just looked misty/frosty under the loupe and I couldn’t see any individual scratches but everything I could see looked nice and neat and no issues stood out.
Next I gave it 40 laps on linen and about 80 on leather.
The next morning before the shave I tried a HHT but it wasn’t really happening so I gave it more stropping but it wasn’t really catching the hanging hair.
I wasn’t too worried knowing that the shave test is the one that matters.
The shave was good but not great, but at least it shaved.
The razor was sharp but on the bottom rung or two of my acceptability ladder.
I pondered my next move.
Should I go all the way back to the 1k 6k progression?
Or should I just take it back to a diamond slurry on the jnat, then finish on a Nagura slurry?
Or should I just repeat yesterdays finishing on the jnat and Nagura slurry and take a little more time and care?
I went for this last option and spent around 10 mins on the Jnat with slurry taking good care.
This morning I shaved with it again.
A big improvement on yesterday. The shave was quick and smooth and now easily on the middle rung of my acceptability ladder.
I can get it a little sharper again if I go back to the jnat I feel so I may give it one more go.
But for the time being my honing set up is now pretty much complete.
Using one combo stone and a finisher I can set bevels, fix small chips and bring a razor from dull to shave ready.
I can also keep my kitchen knives sharp on them.
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