Awesome "found" stone passaround signup

Is it still to late to get in? would love to try it. Vermont

Dundak, you're in! Actually that works out great, since we had a drop-out. Dave couldn't take the anticipation so he just decided to trade me for his very own Kuro stone, lol. Just so this is out there, these stones are of very limited availability at the moment and not sure if I'll ever find any more so I'm probably not going to be able to get one to everyone who wants one forever. IMO they are on par with my Y/G Escher edges with respect to shave quality for sure and are WAY more rare.

Vic, you're way more patient than me, if one of you guys were doing the passaround of this stone I'd be chomping at the bit! Haha. The edges from this stone seriously are out-friggin'-standing and it's almost ridiculously easy to hone with. Very very user-friendly stone, whether the user is the guy shaving, the guy honing, or both.


I'm going to add the updated passaround lists to the first post also if possible.

Thanks...PM me when you need my mailing info etc

First post updated with current passaround order. U.S. stone is "out for delivery" to GolFisHunt.

The Kuro has arrived safe and sound. The packaging was well done Eric. I'll play around with it this evening and post my impressions.

Cool, have fun! I think you'll really like the feedback, not to mention the shave. I think a lot of guys are going to be very surprised by this stone.

If after it gets to Washington it desires to continue to Alaska, let me know. Frank already has my address.

I am starting to like slurry on it more and more. Hard to beat my HHT straight off the stone on plain water though.

Yeah I prefer the slurry feedback personally, and if you run with a lighter slurry the HHT is almost as good as with straight water. Regardless you're only talking HHT4 vs. HHT5 at worst case. I can get HHT5 almost every time on a light slurry.

BTW just finished my shave-off between my Y/G Escher edge and my Kuro edge. Two pass shaves with both - one WTG, one ATG. Escher left side, Kuro right side. Result is that the shaves were very nearly indistinguishable other than the fact that the Escher edge was a little "sticky" due to the super high polish. Both outstanding edges and very very smooth and comfortable. Both gave BBS and alum block sting on both was nearly identical - about 0.5 out of 10. BBS test was baby girl approved (if I don't get a true BBS she gets pretty ticked when I nuzzle her cheeks or neck with my chin or cheek, lol). I can safely say that if the Escher razor didn't have that tendency to stick to my face (like a wedge can) that I don't think I'd be able to tell these edges apart in a blind test. Both have the same ease of shave WTG, about the same closeness of shave, and the same seeming ability to glide smoothly and comfortably over the skin ATG, only taking the hair, and not irritating the skin really at all. Man I love this stone!

JBjunior said:

If after it gets to Washington it desires to continue to Alaska, let me know. Frank already has my address.

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If you're willing to cover the extra shipping (whatever it costs over the $6 flat rate to get it to you and to get it to the next person) that'd be fine by me. Would shipping be cheaper from Europe? If you do get it maybe some of the Canadian guys might want it while it's up that way?

Cool, I'm first in line !!!

PM me when you require my shipping address. That stone looks gorgeous , can't wait...

eKretz said:

If you're willing to cover the extra shipping (whatever it costs over the $6 flat rate to get it to you and to get it to the next person) that'd be fine by me. Would shipping be cheaper from Europe? If you do get it maybe some of the Canadian guys might want it while it's up that way?

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Everything is the same price to here as it is to the lower 48 when shipping USPS.

Oh sweet! I thought it would be silly expensive since everyone is always saying how expensive it is to ship to Alaska on the stupid reality shows. You're in.

I did have a chance to rub a few razors on your rock last night. First was a Henckels near wedge that had a decent coti edge. The Kuro make short work of replacing the scratchs from the coti. After stropping HHT's were in the 3 to 4 range. Next was a Morley that needed to have the bevel reset. I used a Chosera 1k for this, then followed with the Kuro. I started with a medium slurry (about all I could generate) using the supplied rubber and half laps (about 50 or so) then diluted the slurry for another 50 laps and finished on water until it started to feel "sticky". Again, after stropping, solid HHT 4. I also played with a quarter hollow CVH No. 23 that I had a so-so Arkansas edge. This one, as you may expect, took a bit longer to finish with. HHT 3-4.
Like others have mentioned, I found the stone to have a silky feel under my fingers and I very much enjoyed the feed back on both slurry and water. Although my experience is quite lacking, it is easily the fastest stone above 1k that I have had the pleasure to play with.
I used the Henckels and the Morley for this mornings shave. I found they performed about on par with a mediocre coti edge, maybe not quite as comfortable. Please keep in mind that I have had zero experience with slate hones and have less than two hours with this one. Also, yesterdays shave was with one of the best Arkansas finished coti edges that I have been able to produce, so the Kuro had fairly stiff competition. I'll spend some more time with it today and report tomorrow.

Dave, try an edge finished on light slurry without a dilution too. Those are my favorite. Nice and keen but still very comfortable. The edge gets keener but slightly less comfortable on a straight water/dilution honing. It isn't going to be as gentle as a very good coti edge, but a good bit keener in my experience.

You may need to adjust your technique a little too if you're used to shaving with a coti edge. I keep the razor's spine barely off of my skin when shaving with an edge from this stone.

eKretz said:

Dave, try an edge finished on light slurry without a dilution too. Those are my favorite. Nice and keen but still very comfortable. The edge gets keener but slightly less comfortable on a straight water/dilution honing. It isn't going to be as gentle as a very good coti edge, but a good bit keener in my experience.

You may need to adjust your technique a little too if you're used to shaving with a coti edge. I keep the razor's spine barely off of my skin when shaving with an edge from this stone.

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Will do! On the stone now. Thanks for the tip, Eric.

One more thing, since the stone, like many slates, has the tendency to sort of "suck" the razor to the stone, be sure to make an extra effort to use very very light pressure for the final 10 laps or so. If there's a lot of stiction I will sometimes add some water to the slurry, and sometimes let the slurry go a little dryer. Which way depends on the razor. If finishing on plain water, let the stone go a little more toward the drier side. I find that very light pressure for final finishing is very important on a softer stone like this, and that suction/stiction can sometimes make things a bit more difficult.

Does this hone leave a sharp, but crispy edge by nature? The vermont slate I picked up can get you to dumb sharp, but it is not the smoothest ever.

Not even close in my experience. I find it very smooth. It feels exactly the same as my Y/G Escher, if not better. It's not a coticule, but people talk about how comfortable Escher/Thuri edges are all the time, and I consistently get edges that I feel are just as good as or a bit better than my Y/G Escher, and a good notch better than my darker Celebrated Water Hone Thuri. I'm guessing Dave just needs to tweak his process/technique a bit.

When I first started using this stone I was absolutely dumbfounded how good of a shave it gave (I found the raw stone in/on the ground for crying out loud). Thinking it had to be a fluke and I just got a lucky edge, I rehoned my razor every time I shaved for weeks just to make sure I wasn't crazy.

Maybe Gabe or Alex will add their experience also if they see this.

I also found it to provide a comfortable shave. Just not cot I comfy. This mornings honing session resulted in a marked improvement in the overall shave quality. As Eric suggested, it was my lack of familiarity with this type of stone that produced a substandard result. If I weren't such an upstanding guy, it may not be seen again!