Testing.

Thanks for the detail shot Keith. Looks awesome. I was planning to buy a grey strata since I am getting small discount for the dud I got but I think I will change to a Gila now. Even if just for the looks.

Alum of Potash said:

I still would like to try one of the coarser stones. But these do look beautiful. By "aggressive" do mean sharp?

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I don't think in terms of sharp so I have no point of reference. Aggressiveness, refinement and cutting efficiency I understand.

When you say aggressive do you mean how the stone removes steel or how the razor off the stone removes everything?

The latter.

Bayamontate said:

I don't think in terms of sharp so I have no point of reference. Aggressiveness, refinement and cutting efficiency I understand.

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Thanks. Looks like I'm more of a dualist. Aggressiveness and cutting efficiency I'll consider sharp, the downside being harshness. Refinement I'll consider smooth, the downside being dullness. Don't want to remove too much skin in any case. By "less pressure sensitive feedback," I suppose you are referring to the blade on the face. How does the blade on the stone feel? Is it softer or harder than the Apache Strata? I've found the AS rather smooth and the Apache Red rather sandy.

I mean less sensitive pressure feedback on the stone. On the AS light pressure while finishing gets you nice, near mirror polish, too much pressure while honing will get you scratches. On the Gila, this is the case but to a lesser degree.

Thanks again. I really like a light touch on the AS. Sounds like this one has a little more latitude.

First test - I'm impressed. Haven't worked up an edge to shave test off it yet but the prelim run was sterling.
Terry's onto something here I think. I like the Strata, the Red is ok but the feedback is weird to me - but, I see this Gila's capabilities being more in line with what I want from a stone.

I'm finding all of these old thread on these stones, lol. I ordered the exact piece the green stone with the white vertical streaks in it was cut from (far left in the main picture). I've been talking to kcb5150 about it since he has it now, but I'd love to hear if you guys had learned any tricks in your time with the stone? Particularly where did you start with the surface preparation? I have my AS and AR at a literal mirror finish, and they still generate visible swarf within the first ten passes. I tend to keep my razors harder, in the 62-64HRC range, so if any of you guys have tested with anything in that range, that would be wonderful to hear.

Honestly, I very much enjoy my Strata and Red (I've had them a month or so and am just starting to really learn them now), and Terry is also sending me what he calls a 'purple' stone to mess with on my kitchen knives (he said the razor guys didn't like the 'gritty' feel of it)...but the one I'm most excited about getting is the Black Gila.

There are no tricks really, priority #1 is a lap the scratches it comes with down. I used 200 and 400 SIC powder and it took care of that quickly. I then cleaned up the surface with a well worn 600 DMT and bought her up with BBW. I had a green Gila which I liked a lot and I'm currently using a brown cut from the same slab as Gamma's, loving that too. The feedback on the Gila is top-rate, fun to use.

Yep -that Gila is pretty sweet alright.

Finally bit the bullet and am lapping mine to delete some fine scratches and the odd ultra shallow pothole on one end. It's flat at least, just need to cut into it a touch. Have been using a smaller rectangle of surface within the larger so it'll be nice to have it all going. I am getting some sic tomorrow. Way too hard to do this solely on fixed grits

Mine is putting up a respectable challenge to inevitable defeat on 220 sic. My piece had pits that had to be deleted though. Some deep scratches on one long edge also. The scratches are deleted and the pits are at the point where they are pretty much flush now, I just need to wipe the remains out before I start bringing the surface back up.