Thread: Sparkley hone that really performs!!!

I'm not sure what this is guys, but it sure does a nice job. This stone gives a pretty much non-existent scratch pattern. Oddly, it still seems like it must be a pretty fast cutter. 100 strokes on a 1200 grit India, 60 strokes on this thing, 30 leather, exceptional shave. I know it's an odd progression but the keenness markers were there with only this. Used on a hollow ground blade, it cut hairs with no pressure silently. They just fell. Completely new experience to this guy.lol.

Measures 8x1 7/8 and came with a chunk of Arkansas that I thought was a slurry stone, but I haven't figured out how to use it yet, or why it'd be necessary. Seriously took me 10 minutes. Which is an all time, complete luck type of honing experience for me. It usually takes me at least an hour, and sometimes days...lol So it's possible it wasn't the hone, and just a lucky day, but I can tell you I've got SR's I've spent days trying to refine that don't shave as well as this one did.

It does give off a purple slurry, but it's pretty hard and I didn't lap it to completely flat. No picture can accurately show the sparkle factor on this thing. It's like a disco ball. lol. Otherwise in the dim light, it looks dull grey. But even a little bit of light and it's sparkling again.

I responded over on RazorAndStone also.

It looks like a Lynn Melynyn or very similar slate hone, mine performs very much like you describe. Mine is markedly purple even dry and very purple with slurry.

I bought the three hone set ( Dragons Tongue, Lynn Melynyn and black hone) from the UK Ebay seller, my very dark green/black 15k (his estimate) stone has the disco ball effect also.

+1 for the Lynn Melynlyn mine performs just like your description, color, slurry, nice one!!

My vote goes to the Belgian Blue.

Originally Posted by woodsmandave

My vote goes to the Belgian Blue.

Belgian Blue is a slow cutting stone even with slurry in the 4k range, i dont think that would give a smooth shave at all!!

Originally Posted by Martin103

Belgian Blue is a slow cutting stone even with slurry in the 4k range, i dont think that would give a smooth shave at all!!

I have a belgian blue/coticule combo, and I've found the blue side to be a fast cutter with slurry, and at least an equally fine finisher as the coticule without slurry, only much, much slower. But don't take my word for it - some of the guys here (or at coticule.be - I forget) did a study on just this subject, and came to the same conclusion as I did.

Also, the "sparkly" look to it when dry tipped me off. Some coticules, and the BBW, shimmer in light due to the garnet crystals. My creamy le dressante does not shimmer, but I had one before that really did. the BBW side of the le dressante does shimmer, and is purple, and gives purple slurry.

Originally Posted by woodsmandave

I have a belgian blue/coticule combo, and I've found the blue side to be a fast cutter with slurry, and at least an equally fine finisher as the coticule without slurry, only much, much slower. But don't take my word for it - some of the guys here (or at coticule.be - I forget) did a study on just this subject, and came to the same conclusion as I did.

Also, the "sparkly" look to it when dry tipped me off. Some coticules, and the BBW, shimmer in light due to the garnet crystals. My creamy le dressante does not shimmer, but I had one before that really did. the BBW side of the le dressante does shimmer, and is purple, and gives purple slurry.

I was just going by personal experienced, if you have BBW thats equally to the coticule i could see that possible since naturals vary
a lot, that said the traditional BBW is around the 4k range, and the non- existent scratch pattern is another good clue on it being a
LM.

Originally Posted by Martin103

I was just going by personal experienced, if you have BBW thats equally to the coticule i could see that possible since naturals vary
a lot, that said the traditional BBW is around the 4k range, and the non- existent scratch pattern is another good clue on it being a
LM.

I've seen the BBW referenced as around a 4k stone before, too. I don't know why some people think that. I know some people do bevel setting on a BBW and finish on the coticule, but I think they do that so as not to waste the valuable coticule side - not because a combo stone is like a 4/8 norton. But the only difference between a BBW and a coticule is the quantity of garnet crystals contained within. 20-30% in the BBW, 30-40% in the coticule. In my mind, that makes the BBW a slower cutter, but not something lower in grit. You should read the study done on this subject, it's very interesting. I can't attest to the scratch pattern, but some people might look at the bevel of the coticule and say that there's no scratch pattern there, either. I wouldn't say that, but some would...

It depends on the hardness of the stone, I've got a few BBW's with one being very purple and they are all very soft and easy to lap, my Lynn Melynyn is much harder to lap.
I also have tried shaving straight off the BBW it was very good and on par with a Coticule.

I'll try and take some pictures of my Lynn Melynyn and my purple BBW side by side and post them later today

Honing isn't really my thing (I do it, and JaNorton made me feel kind of confident doing it, but it doesn't occupy my thoughts when I'm not standing in front of a rock). So when I got this hone with a large lot of razors (divide the whole batch evenly and I think this hone cost me $4), I wrote it off as a synthetic barbershop hone and never really thought about it much. I did use it to get a workable edge a couple of times on problem blades, and it seemed to do a great job with that. I've never really used it though.

So I came across this thread just because it was sidebarred on the front page.

The little purple hone I've got is purple. It sparkles. It easily makes very purple slurry. Is this something considerably nicer than I thought it was?


(Dry, in sunlight)

(In sunlight, showing the sparkles)

(Wet, in sunlight)