Across several days, I put in a good amount of time working with an Imperia La Roccia razor hone. This particular example is the 'Premium' 12-15k edition. My Site - www.tomonagura.com My Etsy Shop - www.etsy.com/shop/tomonagura
My grandfather had some stones that looked and sounded EXACTLY like that one. He was born in 1902 and said he got them from a rock quarry in Oklahoma when he was a boy. He had some bench sized stones but mostly used a pocket sized one he carried EVERYWHERE! He never used water on them, but just spit on them. No clue what type of rock it was, I always assumed it was some sort of slate. He taught me to sharpen knives on those stones. It’s been so long that I don’t remember what kind of edge they gave.
Excellent write up. (video) I appreciate your approach, and that you covered all angles and options to using the stone before rendering your verdict. So we have an expensive book-end.
Unfortunately, a lot of people want something for nothing, and on top of that, they will see what they want to see, never mind just regular old biased observation. I got a Dragon's Tounge hone that came with a set of quartered Norton combination stones, and I use the slate for knives every once in a while, it cuts slow and is dense, hard, but easy to gouge, and I would estimate it at 6-8k, and have seen reviews and praises, then when experienced people get a hold of one, and give their findings, people get upset. Go figure. Nice work, that's a lot of work to go through, but it's better to know than have a question, if you ask me.
I appretiate your willingness to share your findings. I was about to buy this stone but something told me it was something weird with it. I saw a video of some guy talking marvels about imperia la roccia and the same guy appeared at their site! Surprising. So I decided to not buy the stone and make some research about this stone and then i found your video. Thank you very much for your work.
Mike Orsini just because the same name is on the box doesn’t mean the same stone is inside the box. Several people tried the stone in this video and nobody got a shaving edge. I may try another one of these another day to see if thete is any difference, but I suspect it’ll be the same story as the Chinese hones.
I had a similar problem with bad edges. Very frustrating when you spend time getting your razor edge close to finished then ruining at the very end. Thanks, l thought it was only me that had this problem.
This was a very awesome video. Full of great information. Thank you for taking the time (at the expense of your blades) to review this stone. I've been searching for another stone. A finisher, One a little bigger than the JNAT I purchased from you. With these videos I've been able to dial in my search. Thank you for saving me the extra money and time it would take with my limited knowledge. Not to mention saving my sons face from the trial and errors of testing. I do this for him. He has an eclectic taste that intrigues me to broaden my search for knowledge. Your videos aid with this. I'll be doing a little trial with a Gila once they become available again. Due to your review. Thank you again I can't say that enough. Monty
I have a question. I use a 4000, 8000, 12,000 wet stones. And a stone leveler to keep the stones flat. After honing on the 12000 grit the razor is sharp like a knife but not razor sharp. If I run the edge about a 1/4" above my skin on my arm. It will cut about 8% of the hair. I need to get to the next level. I don't use slurry stones. Do I need a higher grit stone or what type of slurry stone etc? Thanks for your channel.
Thank you for doing this. I just bought an ILR stone because Dr. Matt said this was a good stone. Your video show it is not. I wish I would of seen this before yesterday. Your scientific approach of using this stone then showing the results under your microscope certainly was telling. Keep going and helping us newbees.
@@garythornbury9793 losing $10 in shipping pales in comparison to the loss of time and effort invested in lapping it, along with the time and effort invested in making the edges it kills.
Mr. Keith, what type of Loupe portable Microscope are you using. I’ve tried several mostly from Amazon and I have not been satisfied so far. Kindly looking forward to your answer thanks 😊
Most of the time I use a 4x photography loupe made by Schneider, long out of production. Typically, that is all I ever really need. My microscope is an Olympus BHM.
You are not the first to says it causes scratches! I saw other 2 video ( Dr. MATTand avenrures in shaving) where they use it ti prive rhe stone is ok! But yiur video seems to invalidate all! Please what miscroscope did you use? I would like to see if I can buy it Tjanks for the video🎉
@@KeithVJohnson1 Thank I looked a lot of your videos and I think Dans Arkansas are the best for razors but I had to go for the 8 inch longness to use the dmt to flat perfectely. RIGHT? Could you make a video on Rh Preyeda translucent? I have one!🤔🫡 Thanks!!!
Mostly, it's personal preference and there are lots of choices. best thing to do is to have some guys hone several razors finished on several different stones so you can get a feel for what's what. My first 'finsiher' was a 12k Naniwa Super Stone, then a Coticule, then an Escher, and so on.. all good, all different.
Like always... Thanks great video I had this video... Finished a couple of razors and i didnt like it and sold ASAP... I found my old cnat better... Perhaps i was lucky with the cnat and unlucky with the ILR... Who knows... Again thanks
Its a natural... not even 2 ILRs are the same. Perhaps mine wasn't as good. I had a suehiro 20k and i sold it as well. Great stone but not for me and my edge preference. Thats the same with ILR... just not what i liked on my edges. Might be great for others
Over 300$ for post finishing stone... hard to justify when a nice jnat has a huge range and speed. I have a video on a small s20k... those are about 80$ and go great after a 12 k or 15k
I agree... i always wonder how much money difference there is between manufacturing a 1k vs 12k and 20k... especially when its the same brand and model... using same bonding!
Depends on your approach to making the hone. You can buy Alox of one type cheap and another type that is very expensive but both could be called 12k. And - the expensive stuff can get ridiculously expensive once you start tightening up the PSD specs. At some point you hit the wall known as diminishing returns but there's always another level and another price bracket on the horizon. You may be able to use the same binders and the same percentages of binder to abrasive but you will probably have to change a good part of the set up and finish - so lets say you have a 1k that took you 4 hr to create from start to finish, the 12k in that line might need 10x the amount of effort/time in-process. Plus, you may wind up losing a greater percentage of the pieces along the way.... So while you can make a 1k and a 12k for essentially the same amount of money, chances are..like, 9 out of 10 times - if you're doing it commercially and you want to make something worth talking about, your 12k is going to cost exponentially more than your 1k.
@@KeithVJohnson1 I didn't mean that you used it on a Thuri I have seen your videos where you have mentioned sealing one of the stone in your video with it. I meant what else do you use to seal stones in general with besides cashew laquer. I have been trying to find something about it on the forums but have came up with absolutely nothing. I only asked you because like I mentioned you have mentioned sealing a stone in some of your videos so I thought you may be a person that could offer some knowledge about what to use on to old lily white Washita stones I have that I want to protect the labels on so that they won't be destroyed from using the stones. I have managed to remove the labels so I could clean the stones now I want to reattach them to the stones and protect them with something I just don't know what to use that won't destroy the labels.
In the past I used a lot of stuff but not everything works on every label, so you have to test or you can ruin the label. I used some kind of paint once, a type of clear Krylon, I forget which one but it worked ok but I would not suggest trying it without testing it first. Nail polish can dissolve inks sometimes, and make it blur or run. Same with some Lacquers, I think the solvent in the paint is bad for the ink in the labels. Plus, if you use oil on the stones, that can affect whatever you seal the label with - so there's there. The best suggestion is to test test test and test some more. Or just save the label on the side.
Thanks for making this video. I was about to buy this stone, but not any more. So I'm wondering if you can give me some advice. I picked up a Boker Elite from Lynn Abrahams, and I'm wondering what finishing stone you'd recommend to refresh the edge. I've never honed before but I can't see me takin too long to learn. I'd just love to know what stone you'd recommend I try out!!
Hi Mark, and thank you for watching. If you liked the edge that Lynn made for you, then I'd reccommend contacting him to find out what he used as a finisher. Then you'll know where to start looking.
Keith V. Johnson - since you're offering lol maybe you can tell me if I'm on the right track? My thoughts for when I need to refresh the edge are; -Naniwa 12k -chromium oxide strop -leather strop Is that pretty much a safe method, or should I add, or remove a step?
I said - if you get stuck. Your not stuck. lol. Lots of things work, including your list. But - each edge is different and until you know how the edge you liked was finished you are shooting in the dark. Start at the beginning, call Lynn and start at square 1.
I had the same thought. The color of the slurry looked like the "12k" chinese stone i own. Which, btw I use as a substitute for a 3K grit stone in my progression.
I bought the premium stone and it chips the edges. Even following Dr Matt’s method. The ILR is truly useless in my book. Its too bad I didn’t watch this before making the purchase.
After reading/watching some good reviews I decided to give it a go. I tried to buy from ebay price 40 dollars, shipping almost 25 dollars and important charges 20 dollars. I think seller thought he is selling jnat 😂
'Shobudani Kiita Nashiji Namazu LV4+' just bought this on ebay for 80$ with shipping. I know nothing about jnat but I bid in reflecs and highest bidder cancel his bid in last minuts I hope it was good buy.
Almost hit the "buy it now" button on one before finding this video. Going to see if I can find a purple welsh now. Sofar all I found are sets, and I just want the one stone.
Sera ,sono Italiani e abito vicino la Liguria ho una ardesia si è una pietra buona ..ma solo se rasoio è in geometria...per il resto..Bah...meglio una 3000.E una ardesia è buona per lucidare e rifinire.
I wish to visit Liguria someday, Genoa, the coastline. Most slate is not all that good for honing razors, it's very difficult to find slate of that quality.
I know that this is probably a dumb question and probably bordering on blasphemy but here goes. Say you have one of these and it has been lapped properly. It's super slow to the point that you can't see any progress being made BUT, it's not leaving deep scratches or chips in the edge. Could a person use a nagura slurry and maybe get something done with this otherwise useless rock?
Drives me nuts when guys say they get a great shave off crap like this it's like a little boy getting his first pube hair and calling him self a man I say sit down son you got a long way to go
Hahaha i better sit down. I have been impressed with the edge been getting. Not to say don't respect the opinions and thorough review from Keith. Really enjoyed the information. Irrespective though of cost, of the steel, the stones used. If it shaves to the shavers liking it's a good edge. As always with shaving YMMV. Best wishes gents
