Too sharp 
I decided to resurface one of my street urchins yesterday, a 5/8" Bengall that has seen many faces over its lifetime. I wanted to use this blade as an all natural Arkansas Soft, Hard, Translucent and Surgical black experiment with oil.
The bevel wasn't damaged with chips but took a good effort regardless to reach a true bevel as the Soft is a slow cutter even though it is a reasonably coarse stone. Once the bevel was correct the Hard refined the edge quickly. There is much debate about which is finer the translucent or the surgical black. By tongue test my translucent is much finer/smoother compared to the SB yet the actual evidence on the blade places the SB as a finer finishing hone. Based on my previous usage I went from the Hard to the Translucent and the edge refined further. I purchased my SB as a tester as it is only 4"x2"x.5" and is a bit of a pain to use. I didn't use x strokes as there really isn't enough hone surface. Circles and back and forth strokes worked wonderfully and the SB worked the edge quickly. Between each stone I gave 3 laps [gentle] on a clean linen paddle strop I made. This step really helps get the edge of the edge straight.
I used a reasonably thick sewing machine oil and that was actually better than a thinner oil. The coarser stone benefited from the slight extra cushioning. The stone doesn't need to be flooded, just enough to be seen as a slight film.
The edge off the SB was really nice under the loupe so after removing any oil I gave it 100 laps on leather and shaved with it last night. The feel of the blade was so sharp and so smooth. I'm really impressed. The honing didn't take any longer for me than my normal progression [after bevel set].
After use the oil was removed from the hones with straight dish washing liquid and allowed to dry. I really like oil on the correct stones for honing.
I decided to resurface one of my street urchins yesterday, a 5/8" Bengall that has seen many faces over its lifetime. I wanted to use this blade as an all natural Arkansas Soft, Hard, Translucent and Surgical black experiment with oil.
The bevel wasn't damaged with chips but took a good effort regardless to reach a true bevel as the Soft is a slow cutter even though it is a reasonably coarse stone. Once the bevel was correct the Hard refined the edge quickly. There is much debate about which is finer the translucent or the surgical black. By tongue test my translucent is much finer/smoother compared to the SB yet the actual evidence on the blade places the SB as a finer finishing hone. Based on my previous usage I went from the Hard to the Translucent and the edge refined further. I purchased my SB as a tester as it is only 4"x2"x.5" and is a bit of a pain to use. I didn't use x strokes as there really isn't enough hone surface. Circles and back and forth strokes worked wonderfully and the SB worked the edge quickly. Between each stone I gave 3 laps [gentle] on a clean linen paddle strop I made. This step really helps get the edge of the edge straight.
I used a reasonably thick sewing machine oil and that was actually better than a thinner oil. The coarser stone benefited from the slight extra cushioning. The stone doesn't need to be flooded, just enough to be seen as a slight film.
The edge off the SB was really nice under the loupe so after removing any oil I gave it 100 laps on leather and shaved with it last night. The feel of the blade was so sharp and so smooth. I'm really impressed. The honing didn't take any longer for me than my normal progression [after bevel set].
After use the oil was removed from the hones with straight dish washing liquid and allowed to dry. I really like oil on the correct stones for honing.