bald as
ARKO! dealer & walking ECG
The C12k is the net slang for the fine Chinese river slate that is somewhere between 8 - 12k. It is quarried from the Guangxi area in China. It is an extremely hard stone very much like slate but apparently not a slate. Mine took hours to lap and I used many sheets of w/d paper and far too much energy. Mine is a very fine finishing stone.
@Draco Noir, Initially. I didn't have a Jnat but the idea of progressive slurry appealed to me so I purchased a pair of generic 3/8k and a 10k synthetic waterstones. I'm always prepared to experiment, I cut a series of 4cm slices off the stones to use as slurry stones. I lapped both sides of the Guangxi, chose the finest finishing side and used the other side for creating progressive synthetic slurries on the C12k.
With a synthetic used as a straight hone the striations are basically straight to the edge of the edge whereas with the slurry the abrasive while uniform [ish] in grit size now creates a finer finish and it is much like the frosted glass look of the nagura on a Jnat. I'm not concerned what the actual grit size is just that it is progressively finer and works significantly quicker than either a synthetic alone or the C12k on its own.
From the 10k synthetic slurry I go to the Coticule with baby oil.
In terms of pretty the Jnat edge wins hands down and the Coticule edge to me looks a lot like it was hit with a grinder. The Coticule edge though is superbly keen and sharp while wonderfully smooth. Hope that explains it
Steve
@Draco Noir, Initially. I didn't have a Jnat but the idea of progressive slurry appealed to me so I purchased a pair of generic 3/8k and a 10k synthetic waterstones. I'm always prepared to experiment, I cut a series of 4cm slices off the stones to use as slurry stones. I lapped both sides of the Guangxi, chose the finest finishing side and used the other side for creating progressive synthetic slurries on the C12k.
With a synthetic used as a straight hone the striations are basically straight to the edge of the edge whereas with the slurry the abrasive while uniform [ish] in grit size now creates a finer finish and it is much like the frosted glass look of the nagura on a Jnat. I'm not concerned what the actual grit size is just that it is progressively finer and works significantly quicker than either a synthetic alone or the C12k on its own.
From the 10k synthetic slurry I go to the Coticule with baby oil.
In terms of pretty the Jnat edge wins hands down and the Coticule edge to me looks a lot like it was hit with a grinder. The Coticule edge though is superbly keen and sharp while wonderfully smooth. Hope that explains it
Steve
And as you say the actual grit size isn't important and would be misleading BS in any case, its the result against your face that really matters....
So far so good and best of all not a single nick anywhere on my face throughout my shave, however I only have a small light irritation on the right side of my neck wasn't too bad after all it only small. You know what I'm gunna have another crack with the R41 again because I don't believe Freddy Krueger is going to touch me any more, because he looks very angry now why? well he hasn't seen a blood bath yet.
