Thread: French Hones

Continuation of the story about the "pierre "aux croissants" of previous post:

First, I used 24h clear epoxy to save the stamp and sticker (I didn't trust using nail polish alone)

It took me a long time to flatten the bottom part of the stone smoothly, pretty hard stone!
The biggest problems were the chamfering, it took me a while to discover that the edges need to be VERY smooth,
the smallest pit, dip, ridge,... can ruin a razor's edge easily because of its hardness,
after figuring this out, things improved quite fast! My razor edges became sharper and sharper
The stone was very oily, and I wanted to use it with water, I bypassed tis by using a drop of dishwater soap, this giving a nice wet surface, not bothered anymore by the oil, cleaning the oil away at the same time.

My HHT's improved still further to an easy HHT 4, towards the 5, and a close, comfortable shave (even much better then last time)
Through the loupe I see a really nice polished bevel!
Still, not like my Jnat's, but I like to use this stone with water-glycerin in the future, should be even better...
Definitely above 10K stone!



A French hone that DOES come much closer to my Jnat's are these "Pierre du sud-ouest" or "Pierre d'italie",
one of them has the typical leaf - inclusions, but they all have the same kind of soft, smooth feel to it,
all giving also the same yellow-greenish slurry.

Also it is quite easy to hone on these stones, they are soft - mellow, but not too soft
The edge of my razor (same razor I've used to test "la pierre aux croissants", coticules and Jnat's)
is very sharp (bites like it's finished on a Jnat), but smooth, absolutely not harsh!
Shave was excellent, BBS!

Thanks again for your Update on the "Pierre aux Croissants", you know that i mentioned the correlation to the Pierre de Pyrenees....here are some samples i own of these type of stones....these are very hard stones and i takes a lot of work to lap them.

They show these crystal/metallic inclusions which look less fine then the "Special Stones"

I rated mine between 6k to near 10k depending on the stone itself. I prefer oil or glycerine on those...

Originally Posted by doorsch

Thanks again for your Update on the "Pierre aux Croissants", you know that i mentioned the correlation to the Pierre de Pyrenees....here are some samples i own of these type of stones....these are very hard stones and i takes a lot of work to lap them.

They show these crystal/metallic inclusions which look less fine then the "Special Stones"

I rated mine between 6k to near 10k depending on the stone itself. I prefer oil or glycerine on those...

Done with great pleasure!
And yes, absolutely! As I see these pics, and the striking resemblance (and hardness),
(I think) the pierre "Aux Croissants" tends to be more like a "pierre de Pyrenees" then a "La Lune",
the mention "concurrent" of "La lune" could possibly mean that these stones also had different grades?
Maybe "medium fine", "fine", "super fine" (like mine),...?

Being not as fine as my Jnat's, the estimated grit would be around 10K, maybe a bit finer, but not as much

Originally Posted by Fikira

Done with great pleasure!
And yes, absolutely! As I see these pics, and the striking resemblance (and hardness),
(I think) the pierre "Aux Croissants" tends to be more like a "pierre de Pyrenees" then a "La Lune",
the mention "concurrent" of "La lune" could possibly mean that these stones also had different grades?
Maybe "medium fine", "fine", "super fine" (like mine),...?

Being not as fine as my Jnat's, the estimated grit would be around 10K, maybe a bit finer, but not as much

Yesi think there were different Qualities available...also the fineness depends on how fine the stone is lapped..try to lapp it with a 400WD paper and see what happens....

Was a bit bored yesterday and wanted to show a little bit of the upcoming company profile about F. Ghelfi, Birroleau & Cie. (F.G.B.C.).

So have fun watching it, release date is within October 2015....

Great video Sebastian! You should immediately start a film business.....

Originally Posted by hatzicho

Great video Sebastian! You should immediately start a film business.....

Really? and give up playing with the stones!!

Originally Posted by alx

Really? and give up playing with the stones!!

I will take care of his stones so that he has the time to engage in his real profession.

Man the clip is Ausome - please make me one for my products ,Sebast , old buddy , old pal , my thrustfull frend .

Originally Posted by alx

Really? and give up playing with the stones!!

Oh ono, ill never give up the stones Alx ;-) this is a real passion ;-)