James Howarth & Sons Genuine Grecian Hone (180 x 32 x 29mm)

Size: 180 x 32 x 29mm weight: 413gr.
Density: XXXgr./cm³ / Estimated grit size: medium – fine > 4K – 9K
Usage: should be used with slurry, water
it can be used with glycerine and oil to buffer the contact and gain better results
Color: green-grey to olive-green, sometimes with typical swirled/banded structures in a
dark-grey or dark-blue. This banding sometimes looks like a swarfing or waves.
Other Names:
Llyn Idwal Stone, Grecian Stone, Grecian Oil Stone
Supplier/Distributor: James Howarth & Sons, Sheffield

About this specific stone:
This one is a labelled stone from James Howarth, Sheffield. Its a Llyn Idwal stone from its appearance and performance. It appears in a green-grey to olive-green color with some darker blue swirls. Actually these have been sold as a special Type of Quality named “Grecian Hone”. The Stones under this Term appear in older Literature as “Grecian Oil Stones”, these do not have their origin in Greece as this sometimes appear on the boards. It seems that from a point of view from today its not possible to restore the information why this term “Grecian Stone” was used. There are only rumors around that these should be a very fine variant of the Llyn Idwal stones.

Usage:
The Llyn Idwal stones should be used with slurry or plain water only. On the other hand the labelled stones
were named “Grecian Oil Stones” in the older Literature. Also the performance can be pushed a bit when a glycerin water mixture or oil is used on the stones. Interesting is also the performance of the Idwal Stones when water and a DMT created slurry is used. This gives the possibility to work in coarser regions above 4K. The stones with a thicker slurry work quite fast.

Honing/Touch Up with the Llyn Idwal:
I wouldn’t use a Llyn Idwal as a touch up stone, because most of the examples i owned did
not reached the last finishing stage in my point of view.

With slurry its possible to work after lower grits, also diluting the slurry until a pre-finish to finish phase depending on the individual stone. I like stones which are working in variable grits like the Belgian Stones or the Bavarian-Frankonian Stones. The Llynn Idwal Stones are such stones, also when their variation in grits is less wide then on the named ones.

personal shaving results (PSR):
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Evaluation:
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General Information on Llyn Idwall Stones:
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External Links

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More Information from the wetshaving boards:

other Literature/Information:

Bos, Henk
Grinding and Honing Part 3
INFO20M – 70 (ISSN: 1872-7824)
“Information for Ship and tool-lovers”
www.bosq.home.xs4all.nl
available in english and dutch