Heavenly Hones Here!

[Jan]

A perfect leather hone is surely very useful tool.

• Adhesive rubber feet may ensure necessary clearance above the bench also.
  
• What concerns hone pre-loading with honing compound, I think it may be good to have each hone dedicated to specific compound grain size. The leather may by pre-impregnated with light machine oil.
  

[Mark Reich]

OK, I'll use my favorite compound, 16um PDP diamond, unless directed otherwise.

I'll send the first batch no later than Tuesday morning, and you can use them up before you decide the value.

I know that could take months. The more accurately you use it the longer it will last!

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Mr. Jan, you can apply larger grit compound without concern, but you can clean the leather and make it like new if you want finer compound. If you want to send it back, I'll re-surface it for free if necessary. Not a big deal for me.

The carrier in the compound is all I've ever used. The compound doesn't come off easily, and it keeps the leather in good condition. The leather doesn't dry out or anything.

You can put anything under the hone if you need more clearance. Another 3x8 stone works well. Especially a DMT.

[Ken S]

Mark,

Please check your forum messages.
Thanks.
Ken

[EOU]

Anything that Reich Precision has a hand in we're interested. Sounds like a great idea Mark and we want two. How much money and where and when do we send it?

[Mark Reich]

Hello Gentlemen, Thank You for your kind words and interest! I did get some hones put together, but I neglected to ask for addresses.   

Also, I need to emphatically state that this is not the way I should have gone about this. We can't just have folks advertising their wares on the open forum.

The powers that be are allowing this to stand, but they see this for what it is. I'm not trying to make money, and this is more of a test run than anything. I basically need some confirmation that this will work as well for y'all as it does for me.

So, everyone who wants to participate, please PM your addresses. For those who have, I plan on getting yours in the mail today.

Pricing is of no concern to me at this time. I trust we will figure it out eventually as long as everyone is happy with the performance.

Thanks a bunch,
-Mark

[Mark Reich]

Gentlemen, All orders shipped this morning.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind-

Rubber feet- Shop now so you'll have them. Look Here for extra clearance type. Lowes or Home Depot type stores probably carry all kinds. If you have a 3x8 DMT or Atoma, little cabinet door bumpers work great, and you can stack stones for clearance.

The hones are going to have a lot of draw (almost sticky) at first, and need to be broken in properly. This just means it's better to start out with bigger knives (kitchen knives), so you use the whole surface evenly. Don't forget to spin the hone 180* frequently. It only takes about 5-10 passes to touch up an edge, especially at first. The leather should be looking and feeling smoother within a handful of knives. 

It hardly takes ANY pressure to positively affect the edge. It doesn't take much pressure to negatively affect the edge and the leather.

For the sake of the hone and your feelings, please take your time at first. Being very deliberate and going in slow motion will definitely reduce nicks and slices of the hone.   

After 25 or so uses, you can redistribute the compound with a VERY light mist of water, and circular rubbing with a finger. It's quick and easy. Should take <10 seconds. After 2 or 3 times, you may notice the hone getting dirty.

When the hone needs cleaning and fresh compound, Lexol Leather Cleaner (from Tandy or Amazon) is all I ever use. No "conditioners" or anything. Any type of oil will almost surely kill your hone. 

Best storage- in a ziplock.

[Rupert Lucius]

Mark

Thank you - for your efforts and knowledge in ref to the "Heavenly Hones".

"When the hone needs cleaning and fresh compound, Lexol Leather Cleaner (from Tandy or Amazon) is all I ever use. No "conditioners" or anything. Any type of oil will almost surely kill your hone." What compound?

On to Blade (Atlanta)  and then back to So. Dakota, finalizing and finishing up for the "Buffalo Chip" event (Sturgis).

You will be a busy busy man.

Rupert

[Mark Reich]

Yes Sir, Mr. Rupert. I'm about to lose my marbles with everything that's going on. I'm not bored!

I applied two coats of my longstanding favorite compound, 16um (1000 grit) poly diamond, water base emulsion, to each hone. The first coat took 22-23 drops, the second coat took 17-18 drops. The emulsion is fairly viscous, so the drops are big.

To give you some perspective, 40 drops on seven 3x8" hones took almost exactly one ounce of compound. Not too bad really. That's only about $5 worth of compound per hone.

It gets considerably better with the second application. Doesn't take as much compound, and it lasts probably close to twice as long because most of the diamonds from the first coat are still there, and the leather is broken in.

It will be fun to see how long these hones remain effective. I put about 5x as much compound on each hone as Ken Schwartz puts on one of his kangaroo hones. We had a very lengthy discussion on it this morning! 

Ken and I can analyze for hours. I know it sounds totally crazy to virtually everyone, but we were figuring how many pieces of grit per square inch between 16um compound and his finest compound, which is .005um. 5 nanometers! Think of that! You can almost polish DNA with it. 

Over 3 m-m-m-m-million grit! Over a trillion pieces of grit in a 2oz bottle.

Kinda mind blowing, but I'm a lot more concerned about how many pieces of 45 micron diamond there are in a bottle. And 80 micron. Got a bottle of each on the way, plus another bottle of 16um. 

[EOU]

Received our hones and have already put them to use. We expected an excellent product from Reich Precision and that's what we got. Very well put together.  We know from our previous discussions with Mark that he has  spent years studying and experimenting with many different types of leather and slurries/pastes and we are all very fortunate to be able to benefit from his efforts. Thank you very much Mark! We'll get back with some of our results once we get set up.

[Mark Reich]

Thanks a bunch, Gentlemen! I'm honored with such status, and very grateful for the kind words! 

I'm super happy with everyone's initial impression. Normally I tend to waste time making things "perfect", but I really tried to cut labor to a minimum, without sacrificing Any performance. I'm glad to know the level of finish is appropriate.

I hope everyone figured out how to achieve optimum clearance with minimal effort. I know that's something best left to individual interpretation. 

I'm slightly anxious about determining how well this compound works for y'all, but only that I hope it works. Take your time getting used to it and discovering how it fits into your routine.

Please try the suggestions listed above, and feel free to discuss any facet whatsoever.

Looking forward to the discussion!

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Pete! I'm sorry, I was focused on the number of loaded hones. Are you sure you want plain hones?

I just received two brand new diamond emulsions, in even coarser grits. How about 30um or 80um?!!

I haven't even tried them yet, but I sure am looking forward to it!