I’m … skeptical

I understand completely! Back in April, I managed to get a 250nm nanocloth edge on the Bismarck. I did this by refreshing the edge using softer, less abrasive water stones from my collection, adding more edge trailing strokes, and stropping between the 8K and 12K, between the 12K and 250nm, and after the 250nm. I did not expect much, but I was stunned by how good this edge was, and how amazing the razor shaved. I decided that the slurry from the softer stones was a key factor in the result I achieved. Since then, I have been playing with using slurry to dampen forces and provide more gentle abrasion at the edge. This seems to have worked wonders on all edges that I have produced. I’ve spent a lot of time doing sharpness tests and microscope analysis to help verify overall improvement. The only time I don’t use slurry now is on final polishing on very hard stones (e.g. Black Arkansas, Jnats, etc.), and I have a ways to go to learn how far I can push an edge on these types of stones.

The edge on my Bismarck now, is a Jnat edge from a new stone that I received in August. Perhaps if I compared the previous synthetic edge to the new one I could tell a difference, but really, I can’t. Once you get a fine edge on this razor it transforms from “meh” to amazing.