Attention Nakayama Users

I was wondering how many of the Nakayama users/owners are reluctant to lapp their Beautiful Japanese rock? I myself find it hard to do so, because I don't want to loose the Kanji on it. I use this stone as intended, as a finisher and sparingly. It is bar none the best finisher I've ever used. It gives my razors that velvet squeegee feeling. I do have Shapton, Escher, Coticule, Naniwa, Chinese 12k, and an array of Barber hones. I'd have to say that the Escher comes closest out of all of them.
Escher puts a nice smooth edge on your blade. My Nakayama remains true. I check it with a straight edge, but I know the day will come when I'll have to do it. How many of you are in a similar situation? How many have just thrown caution to the breeze and lapped it already?

My Nakayama is 2 sided. Stamps are on the widest side but I mainly use the narrower side. I have kept pics of the stamps as you recommend.

I do not use it with a slurry. I can't see the point after a coticule or an Escher.

How do you know the original kanji wasn't already lapped off and someone scribbled it back on with a blue sharpie?

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Originally Posted by hoglahoo

How do you know the original kanji wasn't already lapped off and someone scribbled it back on with a blue sharpie?

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I trust O_S and his judgement. Mine doesn't look look like someone did it with a sharpie, but point taken....

I took a dmt to mine and funny enough it wasn't flat also a sort of skin fell off giving me a clearer looking stone and some karasu marks appeared on the bottom of the stone which made it really exciting, at first I though they were glazing marks but no. I also has a much finer and softer feeling than before. I would go for it just take pics and lap away, one other thing is my stone has maru hana stamps on the bottom proving it is a legit stone.

Mine had some chips so I lapped it after I had taken some pictures to remind me of how it looked when I got it, performance wise it got much better after the lapping.

I lapped mine after a bit of thought, but I'm glad I did. I checked the flatness of it before I did, and it was a bit off, but nothing drastic. But, seeing as I'm anal about those things I needed it perfectly flat. :D

I lost the kanji on it, but I took plenty of photos of it before hand. It was hard (emotionally I mean) to lap at first, but I bought it to be a finishing hone, not just a pretty stone. Besides, it's still a very pretty stone, you just don't have all those characters in the way obstructing the view! :p

My personal opinion is if it needs to be lapped, lap it.

But it seems that you gain some enjoyment from the aesthetics of the stone with the Kanji, nothing wrong with that so long as the stone is flat.

I lapped mine off right away to make sure the stone was true.

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Originally Posted by Visibility

My personal opinion is if it needs to be lapped, lap it.

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I agree. I absolutely love the look of the kanji, and it really hurt to lose it. But I took pictures and didn't look back. I like honing with a Nakayama even more than I like looking at it. And I like looking at it a lot.

The issue with me wasn't the stone being flat, it was dead flat. But it was glazing with use. My Asagi didn't glaze up with one razor, but with many razors, it lost some of its cut and feel. Not too much, but with stones this fine, a little is a lot, to me.

When I got my first Nakayama, it was a revelation, and I literally re-polished every razor I had on it. Over time with a dozens of razors, I tried keeping the surface clean with a Nagura. Over several cleanings, I had faded the kanji just by rubbing with the Nagura. Finally, I just used 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to clean it, and lost all the kanji. :boohoo: On the positive side, the lapping really brought out the color of the stone after so much use. :tu

Fortunately, my Asagi had a clear Maruka stamp on one end, which I protected when I sealed the edges of the stone with Japanese lacquer. That's enough for me, I guess.

I'd love to say I'm all performance and no looks on all tools but I would be a hypocrite....so you "kanji keepers"....more power to you.

I have the cleanest cordless drill in town, though I did take the stickers off ;)

Well, one approach would be to get yourself two of them:

Attachment 29960

ACK!!! I'm still saving up for just one Nakayama!! I love my Oohira stone but it is not quite a finisher, shaved off it but not the best shave. I'm of the take pics before lapping, I don't need more collection hobbies :p

I've never lapped mine , and it works just fine . I use it only as a finishing hone , so it doesn't get much wear .

I've lapped mine once, after about 120 razors. I use mine with no slurry, usually after something in the 12k range.

If you are using with water and no slurry whatsoever is produced; the stone will glaze. If you are using and stone slurry is produced it will wear.

These I think we can say are facts.

In fact;
any, every, and all sharpening stones being put to use will need to be dressed and/or lapped on a regular basis. When and how often are dependent on usage.

It is not a fact that all awasedo are given an egg wash film to seal them. New stones cut from remaining stockpiles are probably not treated on the face with anything.

but the old ones were. If it was processed when the mine was operational, when accreditation to a particular place only was possible; it is an old one. This is the skin described by Memorael.

Man am I glad that I'm not the only crazy in this wonderful brotherhood!!! I've been looking at mine for months and haven't been able to bring myself to lapp it. At least I'll have the Maruka stamp on the end if I ever do. And thank God for O_S, I'm taking his advice and use mine without lapping it. I know that I can do that!!!

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Originally Posted by Oldengaerde

Well, one approach would be to get yourself two of them:

Attachment 29960

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Beautiful stones. If I had them I'd be tempted to want to make a style change, fashion some sort of gilded holder and wear them around my neck. They'd make for the perfect "bling". :)

Chris L

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Originally Posted by ChrisL

Beautiful stones. If I had them I'd be tempted to want to make a style change, fashion some sort of gilded holder and wear them around my neck. They'd make for the perfect "bling". :)

Chris L

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Lol

I have thought of doing the same only with tiny cut offs from trimming up a few pieces

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Originally Posted by ChrisL

Beautiful stones. If I had them I'd be tempted to want to make a style change, fashion some sort of gilded holder and wear them around my neck. They'd make for the perfect "bling". :)

Chris L

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I have a small slurry stone made from a Nakayama, I should turn it into a broach for my girlfriend. Hey, I would find it sexy!:roflmao

While I can appreciate the desire to avoid wasting a hone, in my experience a properly lapped hone always performs better than one that is not lapped. It doesn't matter whether the hone is synthetic or natural, a perfectly flat hone is going to perform much better. If you bought a Nakayama hone to look at the pretty kanji, fine. Put it on a shelf and admire how pretty it is. If you bought it to hone razors, you're better off ensuring that it is flat.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

While I can appreciate the desire to avoid wasting a hone, in my experience a properly lapped hone always performs better than one that is not lapped. It doesn't matter whether the hone is synthetic or natural, a perfectly flat hone is going to perform much better. If you bought a Nakayama hone to look at the pretty kanji, fine. Put it on a shelf and admire how pretty it is. If you bought it to hone razors, you're better off ensuring that it is flat.

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Hi Ron, Good see you back. It's been a while. I appreciate what your saying, but with these Nakayama's, The Kanji not only looks nice, but adds value and proves authenticity, so lapping can come at a cost, literally, and is only done, or should I say, should only be done under extreme circumstances. Since these hones are used as a finisher, it hardly dishes. Sometimes, it glazes, or has some small imperfection in the surface which requires lapping. The Kanji is very beautiful and adds to the overall aesthetics of the hone, so it's a difficult thing. Anyway, welcome back....

Rich

I am with utopian on this, the value of a hone is in its purpose and a hone with kanji that isn't flat will not perform as it is intended to perform thus making its purpose irrelevant. On the other hand if you intend to just look at the kanji kudos for you. I lapped mine but before lapping it took a picture of it just to keep for the record, also mines has stamps on the bottom further proving its authenticity and if I recall correctly most other hones I have seen have stamps on the side or somewhere else which isn't the honing surface. So I see no point in keeping it unlapped unless you want to look at it or whatever.

Like many others, I took pictures of mine and lapped away. No regrets! :beer1:

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Originally Posted by richmondesi

Like many others, I took pictures of mine and lapped away. No regrets! :beer1:

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So did I.

Before shot:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...kayama-3-1.jpg

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Originally Posted by Utopian

While I can appreciate the desire to avoid wasting a hone, in my experience a properly lapped hone always performs better than one that is not lapped. It doesn't matter whether the hone is synthetic or natural, a perfectly flat hone is going to perform much better. If you bought a Nakayama hone to look at the pretty kanji, fine. Put it on a shelf and admire how pretty it is. If you bought it to hone razors, you're better off ensuring that it is flat.

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I completely agree. It's a tool to me, not a work of art and its purpose is to be used. I have good art on the wall, but I wouldn't use my etchings or japanese woodblock prints to strop my razor on any more than I would hang a hunk of honing stone on the wall.

Regards,
Neil

Hold on a minute - maybe I should investigate the semi mystic qualities of japanese woodblock inks of the 19th century as an alternative to chrome-oxide - I might be onto something:)