Thread: Do I Need Another Nakayama?

@riooso: I do not think you really need slurry on a Nakayama. The process of making slurry only wears the stone down IMHO. I use the Nakayama after the Y/G Escher. It takes me about 50 laps on the Nakayama to get the razor to where I want it. You can actually feel it when you are there. Intiatially there is quite some resistance when you move the razor across the hone, eventualy the razor glides over the hone. That's the moment of nirvana.

Originally Posted by Kees

@riooso: I do not think you really need slurry on a Nakayama. The process of making slurry only wears the stone down IMHO. I use the Nakayama after the Y/G Escher. It takes me about 50 laps on the Nakayama to get the razor to where I want it. You can actually feel it when you are there. Intiatially there is quite some resistance when you move the razor across the hone, eventualy the razor glides over the hone. That's the moment of nirvana.

With slurry one can hone a 1k, or even lower, edge to final finish fairly easily and fast. Making slurry can't wear the stone down as much as you might think. A synthetic stone used to to hone a few razors will last a life time, a stone as hard as Nakayama will last longer.
I wonder why would you go to Nakayama after Escher, my personal experience is they are interchangeable as finishers?

It may appear that this thread has been high-jacked but I will offer this. A lot of us live in such a vacuum concerning anything to do with straights that the only thing that can be offered are techniques and observations that work for each one of us, individually. I can't see and touch your stone let alone hone with it so it is difficult to know what is going on.

JimR's article was a tipping point for me concerning Japanese Naturals. I use my Ohira stone as the bedrock of my honing progression in tandem with different nagura stones to get to the finishing stages. I have shaved off the Ohira after using slurry, water only, then finally just dry and it was a very good shave but, I come from a 0.1micron film world so I was not totally satisfied. Big surprise there! I was looking for that final "finisher", the "coup de gras" as it were. I hooked with the Nakayama and after bringing the razor up through the progression tried it just wet. The shave was very good but, for me, the slightest bit harsh. So, thinking back to my Coticule and techniques and observations offered by Bart I used a "slurry" which tends to round the edge ever so slightly. I then went with water only to give the awesome diamond white brilliant bevel reflection that I am used to in using films. The shave is finally what I have been searching for, extremely smooth with an edge that is ever so slightly "forgiving". The only reason that I would purchase a new stone is to have one that is a little bigger than I have now but that is getting pretty greedy and with the price of J-Nats, greedy can kick your arse quickly.

So back to KingFish's question. You may already do this or may not need it. I use a magnifier, as suggested by a lot of guys, and follow the progression up the ladder. I don't move to the next step till I see the scratch pattern homogeneous along the entire bevel. For me, I have found with J-Nats that this is very important to get the most out of the progression. You can tell how fine your stone is by looking at the bevel reflection. Not to obvious in some of the articles that I have read is that the Japanese look at the bevel reflection to decide what stage of polishing they are at. If you have done this and tried the varied water, no water, or slurry variations and still are not happy with the results then YES you need another stone. I prefer to have a stone that is just used for the final finishing only and another one to get me 95% of the way there. I also feel this is the most cost effective. The Maruka Nakayama Kiita that I have for the final polishing is only 5.25 inches long and would it would be a pain to work all the way up the progression with such a small stone. I am sure that I would have to drop at least $700 for an identical stone 8 inch long. I got mine for a fraction of that.

I hope this is post is not to tedious but I am finding all this J-Nat stuff like an onion, the more that I peel back the more questions I have. I am fortunate to have an edge that is just "perfect" for me. Very nice place to be.

Take Care,
Richard

@ mainaman,

Escher is 12K, Nakayama 20-30K. I think the jump from 1K to Nakayama is too high, unless your Nakayama is a coarser variety.

Originally Posted by Kees

@ mainaman,

I think the jump from 1K to Nakayama is too high, unless your Nakayama is a coarser variety.

Check this out:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...und-silly.html