Thread: Nakayama Lacquer Rant

This is hone related, but since it's more of a rant I feel it's more appropriate here.

So I have this magnificent light greenish Nakayama Maruichi from OLD_SCHOOL that I got not too long ago. It came attached to a nice Japanese cypress base. I used it on few razors and loved the results. Before long I decided that I should apply a coat of lacquer on the sides of the Nakayama to help protect it as water can damage these stones over time.

So I order a bottle of lacquer (along with some oil for my razors and a nagura) and when it comes I apply a layer to the sides of the stones, and let it dry for a week. It looked great, and I used it like that for a bit.

I'm a hand-held honer, so I don't really like holding the stone in a base in my hand while honing, so I decided (after a lot of thought on the matter) to carefully remove the stone from the wooden base. So I carefully saw away the side fairly close to the stone, and then use a chisel to carefully chip away the wood. The stone nicely "pops" out when I am chiselling away a piece of wood simply from the bending of the wood. So my Nakayama comes out of the base completely unscatched.

The bottom of the Nakayama is actually quite flat and in good condition, so after cleaning it up a little (mostly from the residue of the bonding agent used to attach it to the base) I decide that the bottom needs lacquering also.

I carefully apply tape to the surface so no lacquer will accidentally get onto it, and proceed to use the rest of the bottom of lacquer on the bottom. After a bit of time, I have a nice EVEN and SMOOTH surface of lacquer on the bottom, it looked good. I leave it to dry in the basement (this was Monday) and walk away.

So I check on it today and I see these little tread marks in the lacquer. They looked like little patterns you'd see in the tread of a shoe or boot. Somebody had touched it!!!!

Now I know that it's just aesthetics, but it really ****es me off. One of my parents had touched it with something, even though they knew it was drying on the table in the basement.

So in a desperate attempt to try and right this wrong, I got a new brush and tried to scrounge up some lacquer from the bottom, maybe I had left a little in the bottom. So I come up with the smallest amount of extra lacquer on this new brush and try to smooth it out. Nope, the lacquer is too dry (still tacky) to smooth out and I did not have enough lacquer left to make a difference. If it was touched today it wouldn't have left an impression in the surface of the lacquer, but nope, it had to be touched while it was still wet enough to leave a mark.

So I'm going to order another bottle of lacquer from O_S and give it another coat to ensure a nice EVEN and SMOOTH surface. But this time I'm going to put it somewhere where I know NO ONE will ever get the opportunity to get within 50 meters.

Thanks for listening to my rant....My Nakayama is my baby, I only want the best for it. This is probably the only place where people can understand that....

Why did you laquer the bottom as well? As it was glued to a piece of wood I presume the bottom is flat. I have a 2 sided Nakyama and use only the bottom to preserve the stamps on the top. Escpecially the sides absorb water, not the flat surfaces, especially as you cannot dry the the sides as well.

Man you've got courage, If I ever do get one of those high $ stones and it is glued to a base there it will stay. I know the tread marks in the lacquer are a bummer but TG you didn't find a cracked or broken stone.

Originally Posted by Kees

Why did you laquer the bottom as well? As it was glued to a piece of wood I presume the bottom is flat. I have a 2 sided Nakyama and use only the bottom to preserve the stamps on the top. Escpecially the sides absorb water, not the flat surfaces, especially as you cannot dry the the sides as well.

Only two sides? dang that really is thin.

Of the ones I have which came prefinished all sides were coated but the honing surface.

The book The Complete Japanese Joinery suggests the same; along with some other interesting tidbits. The stone should never be glued to the base, and the base should be oriented so the inside-of-the-tree side faces up. (wood geeks will know why)

Well Dave just be thankful you did not insist on the purist approach and have one of your folks affected with an urisinol rash.

Poly, spray lacq, paint, etc can all be used. I would fear using any sort of penetrating concrete sealer type product. Barring that, anything that limits absorption will do fine if it fits your sense of aesthetic.

Thanks for the story - very entertaining!! I do feel for you - I like to have everything "just so" as well.

I use that furniture varnish stuff on my stones - I think it is the poly-stuff. Seems to work well, and it dries very clear and even and quite quickly (a day or two). The best thing about it is that it does not become slippery when wet (but I imagine that is a quality of all good lacquers). Imagine the stone dropping out of your hand from a great height!!

James.

Bummer, I hope the re-application gives you
the results you are looking for.

I lacquered the bottom and sides of my hone,
just for fun. It turned out wonderfully, though
I didn't have to remove it from a wooden base
first.

- Scott

Originally Posted by StraightRazorDave

I'm going to put it somewhere where I know NO ONE will ever get the opportunity to get within 50 meters.

When you find that place, let me know. I need to lacquer mine and am still trying to find the time I can stand to put it down for a week.


BTW, would a coat of polyurethane work for you? It wold have 2 advantages. You wouldn't have to wait for it to come from O_S and, since you have already done without it for 2 weeks (HOW did you DO that?), PU would take less time to cure.

Originally Posted by Kees

Why did you laquer the bottom as well? As it was glued to a piece of wood I presume the bottom is flat. I have a 2 sided Nakyama and use only the bottom to preserve the stamps on the top. Escpecially the sides absorb water, not the flat surfaces, especially as you cannot dry the the sides as well.

I probably could be just fine without lacquering the sides as I don't have many razors to hone in the first place, so it wouldn't see much water. It was more for a sense of completion. Since I would only need the top surface to hone on, I might as well lacquer the bottom as well.

Originally Posted by Pyment

When you find that place, let me know. I need to lacquer mine and am still trying to find the time I can stand to put it down for a week.


BTW, would a coat of polyurethane work for you? It wold have 2 advantages. You wouldn't have to wait for it to come from O_S and, since you have already done without it for 2 weeks (HOW did you DO that?), PU would take less time to cure.

HHmm.....I will look into that...Thanks! And it's hard not being able to use it while I wait for it to dry....sad really...