Thread: JNAT & Nagura questions/identification - help!

Fair point! I did wonder if it's more suited to knife honing but will have to give it a try - thanks again.

And one more thing to add: Sometimes working surface of stones needs to be lapped before use for razor honing to get the better result.
And it is also good to round off the edges of the stone adjacent to the working surface.
Just slightly making the radial bevels with radius of some 1mm on each edge.

Originally Posted by Nikolay

And one more thing to add: Sometimes working surface of stones needs to be lapped before use for razor honing to get the better result.
And it is also good to round off the edges of the stone adjacent to the working surface.
Just slightly making the radial bevels with radius of some 1mm on each edge.

I completely understand it's difficult to say/tell much about a stone and how it will perform just from a photo - bit of a silly question on my part. Best thing is to give it a go!

What would you suggest lapping it with? I have a truing/lapping stone but not sure whether this would work?

A worn 325 DMT would be best but second would be some sandpaper on flat glass or a tile.

Start at 220/400 and move up to 600 (or higher if you choose)

Jnats are interesting stones and kinda like woman. You never know how it's going to go until after a few dates And, If you have never used one, it may take a while to discover her sweet spot... .

I got a few Ohiras myself, all to soft for razors.

Lapping is a very good idea, both to make sure it's flat and to get a fresh surface.
Oil, dust and other things in the air gets stuck on the surface and sometimes you will find the stone is very different 1/10 of a mm down.

You could do a quick test sharpening a tool or knife on it with water only to see how hard it is.
A good stone for razors should mostly not give any slurry at all, if it does you will always get fresh cutting particles and the stone will be fast but not fine.

Best would be if you have someone close to you that could take a look at it and give it a go.
Even a stone suitable for razors can take some time to master, to learn to hone with an unknown stone is not an easy way to go since you will never know if it's your honing skills or the stone to blame.

Same with the Naguras, the best way is to compare them to known good Naguras, I agree with Nikolay, looks like a Tsusima but the other I would plainly call Shiro Nagura (Shiro - White),
it's a common name for unknown white ones.

Hopefully we're not scaring you, go ahead and start to play around with it, it's the only way to learn but maybe not on your best razor.

Edit; I do use a piece of Ohira as Nagura on some very hard jnats, makes a thick and fast slurry for fixing chips in the edge, that is fast as in naturals fast, synthetics are way faster.

Lemur, i made a few corrects. Just so it fits in more with my post above

Originally Posted by Lemur

Even a stone suitable for razors can take some time to master, to learn to hone with an unknown stone is not an easy way to go since you will never know if it's your honing skills or the stone to blame.

Even a woman suitable for dating can take some time to master, to learn to date with an unknown woman is not an easy way to go since you will never know if it's your dating skills or the woman to blame.

Originally Posted by Lemur

Hopefully we're not scaring you, go ahead and start to play around with it, it's the only way to learn but maybe not on your best razor.

Hopefully we're not scaring you, go ahead and start to play around with her, it's the only way to learn but maybe not on your best sheets.

Originally Posted by Brighty83

A worn 325 DMT would be best but second would be some sandpaper on flat glass or a tile.

Start at 220/400 and move up to 600 (or higher if you choose)

I don't like how DMT is lapping hard and fine grit stones.
I'd prefer to lap with set of silicon carbide (SiC) powders up to 1200 grit with just sheet of glass on some flat surface. Or with ceramic plate.
Use some water to make a slurry with SiC on glass. Distribute it evenly. And use 8-like motions for lapping.

Here it is on video: Как править �пон�кий точильный камень - Ма�тер кла�� по заточке ножей - YouTube

Originally Posted by Nikolay

I don't like how DMT is lapping hard and fine grit stones.
I'd prefer to lap with set of silicon carbide (SiC) powders up to 1200 grit with just sheet of glass on some flat surface. Or with ceramic plate.
Use some water to make a slurry with SiC on glass. Distribute it evenly. And use 8-like motions for lapping.

Here it is on video: Как править �пон�кий точильный камень - Ма�тер кла�� по заточке ножей - YouTube

Thanks again Nicolay really informative!

Originally Posted by Nikolay

I don't like how DMT is lapping hard and fine grit stones.
I'd prefer to lap with set of silicon carbide (SiC) powders up to 1200 grit with just sheet of glass on some flat surface. Or with ceramic plate.
Use some water to make a slurry with SiC on glass. Distribute it evenly. And use 8-like motions for lapping.

Here it is on video: Как править �пон�кий точильный камень - Ма�тер кла�� по заточке ножей - YouTube

the problem is that the slurry tends to gather in the middle of the stone and it will never be perfect flat. The best way to lap is to use 3 stones with similar hardness, by rotating them you are going to get perfect flat surface on each of them. I personally use very used DMT 320, and then finish with a medium Jnat, it works super and leaves perfect surface on the stone. After that using naguras only further refines the surface of the base stone.

That's pretty much my exact routine. I'll sometimes add in a DMT lapping plate beforehand and use the 325 to remove the scratching.

A well worn 325DMT leaves a surprisingly smooth surface by it self but a second stone lapped with the same plate works wonders. Even going direct to a nagura can give the stone a gloss finish leaving the stone quite flat.

The 325 DMT plate by them self gets the stones so flat that I can briefly lift a dry Jnat off my table using nothing but a second Jnat and the very small amount of air between the two stones. The stones need to be extremely flat and smooth to stick together while they are dry.