Thread: 20K water stones

Level 5 jnat. Asagi Ozuku for instance. Learn how to use properly though to get the tomo slurry to break down. Stropping then honing, stropping and honing.
You will be delighted with results.

Where do I learn from?
I am a creature of habit and tend to stick to the same thing :/
I do about 12 mins of strokes at the moment with a load of "S" strokes included.
I havnt figured out if I should be using thick slurry or watery slurry or thick to thin slurry.
And now I have a Nakayama Nagura to play with and some new Tomo's.
Its gonna take a few years.
The best edges ive produced so far were from thin watery slurry going for 20 mins on the jnat, but ppl pointed out that that was too long a time to finish.

Originally Posted by JOB15

Where do I learn from?
I am a creature of habit and tend to stick to the same thing :/
I do about 12 mins of strokes at the moment with a load of "S" strokes included.
I havnt figured out if I should be using thick slurry or watery slurry or thick to thin slurry.
And now I have a Nakayama Nagura to play with and some new Tomo's.
Its gonna take a few years.
The best edges ive produced so far were from thin watery slurry going for 20 mins on the jnat, but ppl pointed out that that was too long a time to finish.

I just do what works with my stone which is quite easy to use to be honest. I do large S strokes in sets of 20. I don't think it matters about thinning the slurry as long as you stop it from drying out, it's not like a coticule slurry, it doesn't work the same way. It's more about time on the stone up to a point of no further returns. What I find works for me is to max the edge out on my lv coti before going onto the jnat (anecdotal I know, but seems to offer something). Also I find I can improve the hht by successive stropping's and then back on the jnat where I left the slurry, again anecdotal. I do use light x strokes toward the end but have got just as good a result using circles only, I don't find it necessary to use anything but light pressure.
I have one of my customs out with a member honed in this way, will be interesting to see what he thinks of it when he shaves soon.

I say try it both ways and see for yourself. Follow your results. There is no "school" for honing that I know of so an open mind will answer whether it will work or not. And one persons method may not work for you.

One of the more endearing features of the Gok 20k is how I can go from the Nani 12k to the 20k and in as few as twenty strokes achieve one of the most pleasing edges ever. It is almost too simple to believe.

Any thoughts on whether the top of the Gokumyu (with name on) works any differently to the bottom of the stone?

Originally Posted by UKRob

Any thoughts on whether the top of the Gokumyu (with name on) works any differently to the bottom of the stone?

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I originally lapped the bottom of the stone so I could save the brand stamp but that stamp quickly wore off all by itself. I have used both sides alternately and notice no difference. YMMV

Originally Posted by mrsell63

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I originally lapped the bottom of the stone so I could save the brand stamp but that stamp quickly wore off all by itself. I have used both sides alternately and notice no difference. YMMV

I also lapped the bottom and it's fine. I'm using JNats to finish now, and vendors are selling smaller JNats in the $70-150 range. If budget is an issue, you could use your normal progression and finish off with one of these smaller JNats.

Remember JNat prices rise exponentially with size, so a smaller cheaper stone does not mean a lesser stone, just smaller. All the major vendors have been selling smaller stones, JNS, thejapanstone, AFramestokyo, and Chef's Knives To Go.

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by Deckard

Level 5 jnat. Asagi Ozuku for instance. Learn how to use properly though to get the tomo slurry to break down. Stropping then honing, stropping and honing.
You will be delighted with results.

Your honing,stropping,honing technique was an excellent tip..Thanks for that..
I tried my usual shobu technique with the Tomo on my new Nakayama and it shredded the edge and gave a shockingly bad shave.
So I tried the Nakayama Nagura with your strop hone strop technique and the edge is truly amazing under the scope.
I did 10 mins honing , then, 50 linen strops and 100 leather strops , 5 mins honing and same again 150 strops.
It has that super fine line of light running down the edge and mid level arm hair pops off it.
I cant wait to shave with it.

I have lapped my Gok with the DMT coarse (and then kissed it using the nagura it comes with) on one side and the XXC on the other. Sort of a roughing finisher and a finishing finisher. Works awesome!