Finally bought myself some new Naniwa hones today

Five years ago I bought a green Belgium coticule, and thanks to Bart and others here on the forum, used it to hone my growing collection of razors. It worked fine, but in the last year or so I have been wanting to do more with my honing and have been reading and shopping around. Today I went to Chefknivestogo.com but then found a place called Sharpening Supplies and saved myself $85.00 on my order.
I took the plunge and bought myself some Naniwas', a universal holder and a DMT D8C lapping plate.
I bought a 1k, 3k, 5k, 8k and 12k Naniwa.

I used my green coti at a number of different levels that worked for me. I got there basically by trial and error but found a method that worked quite well for me. By altering the thickness of the slurry, and I think this altered the cutting level, I was able (by my dead reckoning and testing), TNT, TPT, etc. along the honing horizon, I was able to reach a reasonable shave ready state.
Now I am looking forward to using my new Naniwas' along with the pyramid technique to see if I can edge my honing up a notch or two.
I will keep you posted.

I think you will find that if you add a loupe to your arsenal you will fairly easily progress through the grits and gain a little speed. Your sharp tests will all still be relevant especially since you have a lot of experience interpreting them. I have been eyeballing the Naniwa hones too, but now is not the time for me to buy more hones, I have other fish to fry. I am slightly envious but will get there soon enough.

I have all those stones and it makes for a nice progression. The 3 between the 1 and 5 made for a much easier time honing. A loupe will tell you positively when to move up. There is no guesswork as you don't move till the last stria are gone. A 60x on the bay will cost a couple bucks. I also used sharpeningsupplies.com as they were the cheapest I could find. Good luck with your honing.

Thank you for the kind comments.
Kind regards

Naniwa, does make several types and quality of stones in different sizes and thickness, some with and without holders. So make sure you are comparing the same thing.

The stones best for razors are the Chosera/Professional and the Super Stone/Speciality stone series.

As said, with some added magnification sounds like you will be set. You might try honing without the pyramid system to start, I find it confusing for most new honers, just fully set a bevel, then remove each previous stria with the following stone.

Post some photos of your green coticule and ask any questions as you learn your new stones.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Euclid440

Naniwa, does make several types and quality of stones in different sizes and thickness, some with and without holders. So make sure you are comparing the same thing.

The stones best for razors are the Chosera/Professional and the Super Stone/Speciality stone series.

As said, with some added magnification sounds like you will be set. You might try honing without the pyramid system to start, I find it confusing for most new honers, just fully set a bevel, then remove each previous stria with the following stone.

Post some photos of your green coticule and ask any questions as you learn your new stones.

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Thanks Euclid, Stones are resin based New Super Stone, 3/4" thick or 19.05mm
Rezdog, I just purchased a 60x loupe off the bay for five bucks. I figured I've come this far.
Here are a few pics of my green Coticule I bought in January, 2011

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...pshljrom6u.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...psspaidfyx.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...psc14wkdus.jpg

Picture of the loupe I got today off Ebay. $5.00
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps6of20g04.jpg

Got the same loupe. Works well

Just got that same loupe today myself. Beats that pants off the 10x loupe I have. Have fun with the new stones. I'm interested how they work for you as I'm in the market for a set myself. Best of luck
Phil

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phil129

Just got that same loupe today myself. Beats that pants off the 10x loupe I have. Have fun with the new stones. I'm interested how they work for you as I'm in the market for a set myself. Best of luck
Phil

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Thank you all for the kind comments. Last night I finally got back to my razor work bench. I've been so busy working on other projects for my oldest daughter, (I build decorative wood designs for her, she does the marketing lol) that I was away from my razor projects. Anyway, short version, I finally honed up a couple of razors last evening on my coticule pictured above and then gave them five laps each on my TI pasted strop. I decided to test shave last night with the Joseph Rodgers & Sons and it was magnifico! This morning I will test shave with the TI. I find that after coming off the green coticule, a few passes on the pasted strop nudges the edge a bit further along the shave performance curve.