Thread: Hone (nagura?) I.D. ?

Ordered a shoubudani from JNS. Ticked the box for nagura, because I figured I'd want one of those. This is what came with the stone:







So is this 3"x3" a monster nagura, or did I somehow end up with something else? Still pretty sure the order got mixed up, but I'm curious to know just what this thing is. Sorry about the pic quality, that's the best the auto focus wanted to do at the time.

It's probably nothing more than a tomo. Which means a piece of the same stone you purchased.

Any size of stone can serve as a tomo nagura for another hone, as long as the tomo is softer than the base hone.

On a finisher, the tomo needs to be at least as fine as the finisher.

Originally Posted by Aerdvaark

It's probably nothing more than a tomo. Which means a piece of the same stone you purchased.

Definitely not the same stone. Unless it's just a different color:



That's (kind of) the one I ordered.

The yellow one is definitely softer. I thought tomo was typically the same stone. Or something very fine but a tad softer than the base hone. I guess that might be a tomo stone, I haven't actually tried them out to see what they can do yet. I just lapped them to check for flatness (both were already dead flat), rounded the edges, and began to seal them. But all experimentation is halted until I hear back from the seller.

Just strikes me as odd to get a 3" x 3" nagura to go along with a 6" x 2" hone. The size and lapped surface makes me think this was meant to be a hone, not a nagura.

A tomonagura is generally accepted as being any piece of finishing grade JNat used to raise a slurry on another finishing JNat stone. They don't necessarily need to be from the exact stone used as your finisher, though they can be. Generally it's better if they are at least slightly softer than the finishing stone, and ideally they are as fine. However, sometimes a slightly coarser Tomo will bring up awesome edges too. It's best to just try all that you have available to see which works best with any given hone. As with all natural hones, best results are arrived at through experimentation - or trial and error.

Also, I once purchased a couple tomos from JNS and received a nice Mizu Asagi and a great piece of Suita. Both could be used as hones in their own right. The Asagi is about 3" x 5" x 1" and the Suita was 1.5" x 1.5" x 8" - I left the Asagi as is and use it for razors. I cut the Suita a bit shorter and made Tomos from the cut off bit, still use the long bit for knives and midlevel razor work. I think you just get what's available.

That's what Maksim has been selling as tomo for a while now - very fine, yellowish slurry, distinct muddy odor. Very nice stone. I use it on all my toishi with excellent results.

Makes sense I guess. Send what's on hand and will serve the purpose.

I can only assume that's meant to be a tomo nagura. I don't recall the site specifying what kind of nagura when I checked the add on. But it makes sense in my mind to pack a finisher with a tomo stone.

Yes, it's a tomo nagura. Work a slurry about the consistency of 2% milk and watch the color. When it starts to darken, check your edge and replace the slurry if it needs more sharpening. When you're happy with the sharpness, leave the slurry and keep working it, adding a drop of water as needed to maintain consistency. When it gets good and dark, you can start diluting it out, removing excess as needed, until down to misty/almost clear. Wash the hone and razor and try 10 finishing laps on pure water. Another 10 if your edge assessment indicates.

Look at your Shoubudani Asagi in very good light, turning it while looking for sparkly bits. Mine had them all over spaced about 1/8" apart on average. They were toxic and ruined the edge for shaving even though the keenness was there. You can feel them while honing, especially with full hollows. This is apparently a not uncommon problem with some of these. Because I bought the stone secondhand, I couldn't return it to JNS, so I sold it to a chef.

Here's my thread on the toxic inclusions: http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ml#post1601266