Thread: jnat resources

Originally Posted by Midway

One more thing for you Jnat honers who are married. Do your wives know how much money you are putting out there for 'rocks'? I think I'm going to have some splainin to do, or mail man intercepting.

She does since I use her PayPal

Originally Posted by Midway

One more thing for you Jnat honers who are married. Do your wives know how much money you are putting out there for 'rocks'? I think I'm going to have some splainin to do, or mail man intercepting.

That's a hard negative for me. if my wife knew what i spent on rocks i'd be in some trouble. fortunately she just assumes they're just rocks and cant cost that much... and i'm in no hurry to correct any assumptions
and i'm not even in the jnat game... yet

Originally Posted by Midway

One more thing for you Jnat honers who are married. Do your wives know how much money you are putting out there for 'rocks'? I think I'm going to have some splainin to do, or mail man intercepting.

Mine does, and she gets really mad. She yells at me when I'm buying them, she yells at me when they come in the door (she's usually there to receive them) and she yells at me when the credit card bill comes with the paypal purchases on them. If I discard one that I've had for a while by selling it to someone else with the same disease, she doesn't seem to notice that, though!

Midway, I started off on jnats barely six months back. I had been using synthetics for years, and decided I'd like to try jnats. So from a newbie to jnats view, I would follow the advice given re a good first stone being a Shobu (Shoubu-dani). From my perspective, I'd suggest you learn the stone, and use a Atoma 1200 to create slurry on your jnat. That does work. Nagura in my eyes complicate things. My approach is use your synthetic to get to 8k level, then use a shobu with diamond nagura. You will get good edges, and it is repeatable. If you decide later on you want to mess with nagura, then go in with eyes open, as this is a complicated thing to get right.

Originally Posted by bobski

Midway, I started off on jnats barely six months back. I had been using synthetics for years, and decided I'd like to try jnats. So from a newbie to jnats view, I would follow the advice given re a good first stone being a Shobu (Shoubu-dani). From my perspective, I'd suggest you learn the stone, and use a Atoma 1200 to create slurry on your jnat. That does work. Nagura in my eyes complicate things. My approach is use your synthetic to get to 8k level, then use a shobu with diamond nagura. You will get good edges, and it is repeatable. If you decide later on you want to mess with nagura, then go in with eyes open, as this is a complicated thing to get right.

Thanks. I believe this is sound advice. Trying to remove as many variables as I begin to use jnats makes sense.

I have been in touch with both Keith and Alex and will be buying one stone from each. I think it's going to work out fine.

Now I need to stay off the auction sites!!!!!

Originally Posted by Midway

Now I need to stay off the auction sites!!!!!

good luck with that. when you find that cure please tell SRP. =P

I think from a new comers perspective, you ask yourself, 'How much do I need to spend?' The sky is literally the limit. You can peruse the lists of Alex Gilmore's stones, and whilst there are some lower priced stones, there are many in four figures. So as a beginner what do you do, spend, need? I have had a good relationship over a number of years with Takeshi at Aframes, and from a buyers perspective I can't fault him. As mentioned in this thread, Alex and Keith all have good reputations, but, go back to what you want and what you can spend. When I stuck my toes in, I bought what I considered the best stone for the money I allocated. I bought a big double sided Ozuku Asagi, and I am more than happy with it, but it cost over $450 USD. Is that expensive? Well No it isn't, if you look around. sure you can find Koppa sized stones for less, but for bench sized quality stones, that is at the lower end of what you would need to pay for a quality piece. I'm not talking Nakayama Maruka, just a good sized Ozuku, or Shobu, even Wakasa. You are hovering around $350 - $500 for stones like that. I think though, the hardest part of all of this is not the choice of stones, it is learning how to use each particular stone. Now I'm a few months down the track, and my favourite, 'Go to' stone is the Shobu Asagi. It is nice and easy to use, and the edge is better than a 10k synthetic, but smooth and easy on the face.
I can imagine, stone retailers receiving emails saying 'I am looking for a fast cutting, super fine, hard finisher, but I cant spend more than $150 bucks. I mean, bend down and smell the roses. Those stones don't exist in the real world. Look at the lists of stones from JNS, Aframes, Tomonagura or the Japanstone. You won't find $150 buck fast, hard and superfine Ozuku's or Nakayama. In my opinion, for what it's worth, I have gotten the best bang for my buck from the Shobu Asagi Tamamoku, its hard, its fine, it's not a super fast cutter, but wow, when you go from a high grit synthetic to it, the edges are really very good, and if I had to pick any stone I've used I'd keep the Shobu. What I did was buy an Ozuku, a Shobu and a Wakasa, and each has it's own personality, I can't justify a Nakayama Maruichi pricewise but sure I'd like to try one, but where does that desire come from. It's not from someone else's exemplar, it's because of the pretty picture and the stamp! I watched a video of Keith Johnson and he said, that the price point is a consideration as to the genuine nature of the stone. In other words, if its really cheap, there is every chance it's not what it's claimed to be and the reliance on a stamp isn't always the best way of deciding on a purchase. We see lots of really nice looking stones on SRP. We rarely see what was paid for them.

Thanks for the perspective. The old adage, 'you get what you pay for' holds true more often than not. What I've tried to do is let these two experts put me on the correct course. Yes, each stone will have to be learned. Yes, each razor will act differently on each stone. Yes, each Nagura will create different slurries and create different edges.

So if I'm smart about this (and that is a big IF) I'll spend more time honing and learning and less time chasing down more rocks.

I thought I would update this thread with my experience. I received excellent stones from both Keith and Alex.

After a bit of trial and error, I defaulted to the stone Alex sent me and have used it almost exclusively as a finisher after setting the bevel with a 1k SS and progressing through a 4/8 Norton. I have learned quite a bit (with still much more to learn, I'm sure) and have gained some degree of competence. I feel 100% capable of achieving a shave ready razor. By no means am I an expert, but there is a great deal of satisfaction owning the entire honing process.

My next challenge will be to use a Nagura progression to create a shave ready edge. I'm thinking I'll still need to use my bevel setter, as my JNAT is quite hard, but we shall see.

Thanks to all in this thread and the wonderful SRP community for helping me along the path.

Oh, I have stayed off the auction sites for hones, but for razors I may need a 12 step program.