Thread: Disapointing JNat results (sharp but neither smooth nor clean)

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Now who was that guy that kept saying

"You are going to be hard pressed to beat a good finish on the Naniwa SS 12K for any amount of money"


Damn smart fella,,

You know how to use the naniwa you have yet learned what the J-nat can or can't do

Naniwa 12k then light slurry off only the Shobudani work it, own it, and see what happens..

Branch out from there, that gives you a baseline

Are you implying that the Naniwa 12K can be seen as the gold standard for Jnats?

Originally Posted by Kees

Are you implying that the Naniwa 12K can be seen as the gold standard for Jnats?

The Naniwa 12k is a competent razor finisher to which everyone has access. It's a good standard for razor hones, much better than 8k IMO.

Does it compare to the top tier jnats? Of course not.

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by Kees

Are you implying that the Naniwa 12K can be seen as the gold standard for Jnats?

Nope

I stated exactly what I meant to,,, I didn't imply anything at all

"You are going to be hard pressed to beat a good finish on the Naniwa SS 12K for any amount of money"



Let me be more clear

To beat a good Naniwa 12k finish using a J-Nat you need to learn how to use a Razor quality J-nat..

No implication in the least, that is a hard cold fact... just as my sig line has said for years

Originally Posted by Steve56

The Naniwa 12k is a competent razor finisher to which everyone has access. It's a good standard for razor hones, much better than 8k IMO.

Does it compare to the top tier jnats? Of course not.

Cheers, Steve

Not everyone has Naniwa stones. For the longest time I didn't even own a 12K. But I'm willing to wager most have an 8K somewhere be it Naniwa, Norton, King, or Shapton.

Besides, if your benchmark is a Naniwa 12K, Thuri, or razor quality Jnat you're going to be really disappointed in a lot of otherwise perfectly good rocks.

Originally Posted by Nagura

Thank's a lot for the helpful input from all of you!!!

I inspected the bevel with a 30x magnifier and figured out that there were dozenz of tiny notches in the bevel .
I don't have any explanation for this observation, but this observation could be itself an explanation for the harsh shave. But I doub't that theese notches are the result of the wrong Tomo or something like this. IMHO, there's something fundamentally wrong.

You may be right that there is something wrong but you should test the stone as already recommended.

Bubbly steel is not uncommon on Sheffield wedges. The edge can degrade during the shave.
Another fault can be restored razors with pits in the bevel. They can drop out causing semicircular chips .
A combination of the two is a nightmare.

Originally Posted by Marshal

,,,,,,,,,,,,

Besides, if your benchmark is a Naniwa 12K, Thuri, or razor quality Jnat you're going to be really disappointed in a lot of otherwise perfectly good rocks.

My benchmark is the PHIG,,, enough said !

It has taken me several years to tweek JNATS to get acceptable edges, and it's a ever learning uphill battle but once a good JNAT/Tomo combo is found we normally never part with them.

I think we can settle on the fact that no matter what hone you use prior to finishing on your jnat, it must in itself give an excellent shaving edge. For me and many that is a Naniwa. For me it's my 10k. No jnat will improve the 10 or 12k synths that aren't good shaving edges already. I've had jnats (3) for 7 months or so, and in another 7 months I might be at a point where I have learnt enough on how to best use them to a level where I'd be happy to say that I've finally got it right. Each jnat is very different, and needs a different approach. I'm not comfortable getting nagura at present so I use diamond nagura and after seven months I get some nice shaves, but are they as good as they could be, no I don't think so. Owning or using a jnat doesn't grant you passage to the lazer razor sharp edge some claim to get. They take some learning, so be patient.

These threads sure can get interesting when the debate of best finisher for straight razor comes up

Jnats are no miracle hones but used at the right moment in your progression the will do a good job. Using them is no rocket science and not more difficult than using any other hone IMHO. I like them very much but have to confess I do not own a synthetic >5K other than barber hones. I started my journey into the perfect edge with a coticule and various Thuris. After that I started with Jnats, only from reputable vendors and have been lucky getting excellent edges with them, improving Thuri edges.