OK, so I went out on a limb and bought a cheap (I know, I know) J-nat hone that was going on eBay in my area. It was sold as a Ozuku Asagi Lvl 5+. Told it was very hard, had good finish on water and gave a smooth edge with a minimum of X-strokes.

I've lapped it flat and applied the Tomo that came with it to it and have revealed a surface that mirrors my decor when held at a 30 degree angle and I'm satisfied is flat and ready.

I have a couple of 6/8 hollow-ground (Invicta) Sheffield razors that I've put a satisfyingly sharp and comfortable edge on using my trusty La Veinette coticule. They pass the shave test very well when finished on my coti and I use them as pilot razors for the new hones I've (needlessly) acquired since getting hold of my beloved first coticule.

I've put both razors to the eBay J-nat both with plain water and with slurry.

With plain water, I've seen the scratch-pattern change very quickly with what looks like a straight edge under magnification, but the shave test was very rough, not sharp at all (some tugging, not much cutting power).

With slurry, provided by the Tomo, I got a similar edge under magnification, and the shave was slightly smoother, but nothing like as smooth and sharp as my coticule.

For each attempt finishing on the J-nat, I've used no pressure, continuous, plentiful X-strokes. With slurry, I've continued honing until the edge is under-cutting the light slurry on the stone.

I've had a couple of goes and can't seem to get a nice edge with this stone yet.

I'll provided some photos of the stone when I get it sorted. My questions are these:

- Is there a something I'm missing when going from honing on a coticule to honing on a super-hard J-nat?

- Is there some way to determine, by myself, whether I've bought a flashy paper-weight?

- Is there someone Down Under who would be willing to test this bad boy for me to determine whether she rides?

Cheers! Look forward to hearing from the forum!

Happy Movember!