Thread: Jnat Stone PassAround, Uchigumori hand held stone

I'm interested.

Partner you are on the list for Texas.
Send me a PM with your particulars.

Alex

A big thanks to Alex for the opportunity to use his stone. This was my first Jnat experience.

I’ve finished 12 blades with it, five of those were eBay specials that needed edge repair for chips and toe or heel repair. A Kratz with a big toe chip (top right) was up first. Bevel was set on a Suehiro 1K then onto my quartzite with slurry and Dalmore blue before going onto the Uchigumori.

Generating a good thick slurry with the nagura, I was rewarded with soft, tactile, and audible, feedback. It has a velvety feeling that was very enjoyable to me. I diluted the slurry twice, then rinsed the stone off for a water only set of laps with just the weight of the razor. The loupe showed a consistent, flat matte finish.

The shave with the Kratz razor was buttery smooth and gave me a 2 pass DFS.

The small size of the stone wasn’t a hindrance for me except with smiling blades, at first, but I quickly adjusted my stroke and was getting good results. The size was perfect for my Kamisori’s. Something I found interesting with these razors was that the hard edge steel had a shiny polished look while the softer steel of the body of the blade had the matte finish. I was expecting matte on both.

Overall, the Uchigumori was a pleasure to use and gave me excellent edges. I feel a big Jnat HAD creeping up on me.

Thanks again, I’ll have it on its way to MedicineMan tomorrow.

Originally Posted by alx

Partner you are on the list for Texas.
Send me a PM with your particulars.

Alex

PM sent ........

@MedicineMan Have you had a chance to use the stone? What are your thoughts on it?

What's up guys. Been meaning to give a report for the couple of weeks. To say life has gotten in the way would be an understatement. If it could go wrong it has gone wrong.

The stone:
This was my first "hands on" with a JNat. I took a couple of solid performing razors that were progressed up to a 12k Nani and used the uchigumori with clear water to finish.
The size of the stone didn't really have any effect except more strokes. I hit a good groove within like 2-3 strokes.
Weight of the razor only strokes for about 25 laps. Feedback was excellent. It was a pretty sublime experience. I caught myself being mesmerized by the stone a couple of times and almost jacked up the edge.
The shave with those two razors was buttery. I know people use that term a lot, but that's the work that popped in my head with the first stroke. An amazing couple of shaves.

Next up I took two razors I bought over a year ago to practice honing. I had sanded down the blades when I got them, but hadn't took them to the hones. I built myself a moderate slurry with the Tomo and went to bevel setting. Got a bevel set, rinsed the razor and stone, built a thinner slurry, and continued this progression to of lighter slurries until I got to clear water. Stropped them up on linen/leather and was popping arm hairs pretty good. I wasn't quite getting the usually pop, but went with the true test...shaved one side with one razor and one side with the other. It was an ok shave but I didn't hit the mark.

The bevel set to finish I'm chalking up to my inexperience with naturals.
The finishing with water razors were PURE BLISS!

Bottom line...I believe my inexperience was the pitfall with bevel set - finish. I saw a light though that leads me to believe that with time (and maybe some one on one with an experience mentor) I could get some exquisite shaves!

The stone itself was joy. I was really digging the streaks that popped up when I wetted it down and I got that heavenly "earthy" aroma when using the toma. To be honest I'm a Function over Aesthetics type guy...that is until I got my hands on this stone. I don't think I totally get it YET, but I think I have opened the door to what will be a pleasant journey down the "JNat road".

Thanks again Alex! This was a very generous opportunity to experience what I believe will be a life long journey.

Cheers,
Jer

@MedicineMan ,

I think your only issue may have been in the bevel set. I would bet if you tried to set the bevel with this stone it was not fully set. Usually with this type of stone you would set the bevel on a bevel setter say a 1K or 1.5 to even 4K stone depending on the state of the razor. This stone will eliminate the scratch pattern from there to the final finish, but I think it would take a good bit of time to fully set a bevel with it depending on the state of the razor obviously.

I received the Stone of Joy today. I didn’t make it out of my work clothes before trying it out. Just played around with the razor from the box and some slury.

Stone feels great and seem to be finer than my Ozuku Asagi Koppa - my only jnat. I worked one of my shave razors tonight with slurry, then water, then soapy water. Will shave with it toorrow.

@Alx if the stone makes it across the pond and into Europe, may I be the last one to try it please, before sending it back to you? Thank you for the generosity!

I’ve really enjoyed the stone this week. I’ve honed modern and vintage steel. Had excellent results with all of them.

Counter clockwise from the upper left are my Reynolds, Dovo, Worcester, Alx’s Petris Saad, Geneva Henry X, and my Gold Dollar mod. I took the new-to-me Dovo and Geneva from bevel set to 8k, then uchi. The rest were already sharp, so just gave them a new finish. I thought the Gold Dollar might be a challenge, but no.

I used slurry, then thinned, then water, then soap. I could feel the cracks in the stone face, but they didn’t affect the edge.

On my own jnat, I find the edges sharp, but harsh. On the uchi, I get sharp, but smooth.

I also tried the slury stone on a yellow lake oilstone. I think it is too hard to add to the YL slurry.

Thanks Alx. Whose next?