Thread: nagura

Hello friends,
Are Nagura stones as good as they sound?
Currently I have a bevel setting stone, a cuticule and a vermio for finishing.
I'm intrigued by these stones
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Joukyu-Koma...wAAOSwPkRdHzZA
I have seen them for years, but have never gotten close to one
What grid are they equivalent to?
Would it offer any advantage over what I am doing?
Thank you for your expert advice
John

Naguras are being used for straight razors. Koma being the finest in grit, to be used before the tomonagura. You may want to sikp the tomonagura and go to the final polisher after the koma.
Komas are becoming rare and therefore pricey.
I cannot comment on this specific vendor as I never got stones of him.

When using naguras you don't have to buy a number of larger hones going from coarse to final polisher.

If you get good edges with the stones you have you do not need naguras. I do not think a koma nagura is useful to bridge the gap between bevel setter and coticule. I do not think you need naguras between coticule and vermio.

Disclaimer: I have only used naguras on a Jnat final polisher.

The use of naguras has been explained by the late Iwasaki-san. You can find a translation by Jim Rion, who used to be a member, here: http://strazors.com/uploads/images/a...onkamisori.pdf

I was under the impression that a Tomo nagura was the final step

Botan
Tenjyou
Mejiro
Koma
Tomo

My progression is skipping the Botan, Tenjyou and Mejro as I get there faster with synthetics so after the 12k I do some fast passes with a Koma and final with a light Tomo slurry and strop and lately I have been skipping the tomo slurry and using a DN slurry off my worn down Atoma plate as this serves to keep my JNAT flat and also offer up the final slurry

It is according to Iwasaki-san but I found you can skip the tomonagura and go straight to your final polisher.

Yea, I have a botan and it's a pre polisher. it works better for some razors than for others but a good synthetic beats it and is faster.

I think Nagura have been adapted to razor honing & maybe that's all the Japanese used once upon a time but their main use would be for sword polishing.

It depends on the nagura and the base stone. Nagura are natural stones and each will perform differently. They work with the base stone synergistically, mixing Nagura and base stone grit and binder to produce a unique slurry.

The problem in using a natural Nagura with a coticule is the base stone grit, the garnets may be larger than the finish nagura, (the Koma), so no matter how fine the Koma slurry, you are limited by the size of the Coticule garnets.

And that is the problem with Coticules, they are all over the map in terms of finishing ability. It is the most difficult stone for honers to learn, yet its proponents rave about their edges. They most probably have found one that finishes, for them. You cannot take a coarse stone and make it finer by using a fine natural Nagura.

It is difficult or near impossible to rate the grit of a given Nagura, because it is not about the size of the grit , it is about how a given grit and binder in a natural stone perform.

Typically, the stria pattern is compared to known grit stria pattern and there by “rated” (for that particular stone), but Jnats and Natural Nagura do not leave a traditional stria pattern, but a hazy Kazumi finish that cannot be compared to known grit stria.

One can see that finer Nagura will leave a finer Kazumi pattern.

My experience with Coticules and Vermio stones is they are not very fine stones, probably in the 6-8k range, the Vermio nowhere near the advertised range. While they can produce a shaving edge, there are better alternatives.

A good Synthetic 12k, a hard Black or Translucent Ark or a Jnat, are much better and consistent finishers, or go to paste. Paste start at 20-30k for Chrome Oxide and can go to 160,000 grit, for very little money and effort.