Thread: Introducing Narutaki Tomae Awasado Number 27

My Narutaki has a special place to rest when not earning out in the garage.

Beautiful stone you have there I'm still wanting to make a wall display for my stones... just have to get off my butt and do it

IZ6
Your Den photos are tremendous.

'Very anxious to hear how it performs. I should see a new N-Asagi arrive next week also, and begin the introduction & education. 'First jnat also.

Do you have a plan/procedure you'll use to familiarize yourself w/ the new rock? Finisher only? or will you use naguras to bring it up to finishing readiness?

I'm still mostly baffled by all the variation in behavior of the naturals, and the jnats especially. If it weren't for what they do, all the words about 'beautiful stone' would seem silly to me. Then I tried an edge from a nice asagi, courtesy of the honorable Riooso. That's how the bug was planted for me.

'Very much looking forward to hearing how the stone delivers and what you do to get to know how it works. Pls post as you get to know it.

This is my first Japanese natural stone as well. We are still getting to know each other but I think it will be a lifelong affair. Thanks to pointers and advice here I am working with more slurry at the beginning of the process tapering off to water only. I really want to get to the point where it is the only stone I use for my personal razors. I would like to be able to go right to the shave coming off the stone without using strops of any kind. I am still getting an edge that is way to sharp for that, but once I can accomplish that then I think I will be at the point where I can achieve a perfect edge for me and then the strops will just polish and smooth the shave. Hope that makes sense.

lz6, do you have a microscope or a loupe. You should have a close look at this "too sharp edge" & see if it has any visual cues compared to a known good edge. If its an issue of weepers or discomfort often that comes from traces of a burr or wire on the edge. It may not be be glaringly obvious even under magnification but it may help.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

lz6, do you have a microscope or a loupe. You should have a close look at this "too sharp edge" & see if it has any visual cues compared to a known good edge. If its an issue of weepers or discomfort often that comes from traces of a burr or wire on the edge. It may not be be glaringly obvious even under magnification but it may help.

I do have a 30x loupe but have not spotted anything out of place. I should qualify that with saying I wear bi-focals and cannot use the loupe without them and see anything. I will look closer though, thanks. What I do see is not the mirror like finish I usually see coming off a shapton 16 or 30k and strops. I see a perfectly even muted almost flat finish. I don't know how else to describe it, and there are no scratches or lines, it is smooth.
The one change I do notice is the very edge has a kind of shimmer or is blurry where through my normal honing and stropping process I see a dead black line that does sets apart from the bright shine in a certain lighting.

Congrats on the new stone, really nice piece there. One word of advice is that sometimes even though some edges do come off the stone shave ready they can be harsh. I know some people love them and if it works for them kudos, I on the other hand do prefer the muting of such an edge by stropping. When I used to have a renge suita that provided the sharpest edge ever, shaving off without stropping left me with some irritation. I have no doubt that I could probably change my technique or something to fix the irritation but I like the feeling of a stropped edge.

I guess what I am saying is maybe your edge is shave ready just not something you enjoy shaving with.

Originally Posted by lz6

I do have a 30x loupe but have not spotted anything out of place. I should qualify that with saying I wear bi-focals and cannot use the loupe without them and see anything. I will look closer though, thanks. What I do see is not the mirror like finish I usually see coming off a shapton 16 or 30k and strops. I see a perfectly even muted almost flat finish. I don't know how else to describe it, and there are no scratches or lines, it is smooth.
The one change I do notice is the very edge has a kind of shimmer or is blurry where through my normal honing and stropping process I see a dead black line that does sets apart from the bright shine in a certain lighting.

Yes this is the kasumi haze of a J-nat but that is only the bevel polish.

It is the shimmer or lack of it on the edge you need to focus on. How large, how irregular, is it folded over slightly or micro chipped ? When you get a good one off the stones. You need to take a close look at what the very edge looks like. This will give you something to aim for but don't disregard the strop or even 5 passes on CrO to get you there. It is nice to aim for perfection off the hones but not all razor steels will come off the last stone as silken smooth shavers. Also the stone itself & how you use it can play a part too. You will get to know the stone over a year or 2. Just enjoy the process.