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HI Guys,
I received my latest stone in the mail today. It's a Nakayama Umegahata from Takeshi. I'm wondering if someone could translate this kanji at all:
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...nji_jnat_2.jpg
Here are some other pics...
Dry
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...gahata_top.jpg
Wet
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...hata_top_2.jpg
Underside
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a..._umegahata.jpg
cheers
Nice looking stone, just the size I like :)
Can't wait to hear how it does :)
The kanji means "Iwasaki Select", Iwasaki-sen in Japanese.
It may or may not mean that it was once part of the stock sold by Kousuke Iwasaki/Shigeyoshi Iwasaki back when they were supplying barber shops with razors, strops and stones. This would have been 30-40 years ago, I reckon.
May I ask: how was the stone described to you and what's your impression of it? It seems like recently I'm thinking more and more of JNats :)
those are soft stones, most suitable for prepolisher, IME the edge is good but not the best you can get.
I think it is a very good beginner stone easy to use .
I was emailling Takeshi for several weeks discussing the stones and requested "a hard, fast and fine stone specifically for honing straight razors" and this is what he recommended.Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkinLondon
I gave it a test run last night with an ebay rescue.
Now in terms of hard/soft and slow/fast I can only compare to my other finishers and I would say this stone is harder than my Shapton 16k and my Coticule and slower than the Shapton 16k but faster than the Coticule.
Good to hearQuote:
Originally Posted by mainaman
How about an Ozuku Asagi? I have one on the way from Maksim?Quote:
those are soft stones, most suitable for prepolisher, IME the edge is good but not the best you can get.
Or are these beginners stones only and again won't give the best edge? What would be your ideal stone for finishing razors?
I was too thinking about getting one of these since Takeshi seems to get them pretty often, somehow. I was also thinking about holding out for an Oozuku so any more info would be appreciated! :)
I have finished a few razors on each of my JNAT's but am far from deciding on my preference - it is going to take me a long time to experiment and learn how to get the most out of each stone. With my limited honing experience and limited time on each stone I have been trying to rank my finishers first for sharpness, then smoothness then for cutting speed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Disburden
YYMV and I do have limited honing experience (we all have to start somewhere right?) so take this as my opinion and only my opinion.
So far I would rank the finishes from my stones like this:
For Sharpness
- Oozuku
- Naniwa 12k or Shapton 16k
- Umegahata or Tomae Honyama
- Coticule
For Smoothness
- Coticule or Umegahata
- Oozuku or Tomae Honyama
- Naniwa 12k
- Shapton 16k
For Speed
- Naniwa 12k
- Shapton 16k
- Oozuku
- Coticule
- Umegahata
- Tomae Honyama
I have lent my Coticule to another member so I will focus just on my JNAT's for a while and see if my opinion of them changes.
I have an oozuku asagi and this is no beginner Stone at all. It needs some Experience in honing imho.
I have an oozuku asagi on the way from MAxim as well. What in your experience is the best way to use this stone? Maxim recommend using a toma nagura, which he included in my order.Quote:
Originally Posted by sicknote
Hey,
It depends how i hone the razor. Usually i use it with my mikawa naguras and finish with slurry created with a little diamond plate. Honzan nagura will have the same effect i think. Without slurry this stone has nearly no effect and is slow as hell.
If i want to sharpen faster i do this: shapton 2k, daijo with slurry, daijo with water only (the daijo usually is around 8k, but is really fast with slurry), than i go in my nakayama asagi which is pretty fast cutter but still is really fine. With this Edge which is good to shave, i'll go onto the oozuku and do maybe 100 strokes with Water only. This gives the razor the Special something. Hard to explain. But you have to make your own experiences because my oozuku wont be like yours.
Both Takeshi and Maksim suggested a Tomonagura when using the Umegahata and Oozuku as finishers. I kept asking for Nagura Koma and they kept saying the Tomonagura would be better. I have been using this one that I got from Maksim to raise a light slurry and it offers a similar feedback to that of my coti.
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...tomonogura.jpg
Later down the track I want to experiment with these and try to work out a progression. The stamped are from Maksim and the non-stamped from Takeshi:
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...nes/nagura.jpg
Hey,
I use the diamond plate to create honzan slurry. The honzan nagura is usually from the same Stone to create slurry which comes from the Stone itself. I have a Koma nagura and i use it before using the honzan slurry. U have to try things out. :) Read jimr Blog there is much explained bout naguras etc.
Thanks! I know ultimately it will come to testing every method out as each natural is different. Maxim described mine as extremely hard and fine and best used with the Tomanagura he included. Can't wait to get to testing.Quote:
Originally Posted by sicknote
I can't comment on the relative hardness, but I adore that size of Japanese stone.
I managed to snag a few Iwasaki Select stones in just that size that Stefan had listed in the Classifieds several months ago, and they are just great stones. One of them, a surprisingly "fast" kiita with a Maruka stamp, put a fantastic edge on my Iwasaki kamisori razor. I followed JimR's invaluable youtube video on honing kamisori.
When I try to use the dmt plate to make slurry on my Nakayama all I get it a bunch of metal swarf on the stone and not much slurry at all. Have you experienced this?Quote:
Originally Posted by sicknote
ööööhm, no :D
Talk about Hard Rock.....Quote:
Originally Posted by Disburden
if your stone is so hard, use a tomonagura for slurry , then a few passes with water only and you will be set.Quote:
Originally Posted by Disburden
I was wondering if that was a sign of an extremely hard stone, it's a Kiita which is why I was baffled that it would be that hard. I have little experience with Japanese stones but from what I've been told a Nakayama Kiita is usually softer compared to Asagi, etc.