Thread: Honing a NOS Le Jaguar

Here are the hones I used to hone a recently aquired Le Jaguar. Thanks Mijbil for the razor... This is what I use. There are other ways to achieve the same results.

From L to R. 1000/6000 King Icebear hone. 8000 Kitiyama, 15K Salm coticule, Macs unknown J-nat. finish on Y/G Escher and Brown Escher with oil. Strops.

Many feel the 1000K King is more like a 2000 K grit. I agree. This requires a little more effort to set the bevel but is more gentle than say a 1000K Shapton. See hone line after circles and X patterns after King stone. The bevel has to be set before proceeding.

8000 Kitiyama stone with straight and X pattern passes. Razor is virtually shave ready at this point. Now the fun begins with the finishers. A beautiful Salm coticule further refines the edge.

After the the cioti, Macs (Mcwolfs) J-nat is used. Notice uniform X patterns swarf lines on hone. This is desirable and indicates good even edge contact with stone. Finish with water only X light passes.


On to the Eschers, A Y/G yellow green Escher 30K is used with slurry from a 1200 DMT. Finish with very light X pattern water only. Then I utilize a rare Brown Escher with oil only. This takes the edge to extreme shave performance.


The razor is finihsed by strropping on nun-to-sharps KC Crew Hemp strop, Followed by Neil Miller Plain Jane Buffalo strop, and finally a 70000 Kanayama strop. You can of course use some CrOx or Cerium Ox if you wish. Too many pics to show these.

This Le Jaguar is now ready for a shave test. Thanks Jason (Mijbil) for the opportunity to purchase this razor. It IS one of the best.
Mike

Beautiful razor and a very good looking coticule. Thanks for sharing.

You've got some nice stones. Your YG Escher is 30k?

Originally Posted by Piet

You've got some nice stones. Your YG Escher is 30k?

This is about the only forum where a guy can say that to another guy without getting a few raised eyebrows.

But yeah... you really do have some nice stones there. And that razor is just beautiful.

Originally Posted by Piet

You've got some nice stones. Your YG Escher is 30k?

Hi Piet,
It's a vintage YG Escher. I have no reason to doubt that based on it's performance against the J-Nats I have used. I am very interested in the latest information regarding these Oozuko J-nats. It will be fun to compare them. Soon.

Mike

Brown Escher? With a label, too? Can you really feel a difference between that and the Y/G?

Nice pics and thread. Always nice to see more hones

You must send me these stones for testing, lol.

You have such nice toys.

Lovely coticule.

Could you post a pic of the J-Nat without the swarf?

Is it really necessary to use that many strops?

Is there any one hone you could have used after bevel setting to make shaving acceptable?

I ask because I do not know. I cannot reach the shaving edge. I can put a razor edge on a knife, but not a razor.

Originally Posted by Evritt

You have such nice toys.

Lovely coticule.

Could you post a pic of the J-Nat without the swarf?

Is it really necessary to use that many strops?

Is there any one hone you could have used after bevel setting to make shaving acceptable?

I ask because I do not know. I cannot reach the shaving edge. I can put a razor edge on a knife, but not a razor.

Evritt
This is the front and back of Macs J-nat. I have So Yamashita trying to ID as well. It's a beauty, perfect for razors. Always looking for finer though, that's HAD.

Regarding strops. No. You do not need that many. I go for extreme edge keeness on all my razors and have found this combination works well. I strop my razor during the entire honing process on a strop I made called a cushion strop. It mimics wiping the blade clean across your thigh. The first pic shows this strop.

Bevel set is the foundation of the razors edge. I use a synthetic combo stone at 1 or 2K to 6K to 8K. You can shave off the 8K Kitiyama. That's two stones. Some additional pasted stropping will improve the 8K edge even more. stropping just refines the edge and makes it smoother.

Check out Glens videos for hone progression. Sham also has some videos floating around. I gave my honing video from Lynn to a new member. The Shapton 1K is a true bevel setter. It's very fast and aggressive. The wider hones allow you to make full blade passes and X strokes. It's important to keep even pressure on the entire blade during your passes.

I hope this helps.
Mike

Awesome photos!

Quick question, if its a brown Escher isn't it potentially harmfull to use oil on the stone? All the escher stones I've seen warn against oil use. More pics of that stone may help me understand.

Thanks