Thread: Tomonagura confusion

Originally Posted by wsfarrell

I've used several different naguras, including the Tsushima. The Tsushima was my favorite, because it was soft enough to make slurry easily and didn't scratch the stones it was used on.

I'm using a full-size Tsushima as a middle stone. Roughly 4k-5k grit, very even, fantastic stone.

I'm now using a worn extra-fine 6" DMT stone to generate all slurry. The DMT is big enough so that it maintains flatness while generating slurry, produces no visible scratch marks, and works (by definition) like a tomonagura, generating same-stone slurry.

The notion that diamonds break down the slurry faster is intriguing. I don't have the equipment to test it.

The stone I bought according to Mr. Kosuke Iwasaki's book the stone I bought's blue Asagi color requires very little slurry to sharpen. I tried it out this afternoon and of course he is right. Just a very faint Botan slurry and it cut's very nice. Thats good news considering the price of Nagura's these days. The Tsushima stone are readily available right now. I would stock up considering they no longer mine those stones. It will be interesting to see how it work on my new stone. The only problem I see using the diamond plates is your using the stone only for the Tomonagura slurry. At the price of these stones a small chunk of Tomonagura and a little rubbing is no big deal.

Stan

I have yet to find a tomonagura that is finer than my best asagi. I use a small DMT file and bring the slurry off the ends of the stone that get the least contact and wear. Works for me.

Just for info ..

The Shapton DGLP is rated at 325 grit..

Also to throw another wrinkle in the mix here, the pressure you should be using for western razors is pretty light, and most likely will not break down most of the slurries like you are thinking it will..
When honing Kamisori razors the pressure is a bit more and will most likely work a bit different..

Since I don't sharpen anything but straight razors, I have noticed that much of the info that is out there does not work the same, especially on Western razors, that requires a bit of work on each stone to figure out what works best for you and your sharpening style..

Originally Posted by Kingfish

I have yet to find a tomonagura that is finer than my best asagi. I use a small DMT file and bring the slurry off the ends of the stone that get the least contact and wear. Works for me.

the tomonagura does not have to be finer than the base stone

Originally Posted by mainaman

the tomonagura does not have to be finer than the base stone

No, but the worked slurry slurry should or at lrast become as fine as the rock you are on , right? Or might it be as Glenn just said a time\ pressure thing. I am sticktly talking western razors, and it is rare that I hone up more than 1 or 2 razors at a time these days.

Originally Posted by Kingfish

No, but the worked slurry slurry should or at lrast become as fine as the rock you are on , right?

The slurry should be as fine as the stone when you work it.

Originally Posted by mainaman

The slurry should be as fine as the stone when you work it.

That probably is my main problem as I like to get done too quick. I tried using a Thuri slurry a little while ago and it worked great. Will have to try it a few more times to see if it was beginers luck.

my tomonagura is as fine or finer as my honzan. when i started to work with this tomonagura my razors are lots better than before where i used to make slurry with my dmt.

I'm trying to decipher what is going on with my finishing tomonagura:

I have an Oozuko that was described as very hard and fine

I have two types of tomonagura, one of which was from a "very similar" Oozuko, and another from a totally different stone, let's call them tomo1 and tomo2 respectively.

When I raise a slurry from tomo1, it is raised almost more quickly than from my Mejiro nagura, and when honing it feels more like botan slurry than a fine stone.

Slurry from tomo2, on the other hand, is extremely difficult to raise (takes between 2 and 4 minutes), and the feedback is velvety, without a trace of the "grittyness" from tomo1. As you can guess, the edges from tomo2 are sublime... an extremely smooth, almost mirror finish that passes the hht without a problem. tomo1 edges are more somewhere between botan and mejiro, with a rough-hazy finish, and while the shaving edge is okay, nowhere near tomo2.

From this, can I deduce that tomo2 is harder than my Oozuko and is raising a slurry from the hone itself? If this is the case, would it be better to get a fine DMT so I don't have to struggle to raise a slurry each time?

Originally Posted by boshane

From this, can I deduce that tomo2 is harder than my Oozuko and is raising a slurry from the hone itself? If this is the case, would it be better to get a fine DMT so I don't have to struggle to raise a slurry each time?

unless the slurry colors are different how can you tell which stone makes the slurry?
You say you get great edges using your hard tomonagura, why would you want to change?