Thread: How to start with naturals

What advice can you guys give on getting started with natural stones. I'm interested in learning how to finish with Eschers, JNATS, etc. How do I wade into this?

Start with a good paying job. Then, add patience. Everything else is just practice.

Originally Posted by JimR

Start with a good paying job. Then, add patience. Everything else is just practice.

I don't have a job, I own the company!

What would you recommend I buy first to get started?

All of the stones you are mentioning are wonderful finishers and their is so much info on each, you could read for days and end up with memebers who prefer one to the other claiming which one is best.

Before you venture into that world, in no way want to insult your abilities, but generally, anyone of them will be great, providing you can get a good shave off a synthetic 8k grit. If your abilities in honing are not there yet, a natural finisher might be something you will want to hold off until your skills are good enough to get something out of them that would be worth the expense.

At that point, there is no debating that eschers are consistant and they have a very strong following here at SRP.

If you venture into Jnats, you will save much time and frustration by picking a vendor that understands your honing style and abilities because of the much larger variation and individuality of the stones.

Coticules are also excellent stones and there is a number of people here that use them in different ways and love them as well.

I hope I began to at least set you in the right direction, but that is a very big question, and I can not emphasize how important it is that you know where you stand in your abilities so you can make a good choice.


edit-this forum is known to many as a "stone forum" take some time and you will not be disappointed, I don't know any other place that has accumulated as much information on natural finishers applied to razors than here. You are in the right place to get the help you will need. Good luck.
Mike

Why not start with a coticule an Belgian blue? Much cheaper than Escher and Jnats. See whether you like it before you move on to the more expensive stuff.

I have been using the Tam O' Shanter a lot lately.

Originally Posted by Kees

Why not start with a coticule an Belgian blue? Much cheaper than Escher and Jnats. See whether you like it before you move on to the more expensive stuff.

I have been using the Tam O' Shanter a lot lately.

I'm interested in learning how to use slurries to sharpen and hone. I'd like to get a stone with a wide range of capabilities. JNats seem to best fit this profile? Is it possible to sharpen after bevel set all the way to final hone on one JNat using different slurries?

At the last London razorcon Birnando had a variety of slurry stones and J-nats to hone on.

The only thing I would say is it might be worth getting yourself a bevel setter and a DMT to do edge repair and the initial bevel setting. You can't do edge repair on natural stones as easily as you can on a DMT and I think you'd probably struggle to hone a chip out of an old wedge on a Jnat!

A Chosera 1k would ensure you always have a decent bevel cut before starting on the natural stones and will really help you end up with a great edge.

This is all just IMHO of course, but that's what I'd do if I was going the naturals route.

I definitely recommend talking to a reputable seller about what you want to do and having them recommend a stone to you.

Good luck and have fun!

Originally Posted by carazor

I'm interested in learning how to use slurries to sharpen and hone. I'd like to get a stone with a wide range of capabilities. JNats seem to best fit this profile? Is it possible to sharpen after bevel set all the way to final hone on one JNat using different slurries?

I'd suggest you first learn how to hone on synthetics then move on to naturals. You have to first understand how the edge develops during different grit stages and get consistent good results @8-10k level, before you have any success on natural stones.
If you want to get a good Jnat contact Maksim:
JNS japanesenaturalstones.com
For Escehr classifieds or e-bay is the place to look.

All great advice here. I only put one more forward. Do not learn on your daily razors. Get some which are simmilar shape to yours and you do not nd to mess them up.

Good thing to know about the eschers is that its a very slow stone. It is a very very goood finisher but you need to get the most out of your razor before you go to the escher. If you use it too early then you're not going to get the most from the escher stone. For example if you go norton 8k to escher the results wouldn't be as good as norton 8k--to coticule---to jnat----to escher. Some people call this overkill but my mentor taught me this and he's right from what I've experienced. The thinner and finer you make the edge first the better the escher will be.