Thread: J-Nat club

Finally got some sun today.

Rideon

You got a lot of meat on the bone with that beauty. What's the thickness and length?

Alex Gilmore

Originally Posted by alx

Rideon

You got a lot of meat on the bone with that beauty. What's the thickness and length?

Alex Gilmore

Hey Alex,

It is about 1.25" thick around 5" long and about 1.5" wide honing surface. It has a really creamy micro bubble type slurry. Very nice feel to hone on.

Enjoy,
Tom

Another Narutaki Nakayama flat. Super fine stones.

So let me ask you straight up. Are you considering these softer stones as razor stones? Against all common thought on the subject that suggestes that only the hardest stones are razor stones. Do you really find that these stones can hone a razor as sharp, or just more comfortable?

Alex

Originally Posted by alx

So let me ask you straight up. Are you considering these softer stones as razor stones? Against all common thought on the subject that suggestes that only the hardest stones are razor stones. Do you really find that these stones can hone a razor as sharp, or just more comfortable?

Alex

Hi Alex,

I would not consider these softer stones first off. They are super fine stones though and seem very dense. These took me forever to lap flat. Water just sits on top not absorbed. Need to do longer test, but after 45 minutes no absorption water drops unchanged. They do not slurry that easily either. According to Namikawa these are the best stone among all of the natural finishing polishing stones.
It cuts the steel effectively and the particle is fine (It is finer than other finishing stones.). If you make Jizuya form this stone, you can do the best JIOKOSHI which is very important in polishing Japanese swords. I need to test some more, but they do leave a very sharp yet smooth shaving edge leaving a close smooth shave.

Enjoy,
Tom

Originally Posted by alx

So let me ask you straight up. Are you considering these softer stones as razor stones? Against all common thought on the subject that suggestes that only the hardest stones are razor stones. Do you really find that these stones can hone a razor as sharp, or just more comfortable?

Alex

Alex,

Now to answer the question I think you were getting at. I will say it this way. I have many Iromono stones and they are a particular favorite of mine as I know they are of yours. Now they too will run the gamut of hardness and even my softest which will slurry under heavy knife pressure, but not razor honing, will finish a razor to a higher degree than my coticules and even thurigians. The edges are just as smooth if not smoother. Very skin friendly. The current stone above gave an edge I shaved with last night that was equivalent to my finest Charnley Forest. I do have even harder ones that get scary sharp.

Enjoy,
Tom

One hour 45 minutes.

I believe that it is not always true that a harder jnat is a better razor hone than a softer one - but since hardness and fineness go hand-in-hand it is usually true. The holy grail of jnats is IMO, one that's finer than its hardness would suggest.

You can also find softer stones that work well with a clear water finish to boost the edge a little, on some softer stones it works and others it does not contribute much.

Tom, have you tried adding 20-30 light clear water strokes? I assume that you're finishing on slurry.

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by Steve56

I believe that it is not always true that a harder jnat is a better razor hone than a softer one - but since hardness and fineness go hand-in-hand it is usually true. The holy grail of jnats is IMO, one that's finer than its hardness would suggest.

You can also find softer stones that work well with a clear water finish to boost the edge a little, on some softer stones it works and others it does not contribute much.

Tom, have you tried adding 20-30 light clear water strokes? I assume that you're finishing on slurry.

Cheers, Steve

Hi Steve,

What I find with the harder iromono is that they don't seem as hard as the glassy hard Asagi grey stones, because the slurry has a softness to it, yet some feel just as dense. I am wondering if this is do to with the grit richness of a lot of the iromono stones along with a high level of finess. So the stones are still really hard sometimes, but they don't give that glassy feed back and feel much more alive.

Yes , I do use clear water stokes on many iromono and on my super hard ones sometimes I need to add some slurry strokes because it is so sharp and a bit harsh on my sensitive skin. I however have not had enough time to try the clear water stokes yet on these Narutaki Nakayama polishing stones. I have on some of the iro Okodu i got with the same shipment and found I like the overall feel finished with very light slurry vs just water so far. That may also depend on the razor too though. Also when I do clear water strokes I use alot of water and zero pressure like the razor floats, so it is like finishing under water. If that makes sense.

Enjoy,
Tom