Thread: JNat for Dummies

Originally Posted by alx

If you want to tone down a diamond plate try to remember to pay attention to the corners too, I have a one that the center is devoid of diamonds from grinding a axe head, and now there is a suction action from that central area when flattening wide full size stones. Alx

That suction action and middle wear is identical to the action that occurs on my 2x6 plate on an 8x3 stone.

Originally Posted by mainaman

I also feel there is misconception that kiita is a finishing stone for razors, while it is true in some cases, most often than not asagi provide harder stones and better fineshers.

Asagi (light blue) is also a colour that spans quarries & strata yet I would bet all the good Asagi finishers,be they Oozuku or Nakayama, are from Namito stratum. Ironically the 2 colors, Kiita & Asagi, are next door neighbours in that layer.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Asagi (light blue) is also a colour that spans quarries & strata yet I would bet all the good Asagi finishers,be they Oozuku or Nakayama, are from Namito stratum. Ironically the 2 colors, Kiita & Asagi, are next door neighbours in that layer.

Oz you are right about that, but I was talking about razor hones, not in general. Razor stones are hard stones, but truth is we do not know where the stones we all use come from, only the miners that dug them know. That info is lost in the line of resale till the stones get to the stone shops.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Asagi (light blue) is also a colour that spans quarries & strata yet I would bet all the good Asagi finishers,be they Oozuku or Nakayama, are from Namito stratum. Ironically the 2 colors, Kiita & Asagi, are next door neighbours in that layer.

Hehe you know that mine like Maruoyama did not even get to Namito layer yet but stil have plenty of kiitas and asagis

Maxim, Maruo labels their Namito stones "Daijo" 大上. They have tons of them.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Asagi (light blue) is also a colour that spans quarries & strata yet I would bet all the good Asagi finishers,be they Oozuku or Nakayama, are from Namito stratum. Ironically the 2 colors, Kiita & Asagi, are next door neighbours in that layer.

Oz, I'm a little confused at your insistence on Namito. All the razor stones I've seen marked as such have been Aisa or Tomae. Namito rarely enters the conversation when I'm talking to hone dealers in Kyoto.

Hi Jim i thought Daijo was a Senmai and not Namito but maybe my mistake
Yep i also hear more of Aisa then Namito for sure.

But my point here is, that dont let people be confused and look for "Namito layer or Kiita or Asagi" just look for razor hone.

Originally Posted by JimR

Maxim, Maruo labels their Namito stones "Daijo" 大上. They have tons of them.



Oz, I'm a little confused at your insistence on Namito. All the razor stones I've seen marked as such have been Aisa or Tomae. Namito rarely enters the conversation when I'm talking to hone dealers in Kyoto.

I 'm just quoting what So told me Jim, that's mostly what he sells for razors but his supply would be from his fathers huge collection so not likely that they are purchasing from dealers currently.

I've been casually browsing the japanblades site, and I noticed that the stones for razors are graded prefinish, final finish, or some of them say prefinish and final finish.

What does that mean? Are prefinishers physically unable to produce a final finished edge on a razor? Shouldn't finishers also be able to prefinish using nagura stones to create a slurry? Am I completely off the mark here?

Originally Posted by tlittle

What does that mean? Are prefinishers physically unable to produce a final finished edge on a razor? Shouldn't finishers also be able to prefinish using nagura stones to create a slurry? Am I completely off the mark here?

To use synthetics as a comparison, consider the prefinisher as the 10 - 16k you may use before a 20 - 30 k
You certainly can use nagura on a finisher but sometimes the work goes quicker with a slightly more abrasive stone.
Some fast Jnat prefinishers can even work well after 4k & maybe even lower but if you can finish a razor at 8k with synthetics & love the shave most Jnat prefinishers would would still give you a further improvement & there is the grey area. What was a finisher originally ( 8k ) changes status & yet the new "finisher" is only a prefinisher relative to a finer stone. Honing relativity theory

Ah, that's kind of what I figured. I've got a coticule, so if I were to get a finishing stone with a nagura would it still (relatively) easily bridge the gap after maxing out the edge on the coticule?