Thread: Jnat buyers remorse: please help me ;'(

Don't get too hung up on the hanging hair test, focus more on the shave test. Your face can tell you the most about the edge out of any of the tests. If you can't get a comfortable edge off of an 8k, buying more or expensive stones will not improve your skills (a common misconception). It's like seeing someone buy a three thousand dollar guitar hoping it will improve their ability to play better. Figure out how to get a comfortable shave off of one stone at a time (starting with the 8k) before moving on.

here are some pictures of my stones. I agree with Maksim that one single scratch wont do much harm! especially if the stone is expensive!!
my stone right now is totall flat and nice and shiny it has a small mirror line on it I am posting the pictures.


here is the mirror shiny line I had to get an angle for the light to reflect like that.

Originally Posted by xMackx

Don't get too hung up on the hanging hair test, focus more on the shave test. Your face can tell you the most about the edge out of any of the tests. If you can't get a comfortable edge off of an 8k, buying more or expensive stones will not improve your skills (a common misconception). It's like seeing someone buy a three thousand dollar guitar hoping it will improve their ability to play better. Figure out how to get a comfortable shave off of one stone at a time (starting with the 8k) before moving on.

Dear friend, did you read at least the first post or you saw the title and replied?

Originally Posted by danielghofrani

here are some pictures of my stones. I agree with Maksim that one single scratch wont do much harm! especially if the stone is expensive!!
my stone right now is totall flat and nice and shiny it has a small mirror line on it I am posting the pictures.


here is the mirror shiny line I had to get an angle for the light to reflect like that.

A shiny line CAN be a toxic line. Try your razor on the whole
stone and then only on the line a stroke or ten. If it feels roughter,
more catchy than the rest of the stone, perhaps even tiny particles get loose from
that line, than the rest of the stone, that is not good news.

Check this:
An Object Lesson in Japanese Hones: Part II | Eastern Smooth: The Blog

Hopefully no toxic line. I am surprised it is a kiita as
I practically don't see any yellow in it. Perhaps it is
the picture.

Sharpman

Originally Posted by maxim207

You dont need to remove all scratches from your stone it is just waist of the stone money in the sink !

For Tomo Nagura i providet Lv 4 where his stone is Lv 5+, it is hard to make slurry from some hard Naguras, but that what many of Jnat users want, in many case i also recommend to get softer Nagura instead but many users get angry and demand same hardnes Nagura as they hone it self.

Try to make just one grove in your Tomo nagura it will help biding a slurry but it will be from your main stone and not from your Nagura

The fact that the tomonagura actually scratched his stone according
to the OP makes me think that the tomonagura is actually very close to the
stones hardness. I have never been able to scratch my hard stone with
an even slighltly softer tomonagura. I don't know about your hardness
ratings, but LV 5+ and LV4 seems quite a difference, so I am surprised
it would cause scratches.

Thank you very much for your concern Sharpman, but I think Maksim had tested the stone before and he said on his website that it has no toxic lines.

Hopefully it is just steel swarf that has collected and compressed into the inclusion and has gotten buffed up by using the stone, if so this steel should not scratch the steel of the blade. I would not worry about it. The next time you lap the stone look at that line again and see if it is shiny, if not the small amount of steel that had accumulated may have been flushed out. Alx

Originally Posted by danielghofrani

Thank you very much for your concern Sharpman, but I think Maksim had tested the stone before and he said on his website that it has no toxic lines.

Definitely hope so for you. Try what I suggested, if
you cannot feel the line then there should be no problem
and you can continue sharpening to that magic edge!!

Sharpman

Originally Posted by danielghofrani

I don't know the parallel in jnats though, I don't know how sharp the edge should be before I move from Botan to Tenjo, etc..
tonight I will be trying to take an already shave ready 8k edge on the jnat with water only to see if I can polish it. (no nagura for now) once I learn the finishing properties of the stone I will move on to playing with nagura stones.

If you have a shaveready edge at 8k doesn't that make most of the nagura redundant ? I use a very thin slurry of Tenjyo after 12k then often go straight to my finisher on plain water or a light Atoma slurry raised with my 1200 plate. When I say light the slurry is not noticeable to the naked eye. I use a slightly thicker slurry on Tenjyo but nonetheless edge gets sharper not duller as you described in an earlier post. Something you need to correct if that happens.
Slurry too crunchy from pressing too hard on the nagura ? Missed strokes ? I don't know but it does take a little time to learn with naturals & then when you think you've got it you'll learn some more.

KISS

Here are the facts as I see them from the thread

You are fairly new to honing
You sought out and bought a HARD Jnat
Very hard Jnats are known to be for advanced honing
It takes quite a bit of experience and practice to get the most out of an advanced stone
It takes even more experience to learn to get the most out of any Jnat when honing western style razors
Western razors don't use enough pressure while honing to make use of the slurry techniques to get a smoother edge then just water on the stone
Watch ALX's vid again his unconventional style breaks down the slurry so does a Pigtail Stroke search it out
If you wanted faster results then you should have bought either the Shapton or the Naniwa systems
Honing on any Natural period, has to be a romance and you have to embrace the challenge
There is no easy solution Honing is not rocket science therefore there is no set formula
Once you get one razor to pop, that is just the very begining of the journey


Good Luck with taking the first steps