Thread: Naniwa or Not Niwa?

Gssixgun is using electrical tape, not duct tape. As noted above, duct tape does have a kind of cloth or cord component running through it. I'd imagine this could probably affect the bevel angle at the very edge as the cords could hold the spine just the tiniest amount of space off of the hone and if you didn't have the exact same tape placement the next time around the angle could be just the tinest bit different, which makes a lot of difference if your hone isn't reaching the edge of the razor

Go for electrical tape if you're going to tape. It's a consistent thickness, smooth, wears relatively well and shouldn't leave any noticeable particles behind.

Ditch the duct tape and use electrical tape.

My Naniwa Chosera has some sort of "writing" on it's sides, but none of my Naniwa SuperStones have any of it on the stone besides the "S____" denoting grit..only on the base in the plastic.

Ok, It's true when they say you have to learn your stones and how to use them. Thanks all for the assistance. I have started to lern them on another level all together.

Originally Posted by BenjamanBarker

Im no pro but i would venture to say the duct tape may have something to do with it. duct style tape has cordes running thru it with could cause issue during honing.

any reason you use duct tape and not just e-tape?

Come on, I'm a guy! It was a gut feeling that the Duct Tape would be more durable. I also didn't have any electrical tape and I have been making do with it for several months now.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Do the lumps go when you rinse the stone ? If so they are additions & not part of the stone ie they are dust or tape or hopefully not chunks of your razor.

Yes the lumps are washed completely away when I clean the stones.

Originally Posted by Lesslemming

what size is that stone? Looks a little narrow in the pictures.
The usual naniwa combi stone size is 210 mm x 70 mm x 20 mm or 8 1/4 inches long by 2 ¾ inches wide.

Do the Stones say "S 3000 and S 8000" on the front side?

Did you flatten the stones properly?

Yup, I flattened them properly and beveled the edges just as I should have. They are marked as I have expected.

Originally Posted by tlittle

Gssixgun is using electrical tape, not duct tape. As noted above, duct tape does have a kind of cloth or cord component running through it. I'd imagine this could probably affect the bevel angle at the very edge as the cords could hold the spine just the tiniest amount of space off of the hone and if you didn't have the exact same tape placement the next time around the angle could be just the tinest bit different, which makes a lot of difference if your hone isn't reaching the edge of the razor

Go for electrical tape if you're going to tape. It's a consistent thickness, smooth, wears relatively well and shouldn't leave any noticeable particles behind.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Ditch the duct tape and use electrical tape.

My Naniwa Chosera has some sort of "writing" on it's sides, but none of my Naniwa SuperStones have any of it on the stone besides the "S____" denoting grit..only on the base in the plastic.

Alright here is the bottom line. I spent the weekend getting to know my stones. 3 stones (220/1000 Oil Stone, Naniwa 3k/8k, C-nat), 6 razors (Mappin & Webb Trustworthy, J R Torrey 156 Our Barber, King Razor Guaranteed Double Temper, W H Morley & Sons Clover Brand, Electric Cutlery, and a Henckels Zwillingswerk) and made sure I took the time to pay careful attention.

The Norton and C-nat are very slow cutting and don't slurry by themselves when honing. The Naniwa is a fast cutter and slurries readily when honing.

Everything I read on the topic of all these stones was correct. I just needed to pay more attention to the stones as well as the razors.


Here's what I learned this weekend:

Honing on my Norton was slow but consistent. I built a little slurry on the Norton from the C-nat and it did cut a little faster. I watched the Duct Tape and saw very little wear.

I took the razors to the Naniwa and noticed that they were cutting much faster. I did not notice any lumps at first, then as I started feeling them I inspected the Duct Tape. The wear was Huge. I replaced the tape and cleaned the stone. When I started honing again, NO LUMPS in the slurry. If I kept the slurry thin I rarely got any lumps. When I did get lumps I changed the tape immediately. Also moving through thin to no slurry did give me a nice cutting edge on both the 3000 and 8000.

Finished each on the C-nat to a nice polished edge.

1. It was the Duct Tape and not the stone. I will buy some E-tape and try that in the future, but can work with the Duct Tape also. Just have to change it when it starts to wear.

2. I need to do a lot of work with slurries to understand how to use them better for cutting fast and/or polishing slow.

3. My rating of these razors for hardness in order:
King Razor Guaranteed Double Temper (Pretty hard steel, can't wait to shave with this one)
Electric Cutlery (This is my second. My first was a favorite I gave to my son. They hold a great edge.)
J R Torrey 156 Our Barber (probably a tie with the Electric Cutlery, but the blade is more slender so takes an edge a bit quicker)
W H Morley & Sons Clover Brand
Henckels Zwillingswerk
Mappin & Webb Trustworthy
(The last three are all very close in hardness. They probaly could change in order on any given day. I'll have to judge more closely how well they hold this edge.)

4. I now have 6 freshly honed razors with fantastic edges.

5. Paying closer attention to my honing is actually giving me a better edge than I was getting before. I'm excited to see what kind of edge I can get after more practice. WOW!!!

Thanks all !!!

Sounds like you had a good time, hope the shave is even better!

I've found not using any tape works fine in most cases.