Thread: My New Narutaki Asagi from Alex

Just got back from cigar night. To answer everybody's questions & to clarify just a little bit:

I used a DMT 325 for slurry, but I have a tomonagura & when used it does cut slower & quieter. I've only tried it once on a blade that was just beginning to dull. When I said that the DMT scratches were removed I was only talking about the very edge under the scope--there are lots of scratches visible & even under the scope I can see traces, so perhaps my excitement got the better of me.

The stone does not give up any slurry @ all when used w/ water & no pressure finishing strokes.

I haven't experimented w/ staying on slurry a long time yet as I'm trying to see what the minimum is for a good shave first. I definitely want to try staying on slurry longer also.

As for the shaves (the part we really care about!), one of the razors Alex sent me was ultra smooth but still quite sharp--sharper than a Thurri & much sharper than a coticule (the one in the video) & my barber's W&B that I honed using the same method (but w/ lighter finishing strokes on a diluted slurry) was similar in sharpness (which I define as ease of beard cutting) to 0.5 crox. The razor I tested off the DMT was for fun & as I suspected, was not @ all shave ready so yes, the DMT to this stone is too big a jump, but the W&B jumping off a coticule edge was bang on.

More playing w/ my new toy awaits... Tomorrow. The nicotine jitters from the giant double ligero I smoked would probably wreak havoc w/ precision work...

It really seems to be a nice rock!
Keep us posted on your progress.

On the "fast and fine"; One of the things I really love about Jnats is the stones that self slurry with some pressure on them.
You can get lots of fresh steel chewing particles easy and when your up for finer honing you decrease the pressure and let the particles break down.
If that would be the case with a man made hone, I'll think we would call it genius!

Gssixgun; Shapton GS 16k sound good, is it in the mail?

I purchased a couple of stones from alex last year, I guess, maybe two years ago for one. The other I purchased 6 or so years ago ( a suita stone for woodworking purposes).

I asked alex for a stone that had minimum dollars in appearance and maximum in performance and ended up with a stone that still isn't bested by anything I've bought since. It's still the only stone that I have, as well as a frictionite 821 and 825 that I got from a friend, that I would not sell under any circumstance because I would be afraid I couldn't find a stone as good for anything close to the price.

If your stone has no pores and can hold its grit like you say (not slurry at all on clear water), it will definitely be a good finisher.

We often hear about working the grit and crushing the grit, but I would have to see an electron microscope picture of grit before and after before I would believe that silica particles were being cracked into smaller pieces. I think they've being dulled instead, and the surface of the stone is being dulled. If you have a stone that will hold those particles, you can dull them with use and get a very fine finish. I have spent as much as $500 on a stone, which is still moderate territory for japanese stones, but the differences I find between the edges from the hard stones is based more on care of the user and pleasure of the stone (for example, some nakayama stones, especially stuff that fujibato sells, that can be monstrously hard, will not have a great feel. Same for hard shoubu stones).

I refuse to go up the ladder to stones that are several thousand dollars, because unless they are bought directly from hatanaka by me (which is a chance of zero) I don't believe that most of the stones out there are true maruka stones, or at least up to the standards of vintage maruka stones. Call it a hunch, it's human behavior. Once there is a demand for something and easy dissemination of information, all of the sudden the numbers grow (like "vintage" fender guitars).

DaveW; I don't know if they fracture, get dull, a combination of both or something else, but surely something is going on.
How do we figure that out?

someone with a scanning electron microscope.

Of course, you could also just rinse the swarf off of a stone that had been run through the "slurry breakdown" and see if it cuts finer without the "broken down" slurry on it.

I think a lot of the success with keeping slurry on a stone has to do with otherwise slow stones being able to work to the edge faster with the remaining slurry. There still should be room for improvement on clear water no matter what. Just my opinion, I don't have an SEM to find out for sure.

Originally Posted by PA23-250

When I said that the DMT scratches were removed I was only talking about the very edge under the scope--there are lots of scratches visible & even under the scope I can see traces, so perhaps my excitement got the better of me.

The stone does not give up any slurry @ all when used w/ water & no pressure finishing strokes.

Sounds more like a finishing stone now.

That it is! Had my 5 year straight shaving/30th birthday shave this afternoon w/ the 1st razor I ever had a complete shave on. It's that extra hollow that's too soft to really support that thin grind. Not my favorite razor, but it's tradition.

Did tomo slurry until it was pretty pasty, then thinned to about half its original consistency (~10 circles 5 x strokes), went to 1/4 thickness & did the same, palm stropped (hairs flew off by now) & did about 5 strokes clear water. Stropped leather only & got just about the sharpest, most comfortable edge ever off that stone. 100% BBS. Needless to say, I'm impressed!