Thread: beginner break through!

Thank you to all that post advice, comments, and videos to those of us just starting out. I have been at this hobby for almost a year now, and today was a monumental milestone for me. It all started earlier this evening, when the DHL man arrived with my shuobudani type 100 with tomo nagura, botan, mejiro, and tenjyou asano naguras. I have finally become proficient with my norton 4/8k and shapton 12k, but have just been wanting a smoother edge. My hat is off to maksim from japanese natural stones for helping me pick out everything. The new jnat performed even better than I was expecting. I was nervous because I tried my luck at a coticule, and just could not get good results. The edge on my W&B celebrated is now so smooth and sharp, all after my very first attempt! Now I guess I can try to get the same quality edge on my other razors, and fall even deeper into this wonderful addiction.

Thats why so many are jumping into Nats! Glad to hear about your success. It gets better so you have alot to look forward to. I have the same stone and its a great easy to use hone. Congrats!

I won't lie, I was extremely nervous. However, I'm 3 razors in now and know for sure that my first success was not a fluke. I don't think I'll need to buy any more stones for quite some time. I went straight from the 1k bevel set to my nagura progression, using 3 new slurries with the botan, and had extremely good results. It's like a whole new door has been opened! To all the new guys, or those interested in jnats, get in touch with maksim at japanese natural stones. My order qualified for free shipping and it only took 3 days to get here!

The naguras IMO deliver and are well worth it considering they will last a lifetime. Great job!

I also purchased the replacement kanayama leather strop, and although I haven't tried it yet, it is the softest piece of leather I have ever touched and feel it will do wonders on an edge. Does anyone else have experience with this strop?

Originally Posted by prodigy

... I don't think I'll need to buy any more stones for quite some time...

Lol!!!!! That's what we all say! But that's the fun part!

Joking aside that's good to hear you're enjoying the stone. Even if it doesn't give magical results, naturals are so fun to work with.

And yes the Kanayama is a fantastic strop. Do a search and you find tons of posts about them. Wonderful feel.

Shane

My edges are very sharp and very smooth, but when looking at them via 30x they are more of a haze than mirror finish. I've read that this can be normal but I'm just curious how it can be so. The jnats are supposed to reach grit levels higher than my 12k synthetic right? And that leaves a super mirror finish on the edge. No complaints here just curiosity.

Wow good for you impressive .. I have been honing three years almost and lately hone every day about 2 hours a day because I truly enjoy it. And the jnat edge is still my problem. Coti all depends IMO on the quality of the stone. Jnats I spend strictly time with them now and have had successful results. To be honest I hate honing on Jnats because no matter how much.u Know or how good u are there is a possibility of not getting a consistent edge everytime,, I have been using them lately just for finishing and have better results.. Very happy u nailed it ur first time that's great.. Keep it up..