Thread: Hone of the Day

I believe Abraham Lincoln said
" To make ones way forward with an inferior solution is not making your way forward at all"
It fits when I look for the easy button. And it always happens when its for somebody elses razor.
I get a case of the nerves and anal puckering.
If I hone for free it all goes away.
I am a hobbyist that likes the proffesionals tools.
Thanks to Glenn for starting this thread and introducing so many of us to the variations of honing and terms like
Jointing bevels and crushed slurry terms that scrambles my eggs.
jnats and his introduction to another world whose terminology I have yet to fully digest.Modine with a hone I never heard of till you shared. Thanks to all members.
Soldier your making good progress. Way beyond the midrange hones thread. Your rocking it with the rest of us, good work.
My current situation is not my final destination. Smooth shaves that are reproduce-able are my New years goal.

Originally Posted by S0LITARYS0LDIER

I don't have a picture today to share sadly.. Today my friend brought over his razor to hone.. a GD 208.. F*** I thought to myself while telling him no problem. I'll get it done for you tomorrow.. Anyways added a layer of tape and took it to my king 1k. Took about an hour and a half of x strokes. Bevel set... Then to BBW with slurry diluted to water and jumped to coti with water.. Shave was passable .. not very close but still a shave.. I want to get it a bit better so I'm thinking some more strokes on the coticule with a hint of slurry will fix this problem.. Still I don't have enough time really since my family is hosting a Christmas eve party.. Should I give it too him passable or wait and fix it up right.. I am already giving him a shave ready razor to use...

Maybe your honing ability will coincide withe his shaving ability.

As you learn so will he.

Originally Posted by S0LITARYS0LDIER

I don't have a picture today to share sadly.. Today my friend brought over his razor to hone.. a GD 208.. F*** I thought to myself while telling him no problem. I'll get it done for you tomorrow.. Anyways added a layer of tape and took it to my king 1k. Took about an hour and a half of x strokes. Bevel set... Then to BBW with slurry diluted to water and jumped to coti with water.. Shave was passable .. not very close but still a shave.. I want to get it a bit better so I'm thinking some more strokes on the coticule with a hint of slurry will fix this problem.. Still I don't have enough time really since my family is hosting a Christmas eve party.. Should I give it too him passable or wait and fix it up right.. I am already giving him a shave ready razor to use...

The Gold Dollar and some Chinese razors are the exception to the “Do not bevel set on diamonds”, rule. The steel can be very hard. I put 2 layers of tape and set the bevel on a 1k diamond plate. Once you get the bevels to meet, joint the edge and put 1 layer of tape and re set the bevel on the 1k. With a king a bit of slurry helps. Check your tape often and change at the slightest dragging feeling. It should not take too many laps to re set the angle and get the bevels meeting, do not use too much pressure.

Joint the edge again and with heavy slurry on the BBW bring the edges to meeting again, then finish on the coticule. Stay on the BBW until all the 1k stria Is removed. A 4/8 Norton would make your life a lot easier, just saying…

The trick is to get a good bevel set with fully flat bevels and nice straight edge before the finish stone and make sure the stabilizers are not hitting. They are a lot of work. But once set up properly re-honing is not too bad.

Off the reservation in the name of science.


The Filly isnt wacked its the camera angle and difference between hone heights. Started with jnat.
Prior post said what if... just used rubbing stones on another hone.
Translucent White I was cleaning up, still needs to be burnished.
Used the tenyjou and mijiro on the Ark. Making a slurry was next to impossible.
Edge as shown not a fuzzy, translated sharp keen, not as mellow sharp.delicate difference between 1K and 3K chosera feel
Limited vocabulary the Nagura with rubbing stones feels like cilica sand broken down.super fine smoothish.
Coticle Escher feel like pudding. Zulu similar.
Wanted to test the theory that a jnat base stone wasnt needed. Its not . That said the pics and the feel are harsher by a scoosh.
Thanks for the chance to test.
This feels like Utopian and the Wisconsin meet when he handed my a suitcase full of Cotis to test.
Its like getting a free semester at Harvard. Couldnt afford it on my own but given the chance I would jump at a scholarship.
Thank-you jnats
More hones to try, love to. your generosity and trust are heartfeltly appreciated. I cant say Thank-you enough.
Utopian showed a jnat rubbing stone that cost many hundreds of dollars. I thought thats is way over my paygrade.
Affordable jnat?? we need more tutoring from trusted sources. The internet and googling jnats for sale is scary.

Originally Posted by ultrasoundguy2003

Off the reservation in the name of science.
we need more tutoring from trusted sources. The internet and googling jnats for sale is scary.

Thank you for putting this together! This is a great comparison, am I off in assuming that "off the reservation in the name of science" is an apache strata? If so please correct me.

you are completely correct in your astute observation of the feel, as the mikawa seams are a broken down silica shale of quartz neighbors, one of the seams not used for nagura is mostly quartz sand infested, and the grading is additionally necessary, as well as careful second inspection which I do for all my asano nagura before deciding they're razor grade- to ensure not just fines but also that they aren't full of quartz sand inclusions. If you get little salt like grains in your slurry, they can and will chip a razors edge.

To be clear- Nagura are by definition: Japanese Whetstones or J nats, it's merely that that mikawa has layers that are fairly consistent in fines, yet varied across layers, so it is able to provide regular, mid grade, and premium and diesel and more so to say. Mikawa is like Nakayama in value and prestige of not greater- I have full size hones of mikawa with asano stamps and they were/are every bit as pricey for what they do if not more- the difference is in the consistency of grades of the layers that made them indispensable in even small sizes as nowhere is the plight of realizing that the best stones are Japanese whetstones, and yet many are not the best, with the best ones being hard to find and expensive when you do than in Japan. It makes it possible for working class smiths, barbers, chefs etc (togishi buy the large hone sized asano and the best of the best stone- so I wouldn't count them as benefactors to small nagura as much) to access most of those qualities in a much more attainable price.

Like I said: I mostly don't use nagura aside from some of my own choice tomo or uchigomori, to get slurry without roughing the surface when I'm really chasing infinity vs over a diamond nagura which is all you really should need with a quality stone. It's one of the ways that super hard stones were able to marketed as the "choice" or "only" "razor quality jnats" -with a shortage of stones and an expense to purchasing those that are left that release appreciable particles and are very consistent and pure- the second option was buy cheap super hard stones that are too stubborn to release any of their inappreciable particles and rely on nagura. The less of their errant particles the better the nagura could shown through the finished edge. Which is I find ironic- so many never hone on their Japanese Whetstone hone they had to have, they only ever get the edge of the nagura. If the slurry is mostly nagura- then they're no honing on the base stone particles. Quality Japanese whetstones don't take hours to refine an edge- they are fast and linear.

Would you be down to try a gloss marble tile or glass and nagura?

Nagura are bolt on performance and do not give the base stone it's abilities, the base stone is untested until you are honing on the base stone alone. It's both a very economical way to get near finish, and a way that some vendors rely on to sell dead stones as super special razor hones which irks me. I'm ecstatic to see the very real, yet minute difference between nagura whetstone slurry alone on [insert hard stone here] and a true razor quality novice level Japanese whetstone base stone! A norton 8k is enough (as is a cartridge shave(I'd prefer a dulled razor or chisel)), anything above should have verifiable improvements. I'd really like to play around with some of the most preferred eschers and put them against my most preferred Japanese Whetstones but I don't know enough about eschers yet to pull the trigger on ebay for prices that many times could be a another very nice jnat that unlike the escher- I'd be able to hone on. I suppose i'll have to do tradesies loan (that's a real word) with another member who has fancy eschers because I just cant commit to the leap of faith- but I am damn curious.

Do I have these right?
Nagura alone without Nakayama



Nagura with the nakayama


This has been the most interesting one yet to me personally. Great work in the name of science.

The problem I see with these two photos, to be devil's advocate as it questions what I see as confirmation to my own findings and beliefs (which are of course that quality Japanese Whetstones are superior in edge quality to all others) Is that though the Nakayama one is much much cleaner and more refined edge line and bevel- we are also looking at two different razors and what's more: steels and therefore the carbide size and quality can be assumed to be different so the superior edge (pun intended) of the Nakayama honed one could be more or less (even dare I say...inferior. gasp. sacrilege I know) than the nagura alone on the other stone. There is that one lacking control, aside from N of 1 sample size. Not to berate your findings or diminish my own satisfaction in this jnat delivering a superior edge- but I am a perfectionist and I'd like to remind us all in our inquiry the importance of being equally skeptical of results in experiments and experimental design as we arrive at our conclusions. As I scientist I am personally in disbelief that synthetics have not trounced naturals yet, which makes me cherish each of my stones all the more. But I look forward to the day when the envelope gets pushed further

I have a C-Mon and it is my favorite razor giving a closer, smoother shave than others I have.

Originally Posted by jnats

The problem I see with these two photos, to be devil's advocate as it questions what I see as confirmation to my own findings and beliefs (which are of course that quality Japanese Whetstones are superior in edge quality to all others) Is that though the Nakayama one is much much cleaner and more refined edge line and bevel- we are also looking at two different razors and what's more: steels and therefore the carbide size and quality can be assumed to be different so the superior edge (pun intended) of the Nakayama honed one could be more or less (even dare I say...inferior. gasp. sacrilege I know) than the nagura alone on the other stone. There is that one lacking control, aside from N of 1 sample size. Not to berate your findings or diminish my own satisfaction in this jnat delivering a superior edge- but I am a perfectionist and I'd like to remind us all in our inquiry the importance of being equally skeptical of results in experiments and experimental design as we arrive at our conclusions. As I scientist I am personally in disbelief that synthetics have not trounced naturals yet, which makes me cherish each of my stones all the more. But I look forward to the day when the envelope gets pushed further

You are correct about the pictures. Nagura only was done on a Arkansas White.
So to play the Devils Advocate back. I have a 7 day set of Bokers. 5 day set of Ducks . Or new stock 3 Revisors.
We saw what the base stone and naguras did (ultra fuzzy pic) .
I can use another Revisor without the base stone and naguras only.

Marble tile?? Yes I can go buy one. I have heard of glass , no clue after that.

Since you have been so kind to give me the chance to learn , I would like to reciprocate and do the testing. Lets set the parameters.
Kill all factory edges. Try the bevel set and go to finish on just nagura with Revisor #2.

What are you thinking for the marbile tile and Revisor #3?

Time and effort should be included in the equation. Just because we can doesnt mean we should. If it takes over an hour to bevel set and get to the mid tenjyou. I will report the findings and pictures but I just dont see that as what an average honer would want to do. Especially if the edge is less than using a jnat hone. Does this sound reasonable?

Revisor 6/8 (stones from bottom):

- Aka
- Belgian Blue
- Coticule
- Rozsutec
- Leather

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Revisor 6/8 (stones from bottom):

- Aka
- Belgian Blue
- Coticule
- Rozsutec
- Leather

I have that same razor. Just an awesome piece of steel. You'll love the shaving experience and it will be a long time before it sees a hone again.