Thread: JNAT Honing nirvana for the noob

I finally learned my ozuku asagi 5+ from Maksim. I can confidently hone any of my blades I thought I'd pass on for those new to jnats so they can have a place to start. I know every stone can be a little different but this is what works on mine...

I apologize if this is long but it took me months to get this right. I searched and searched everywhere and looked at countless videos and this is the conglomerate of that I found. I hope this helps out some new folks get results faster than it took me. I enjoy 5+ hanging hair tests and shaves so smooth now across the grain and sometime ATG even above my lip on the fools pass doesn't even feel like it's cutting. It's important to max out your synthetic progression if you do it this way. I haven't tried a full nagura progression yet because of time. But I would think after the mejiro nagura or koma the blade should be equal or better than the naniwa 12k and should effortlessly tree top arm/leg hair.
I hone with one layer of super 88 tape and change it after each stone.

1.) Synthetic progression and maxing out each stone.
I first set the bevel on a cholera 1k with Lynn Abram's method. I found the most important thing is to kill the edge by jointing the stone lightly twice to take out defects in the blade. I do not leave this stone until it cuts my arm hair at skin level with comfort and ease.
Then I use Lynn's circle method on the 5k naniwa super stones. But end with x strokes until blade just slips down this stone smoothly as possible in order to max out my sharpness. I do not count strokes and I go by feel. This rules out differences in each blade that counting cannot. I progress to the 8k then 12k. In order to max out each stone I do 40 weight of the blade very small quick circles each side of blade and finish with x strokes until the blade starts to slip nice down the stone and undercut the water on the 8 and 12. Enjoy maxed out stone progression the blade should be a 4 HHT after this without stropping.

2.) ozuku fun begins
I then break out my ozuku. I asked Maksim for the finest particle tomo he had at the time and he sent me some type of asagi stone which is soft enough to not scratch my ozuku. The first tomo he sent me was very large particle and I couldn't get that stone to work. In fairness my skill level was not that good at the time either but the slurry felt rough on honzan. I also have a nakayama Kiita from aframes that works well too. Finding the right tomo was tough. The ozuku tomo from aframes was too hard and I couldn't generate a slurry. I haven't gone back to the atoma 1200 to test but I am willing to bet that would be fine too.

This is how I get edges that feel like a hot knife through butter. Think of a Lynn Abrams edge on steroids. I mean I do not even feel the hairs getting cut now WTG or XTG. ATG I feel very little resistance by my chin but I have copper wires there. But I get zero irritation and no razor burn. And no cuts.

I generate a light slurry so when I drag the blade spine leading to push slurry into one spot it's barely skim milk consistency. Light slurries are key with my stone. I saw some really thick slurries on this forum and that messed me up for months .

My stone I guess is a bit slow compared to the naniwa anyways so I do 60 light circles weight of the blade each side then x strokes until the blade starts to get slippery. Once the blade starts to slip down without much resistance I dry the blade and refresh the slurry once. This for me finishes the cutting.
I try to get a similar slurry or slightly less. At this point my honzan is so smooth it's hard to generate a slurry. I do another 60 very light short quick circles and then x strokes and the blade usually starts slipping like on glass. Occasionally I will get a blade that starts to stick here but rare. I keep going in that case through my dilutions until it either loosens up or gets ridiculously sticky and I stop. the blade has to determine what it needs.
Once the blade starts talking to me if it's slippery again or not I start my dilutions. I use a spray bottle and I spray it once and do 12 strokes. I count here because by the 12th stroke the blade loosens up again. I do this 3-4 times depending on the blade and how much slurry is left.
I leave very little tinge of slurry at this point on the blade and set it aside sharp edge up. I clean the honzan and with what slurry is on the blade I do extremely feathery light strokes water only basically until that blade feels like it's just gliding on water over glass or occasionally the blade will start to stick like crazy. That is where I will stop.

Here the blade should still be minimum 4+ HHT sometimes a 5. I hit a linen then leather strop. I found the upgraded linen from SRD acts like a super super fine hone. I pull the stop tight and do extremely light 40 strokes. Making sue to just barely catch that cutting edge. I believe most people are dulling and rounding their blades by the videos I have seen. That's why there is so much debate. If you hit the hones well the blade should hardly make a sound on the linen and feel like there is almost no texture. Not the annoying ripping sound I see in the videos. Then I do the same on my latigo pull it almost as taught and do very light weight of the blade strokes (not as concerned here) for 100 strokes. The feedback here is similar the linen the blade should have light to almost no resistance off that edge. HHT should be a good 4.75-true 5+ here with the smallest diameter of hairs.
I maintain my edges by doing 12 linen 25 leather post shave. 30 linen 70 leather pre.
Enjoy your shave!

Sorry about how long this is. But I hope it helps people saves months of trial and error. I'll answer any questions I can if people want my thoughts. Take care!


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