Thread: Maxing out Jnats

I have a Jnat that I feel like just isn't producing a sharp enough edge. The edge it leaves is ridiculously smooth, however I feel like my coarse thick beard prefers a much keener edge. I am still very new to honing but have gotten shaving edges every time thus far. I should mention that I found out about inclusions and how they chip the hard way. Really should have went with synthetics , but I'm hooked so to late. I finish with light slurry then dilute to plain water as the razor gets sticky. I have read running water or glycerin, what are your thoughts on maxing out a stone.

Photo would be good

I guess I got lucky with my Jnat, it makes a pretty keen edge without the usual bag of tricks. You could try finishing on a thin/watery shave lather, since this can be easily washed away with no ill effect on the stone.

I would not let glycerin or any foreign material near any of my Jnats. When diluted to pure water, rinse the stone and razor and continue on fresh water. The more laps on water, the keener the edge. Some stones can overhone if pushed too far on water, so maybe start with 20 laps and then test. Add another 10 if you think it needs it and then strop and test shave. With any natural stone, expect to do a lot of experiments an testing.

A couple of notes - with added keenness comes a loss of smoothness; and if you go to far, just go back to Tomo slurry and do as you did before, but with fewer laps on pure water.


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Rarely is the finish the problem.

Are you sure the bevel is/was fully set, what is your progression?

As said, photos of the stone and razor would help.

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

I would not let glycerin or any foreign material near any of my Jnats.

I don't remember ever trying glycerin on a Jnat, but given that it is highly water soluble, I cannot imagine any harm that it could cause to one.

Alternatively, if you have synthetic hones you could get the razor shaving off those, then move over to finish on the Jnat with pure water. That will eliminate if it's a problem with your slurry technique, and establish a baseline for how well the hone finishes.

Honestly there are only ideas here since we are not honing on your stone

If I were to use plain water on my Nakayama I would be going backwards in the finish

Naturals and J-nats in particular need to be romanced to get the most of them

Some really good looking fella once said "Synthetics are a Science,,, Naturals are a Romance" Make sure you want to start it before you buy them..

Here is another finishing trick that works on some of them

Once the slurry has broken down and you continue the finishing laps, STOP adding water and let the surface go to almost dry as your strokes get lighter slower and more perfect..

Depends on the stone but on some of them this will draw out the "keenness"

And now I have something new to try on my own stone. Further down the rabbit hole...

Well I just tried the dishsoap and it definitely brought the keenness up but as someone said it was a little harsh so I will have to try again. Under 120x mag there's no chipping going on so I think it was just to sharp or maybe I didn't strop it enough. More testing to come I guess, I will have to try the little water and see how that works. Thanks so much for the help, have a light green thuri on its way so I cannot wait to use that as my finsisher and the Jnat as pre-finisher. Also I am an end user so the bevels have all been set by pros and I am just refreshing the edges.

Here's the stone.