Thread: Jnat progression

Originally Posted by alex1921

Some very good info here. Many roads can take you to your destination.
I have suitas that will bridge the gap, I have finishers that with tomo will polish but with a worn 1200 atoma will take you from 1k easily. What I find myself using at this point of my journey, mikawa nagura. Can't say why, wouldn't say its better or worse, just I enjoy using them. Maybe down the road I will change.

All rocks need to be tested, buying a stone based on name means nothing. They are natural rocks and also people make names up Oh, also just because a mikawa nagura is stamped doesnt mean it will work. My friend Srdjan and I bought a set and he took the botan and mejiro. Well the botan is flat and lacks cutting power. Natural stones.

Mikawas are a lot of fun, but they’re slower than synth bevel set and a couple of jnat awasedo.

I agree about Mikawa. Most of the ‘modern’ Asano stamped stones don’t have much grit in them except koma, all the koma that I’ve tried have been fast, but some modern stuff is very hard, like 5++/5+++. For botan, tenjou, and mejiro, I’ve had to buy several and pick the good ones to get fast smooth stones. The best botan/tenjou grade that I’ve gotten recently have been Odori stones from Alex, and the best koma has been vintage stones and 1 small piece from Max. I’ve gotten good botan and mejiro from Takeshi but they’re small and he doesn’t have them all the time - they’re not Asano stamped. Alex also cut some unstamped koma from a rural source though I don’t believe that he cuts those anymore. They’re white, full of grit, pure, and a usable hardness with the fineness between vintage koma (a little softer and coarser) and modern koma (a little harder and finer).

Just curious to the op on how your edges are at the moment? Because you can vary your finishing to produce different results from the same stone. 20 stones used the same way or one stone used 20 different ways.

I get very sharp edges using one of my Jnat finishers. Sharper than I used to get from coticule of Escher. I usually finish with water only. I don't think it does really matter what stones or naguras you have used before.
I have 3 Jnat finishers and I cannot tell the difference in the edges they produce. A good Jnat finisher needn't be expensive unless you want one with all the right stamps. Stamps will fade as soon as you start using the stone.