Iwasaki & DMT

After reading all of the threads on the japanese blades I determined that the DMT was not really recommended for putting an edge on an Iwasaki. Unfortunately my arsenal consists of a DMT-8E, 8EE, a Chinese 12k and some bench strops. It took quite some time to clean up the bevel on the 8EE, I didn't trust the 8E so I just kept at it. I didn't count the strokes so lets just go with "a lot". Polishing out the scratches on the 12k was also lengthly but I got through it. I followed up with diamond paste on a balsa strop, 1.0 and 0.5 then leather. The resulting edge is fabulous. Hair just melts on the HHT.

I just wanted to pass this along to those folks with basic hones that are thinking about getting a japanese blade. There are a few scratches from the DMT that I couldn't get out but they don't affect the shave.

The fact is the Iwasaki loves diamonds. Even though the classic honing methods say to use a different hone I agree diamond is fast and effective. I use a pasted strop but in the end it works.