When I first got my Iwasaki it gave me the perfect shave right out of the box, no stropping required; however, as some time passed it began to produce more and more unsatisfactory results. In the end it would pull the hair, and it was very uncomfortable (especially above my upper lip). Being analytical (some would say overly so) I reasoned that the problem must be my honing methods. over many months I tried different ration, the traditional washboard motion, forward strokes (western method), and even back strokes (the desperation method - lol), and all with the exact same ends. I thought, maybe it doesn't like the 30k, so I backed down to 16k—same thing. I was considering selling the razor all together as I had taken it out of my rotation. I thought though that the maker of such a fine blade may use a higher quality, natural hone, maybe Nakayama. I don't have one of those. Last week I put it to my 8000 grit DMT diamond plate. I stropped, and I had a wonderful shave—the Iwasaki is back in use again.

Now what next. My Shaptons work perfectly fine on all my other razors. My Iwasaki just doesn't like Shapton, it seems to like natural stones. Here is my question: What stone or sharpening system should I invest in now? As I am currently in the market for my next auto, Nakayama, unfortunately, is out. I would like to take the Iwasake to a slightly finer level, a little closer to 16,000. I have never tried cuticle how fine are they, are they natural stone, how do they compare to diamond? Maybe diamond paste? What are my options?