Honing on a Japanese Natural

Discussion in 'Straight Razors' started by gssixgun, Feb 12, 2020.

?

Which best describes what your J-nat looks like when you are done honing a SR

  1. Clear water

    5 vote(s)
    62.5%
  2. Slurry

    3 vote(s)
    37.5%
  1. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    Japanese Natural Honing -
    Which picture best shows your J-nat after you are done honing a SR ???

    ie: Do you finish after diluting to clear water, or do you finish on the slurry ??


    Clear Water

    [​IMG]

    Slurry

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Closer to #1 but there’s still some slurry around. My finishing slurry is such that on the first couple of strokes I can see the edge through the slurry. The slurry darkens and thickens of course. The attached images show the same slurry, and if you zoom in enough you can probably see the edge through the slurry - it’s hard to capture. The second image shows just about all the slurry that’s on the stone.

    I also finish on clear water if that works with the particular stone and the edge needs it.

    I’d have two comments as far as the slurry thickness in the ‘thick’ image in the OP. One is if you finish on that, you’re going to get a good bit of slurry dulling. May or may not be a good thing. You can dilute out to thin slurry or clear water of course, but when I go to a finisher the edge is essentially shave ready anyway and I don’t feel like I need a lot of slurry. Slurry from a good jnat is potent, it cuts surprisingly well with very small amounts - that’s fine as long as the slurry isn’t taking the place of say, an 8k/12k pre-stone or a koma. An it can with enough slurry and time.

    Two, most of my finishers and finishing tomo are hard, and raising that much slurry would take 30 minutes or more on some of them!

    DF57BF51-7573-4027-B7F1-FDBE54A4EBBB.jpeg

    AD276C8A-8FBB-4A86-B031-A44FAB4896C3.jpeg
     
  3. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I keep diluting the slurry, until clear. But, the JNAT I have, does give off some slurry naturally. So, the water on the stone ends up looking like a glass of water, with a couple of drops of milk in it.
     
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  4. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    Is one preferable over the other?
     
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  5. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    It depends on the particular stone. but I must quote Glen when he says that ‘There’s magic in the mud’. Heavier slurry will give milder, less keen edges. Thinner slurry and clear water will give keener edges.

    Some finishing stones need the boost from very thin slurry/clear water finishing, others don’t. I have 3-4 that need thicker slurry. Thin slurry edges off those will make as smooth an edge as any, but the edges like to give you a little ‘love bite’ if you don’t watch your shaving technique. Thicker slurry fixes that on those finicky stones, and the edge is both smoother and more forgiving.
     
  6. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    Clear explanation, Steve, thanks.
     
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  7. Leclec13

    Leclec13 Well-Known Member

    I’m new to jnats. So far I prefer slurry finished edge with my kitta.
    but not as much slurry as in picture
    I still get a great edge with slurry
     
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  8. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Here’s an image of the dried slurry on that hone.

    12D4CB4B-F168-4553-BDE7-C5F23276592A.jpeg
     
  9. Leclec13

    Leclec13 Well-Known Member

    What stone is that?
     
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  10. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    It’s a shobu light blue asagi.
     
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  11. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    So, not a surprise, but didn't realize slurry to be a finishing touch. On my two, I start with slurry and proceed to clear under a small stream of water. What's the physics behind ending on slurry?
     
  12. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    Pretty much the results across the platforms, about 60% finish on clear water, 40% finish using Slurry
     
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  13. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    Oh, just personal preference. ;)
     
  14. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    Does anyone have the link to the article that I believe Jim Rion translated from Iwasaki about never getting rid of the old slurry that collected on his Razor Stones keeping it because it was already broken down.. That he was so critical about that he kept them covered so that not even dust contaminated the worked slurry on the Stones

    I am pretty sure there was a Vid attached to that also it is about 10 years old if you find it can you link it ??

    I am looking too, that had some really good info in it
     
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  15. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Is this the paper you’re talking about Glen?

    http://strazors.com/uploads/images/articles/Honing_Razors_and_Nihonkamisori.pdf

    I have one Kato-era maruka with a cover, one of the best, if not very best stones that I have. The seller missed the faded stamp so I lucked out. That paulownia cover is not low tech either. It’s precisely fitted and you can feel air ‘whoosh’ out when you put the cover on it. There’s no play between the cover and stone.

    The second stone is soft and not that fine, probably a knife or tool hone, and the cover is not fitted to the stone.

    046298D6-19B0-4ED9-8480-CB1738FE5213.jpeg 679D4145-D533-4AAB-AB4C-B9CCE1BCD054.jpeg 117F7743-A07B-4097-9DEF-3625764FF050.jpeg 9DEE4619-A437-4A9E-8069-2D6A0632B1AC.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2020
  16. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    That is a really good one @Steve56 the one I was thinking of is the condensed version of that paper IIRC

    I have to read through this one again and see if it has the story I remember

    This one does describe "The Shimmy" as I call it on page 15 :p

    There is a vid out there that actually shows it too
     
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  17. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
  18. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    This is actually a chapter in a book by Iwasaki. The book is OOP I believe, but occasionally shows up on Amazon.jp. I never bought one because I can’t read it, lol.

    There is a LOT of useful information in it, though the language is sometimes archaic Japanese and Jim was not always sure of his translation.
     
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  19. alex1921

    alex1921 Well-Known Member

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  20. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    There’s also a piece somewhere by the owner of the Maruoyama mine about preserving the slurry between sessions but finding it again won’t be easy.

    The biggest drawback is keeping the slurry from getting contaminated. Stuff falls out of the air, and Takeshi recommends getting up in the middle of the night and honing. Stuff falls off you too, eyelashes, skin flakes, finger stuff, etc. So I usually don’t try to preserve slurry between sessions though I have. I do try to get the most out of it though, if I have the finisher slurried up, I’ll refresh some edges that are getting ‘old’.
     

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