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Noob happy with cnat

Been honing with a Norton 1k, 4k/8k progression for about a month and can get a good (to me) edge. Bought an ebay guanxxi stone for the heck of it.

Flattened it with my DMT8, then polished with 600, 800 and 1000 wet/dry on the back of the DMT.

Did a 4K/8K progression on the Norton, then about 100 x-strokes on the cnat. Finished with 10 laps each on crox/Fe2O3 balsa. I was very happy with the shave. About 1 pass closer than before with less burn on the Alum block.

Any other tips or suggestions that a noob like me could try?
 
What is the edge like with your paste off the 8k vs off the chinese stone? That it works for you is what matters most.
 
If that is all the equipment you have hone and strop wise, try another hundred on the cnat after your initial water laps and mix some glycerin or a few peas of dish soap into it before moving on and see how the edge reacts.
 
Stay there awhile! Lol. There is a tendency to attempt to try everything. The rabbit hole is deep is what i will say. The whole.honing "thing" is a relatively simple task. And glad to hear your happy with the shaves.
 

Legion

Staff member
That is exactly the setup I started with. Norton-Cnat-CrOx. Served me well for quite a while.
 

kelbro

Alfred Spatchcock
My CH12K is a very slow and fine finisher. Another 100 laps would not hurt. Using glycerin or even honing oil can sometimes make the finish even smoother, just takes more laps.
 
The thread might be more accurately titled "noob happy with pasted strop" instead. Using a pasted strop right will bring up an edge from most any decent stone.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. Prior to the cnat, I went from the Norton 8K to pasted strop. I did notice an improvement with the cnat in between. I will try the 200 laps and see what the shave is like without the pasted strop.
 
It will probably shave just as well and feel smoother to you. To me, that about all that any stone can do. Make the sharp edge smoother. Once an edge feels smoother rather than sharp but a bit harsh what more could any stone do?
 

kelbro

Alfred Spatchcock
My CNAT is one of the large bricks from the very early batches and it is a very hard, fine finisher. Polisher more than anything but will touchup/refine if you build up a slurry on it.

Also since they are so hard and fine, they make a good base for building any kind of slurry. Coticule slurry, thuringian slurry, tomo slurry, you name it. Quite a versatile stone for the money.
 
It will probably shave just as well and feel smoother to you. To me, that about all that any stone can do. Make the sharp edge smoother. Once an edge feels smoother rather than sharp but a bit harsh what more could any stone do?

What physical change to the razor do you think affects the feel but not cutting properties?
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
Also since they are so hard and fine, they make a good base for building any kind of slurry. Coticule slurry, thuringian slurry, tomo slurry, you name it. Quite a versatile stone for the money.

Interesting. I use a hard fine jnat for mikawa nagura progressions, but it is not the one I use to finish. I have finishing jnats that I do not want to put on the wear from mikawas, so I have a thick finishing-grade jnat that's just a cut below the superclass.

Cheers, Steve
 
The edge. Do you not agree that the smoothness is affected to a much greater degree than any increase in sharpness at that point?
Sharpness is ability to cut. Smoothness is less friction between the razor and your skin. Less friction increases the ability to cut. Smoothness is sharpness. You're applying sawtooth logic (irregularities in the edge grab the surface being cut and improve penetration) at a level and scale where it has long since stopped being relevant. At least one would hope... Because if someone relies on a tooth to their razor edge to facilitate the cutting of hair, smoothness is their least concern.

Think logically. Do you think that reducing the surface friction and absolute area of the steel face (the edge) penetrating the hair (polishing the edge as you say) doesn't increase sharpness?
 
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