Man, I own a lot of great finishers. It'd really depend on which of my favorites I shaved off last. Right now that's my green camo "mystery" Jnat(?). The thing is hard as a diamond, fast as a thuri, smooth as a coti, and leaves an edge damn near as sharp as I've ever gotten. Probably means some guy found it in his backyard and used it for a century putting an edge on his fish gutter before I got my hands on it. Don't care. It's a fantastic stone.
favorite finisher and why
- Thread starter rpainten
- Start date
My Surgical Black Arkansas...because reasons....
Darn it
Darn it
Recently i have moved back to coticules. There's nothing like mellow, coticule edge
At the moment YG Escher after Jnat finish. Or kiita slurry finish(the Narutaki is finer than my Nakayama asagi, crazy for having some softness to it)
Jnat edge is nice and keen while Escher edge adds some smooth.
Jnat edge is nice and keen while Escher edge adds some smooth.
At the moment my favorite edges are coming from this mystery JNAT that I purchased off of eBay. The seller took terrible photos, and I took a chance.
The seller had no idea how special the stone was, and shipped it to me in an unpadded envelope! Thank God this precious stone didn’t break during shipping...it would have been a tragedy!
It is approximately 8x2x1.
Vr
Matt
The seller had no idea how special the stone was, and shipped it to me in an unpadded envelope! Thank God this precious stone didn’t break during shipping...it would have been a tragedy!
It is approximately 8x2x1.
Vr
Matt
I am very glad you bought this. I almost bought it a 100 times. I was watching this stone forever and couldn't figure out why no one would take a chance at such a low price point for what seemed to me a special stone. I wish I had, but am glad someone else here did and it turned out to be what I thought. I need to stop second guessing my initial thoughts. Enjoy.
I jump around and have lots of favorites and a favorite of each type of stone too, but on top of it all I have to say this Fiddich River stone seems to win out for ease of use final edge and seems to work on everything.
Thanks!
I think that there are a few reasons nobody took a shot...the first thing most people read on the forums about purchasing JNATS is that it is unwise to purchase one from an untrusted source, and we should only buy from a trusted/well known source like JNS, Alex, Keith, AframesTokyo, or a trusted forum member on the BST who has actually used the stone because of poor quality stones, fake stamps, toxic lines, etc etc. This becomes ingrained in our minds, and nobody wants to be scammed or waste their hard earned money. Obviously, I don’t think it is a bad thing to promote buying from a trusted source (and doing so), but I know it makes me more risk averse. I assume it probably makes others risk somewhat risk averse as well.
The second reason is the seller used really poor quality pictures that didn’t do the true beauty of this stone any justice. The third reason, which also almost prevented me from purchasing was the description write up from a seller that didn’t have experience with these stones...Level 5+, but had only seen someone use a razor on it...coupled with the poor pictures, and low price...none of it added up or sounded right.
However, this stone turned out to be a diamond in the rough, and for my tastes the final edges off of it are better than the ones I have gotten off of my Zulu Grey, Charnley Forest, Trans Ark, Purple Welsh, jasper, and Escher.
I also snagged a really nice unknown mine JNAT off of our BST from another member, and it also is producing very very wonderful edges!
Two mystery JNATS that both turned out to be my top tier finishers...I am in danger of thinking that they all are this fantastic...but I know that’s unwise.
I don’t know enough to try to pick winners and losers...I just got lucky...so I will likely by another one down the road from one of the sources listed above!
Vr
Matt
Thanks, They are rare and hard to come by and no labeled ones are known. I have two and this one is the better of them. The other is a good stone too just not like this one.
As for the JNATS I agree with your statement and for those who start out it can be best to stick with the usual suspects. I had a hard time finding what I wanted after the usual suspects and learned from them. Then I just took chances and looked a lot and have had very good luck over the years. Yes if you have an idea of what to look for most JNATs are great, but only a few will be the cream of the crop. I think in the right hardness range most will beat a lot of the stones you mention in the right hands, but it can also be a matter of preference as sometimes I like the edges from other stones better for certain reasons. Even the weather and skin type plays a role in what I use sometimes. I also have a CF that will best or equal the level of high end JNAT.
My current favorite is my Ozuku Asagi from JNS. This is the second finish I’ve tried after diamond paste and it’s really opened my eyes to the potential of naturals. The honing is fun, feels authentic and is engaging. The shave is smooth, comfortable and forgiving. The post shave is next level. Little chance of irritation and any post shave skin tightness is completely gone. The Jnat straight razor shave is by far the most skin friendly shaving system that I’ve tried to date.
This experience has piqued my interest in other naturals and has lead to a minor hone acquisition spree. I’m really keen to try the arks, thuri’s and cotis that get so much attention. I’m discovering that the SR shaving experience is as much about the finisher as it is about the razor.
This experience has piqued my interest in other naturals and has lead to a minor hone acquisition spree. I’m really keen to try the arks, thuri’s and cotis that get so much attention. I’m discovering that the SR shaving experience is as much about the finisher as it is about the razor.
Lol
the arks, thuris, and cotis… oh my
there are so many good natural stones to try!
You’ve all been warned, stay out of the parade of stones threads, its a trap! Its somewhere between the coachmans pleasure island and roarkes fantasy island.
And these popular categories are just the tip of the iceberg. Each one has multiple sub-sections to explore. Then there are the probably countless other types of hones to try.
And then don’t forget that as you get better at honing it is fun and beneficial to revisit hones as your technique changes!
Vr
Matt
Do you have a favorite jnat?
depends on the kids. Not all hones are finishers.
as long as tatoo has different stones.......I'll visit the island!!!!
boss..........boss..........he took the Vermont Slates!!!!
camo
Let me ask you a question and it's not meant to be snarky. I've often wondered this about a lot of posts on this subject. If you have a "special" hone that produces wonderful edges why are you looking to buy more hones down the road?
I always just wonder how much "voodoo" is involved in honing. I have some plain Jane hones, small ones of various types. The shave is fine. The nature of this "hobby" is that a lot of it is subjective but even though there is a lot of variation in rocks, there seems to be more variation in people's minds than in rocks (I would think).
I mean I'm sure no two rocks look alike but I'm not sure that the "edges" produced are infinite in nature. The voodoo part I'm wondering about is if a guy has 30 natural finishing hones (why?) can there really be 30 different feeling edges and would this hold up to a blind test?
If you put 10 razors into a pile and they were honed by the best honemeister on here and some were finished on a Cnat, some using Chrom Oxide (and not overdone) and some on every Jnat finisher there is...in a blind test would everyone be raving about the Jnats and never about the Cnat or Naniwa 12k or Chrom Oxide or would those get picked as the "best" just as often?
I'm not new to straight razor shaving nor to honing but I still don't/can't (?) know the answer. I'm almost wondering if the nature of the beast is that no one can know?
Let me ask you a question and it's not meant to be snarky. I've often wondered this about a lot of posts on this subject. If you have a "special" hone that produces wonderful edges why are you looking to buy more hones down the road?
I always just wonder how much "voodoo" is involved in honing. I have some plain Jane hones, small ones of various types. The shave is fine. The nature of this "hobby" is that a lot of it is subjective but even though there is a lot of variation in rocks, there seems to be more variation in people's minds than in rocks (I would think).
I mean I'm sure no two rocks look alike but I'm not sure that the "edges" produced are infinite in nature. The voodoo part I'm wondering about is if a guy has 30 natural finishing hones (why?) can there really be 30 different feeling edges and would this hold up to a blind test?
If you put 10 razors into a pile and they were honed by the best honemeister on here and some were finished on a Cnat, some using Chrom Oxide (and not overdone) and some on every Jnat finisher there is...in a blind test would everyone be raving about the Jnats and never about the Cnat or Naniwa 12k or Chrom Oxide or would those get picked as the "best" just as often?
I'm not new to straight razor shaving nor to honing but I still don't/can't (?) know the answer. I'm almost wondering if the nature of the beast is that no one can know?
Why do folks have lots of final finishers?
I think a lot of this hobby is chasing absolute perfection, which causes people to try different things. As folks acquire different stones, they hang onto their old ones. That seems to be the case with me. I believe that my kiita JNAT is a special finisher, and since I really like/enjoy it, I am now interested in trying other JNATS. Could I be happy with its edge, and sell all of my other finishers...sure...but what fun would that be?
I like having different finishing stones on hand, because different straight razors seem to prefer different finishers. Also, sometimes I hone a razor or two for other folks, and I ask them if they want ultra sharp but smooth, or more smooth but less sharp....try to figure out what they want along a continuum of options, and then I try to choose the right finisher for them.
Finally, sometimes I personally just feel like using a different finisher/edge.
Could I tell the difference between a Chrom Oxide and natural edge? I probably could, because edges finished on a natural stone seem to get along better with my face.
Could I tell the difference between natural finishers? Maybe...I think I could pick out a jasper and trans ark finish...I would probably guess wrong between JNATs and Eschers...I don’t have enough experience with varying stones in those categories. I haven’t tried a CNAT.
Voodoo in honing...everyone has their own way of doing it...different techniques, different progressions, different touch/pressure, etc...and many roads lead to Rome.
Vr
Matt
Similar threads
