Finishing on Mejiro slurry

[Disburden]

Tonight I decided to use my jnat and hone using nagura. I have struggled learning this method and always seem to get a varying result after finishing on tomo nagura. I decided to stop at mejiro and see what the shave test is like. The sharpness tests seem really good though.
Has anyone tried shaving off mejiro slurry and skipping tomo slurry?

 

[Gamma]

Finishing on Mejiro is an old-skool technique and it works very well for a lot of people.
I've done it myself and shaved well.

 

[Brooksie967]

Yep done it a lot and have had great success. Got myself a Koma and like that even better. My current tomo is too hard but I do occasionally rub a smaller hone onto a bigger one to generate 'tomo' slurry even though it's not from a nagura per se.

 

[Disburden]

That sounds promising. My oozuku is insanely hard and the tomo nagura is the same so I just dont finish with it.

 

[jpcwon]

I tried it once a while ago and actually got a great shave. When I was going thru a period where I couldn't find a good tomo for my Ozuku, I tried skipping the tomo just to see…the result was pretty darn good I must say!

I ended up settling on a softer Kiita tomo for my hard Ozuku..in fact I think it was you, Nick, who recommended that to me….it solved my tomo problem very nicely!

 

[Steve56]

Similar experiences myself!

Cheers, Steve

I tried it once a while ago and actually got a great shave. When I was going thru a period where I couldn't find a good tomo for my Ozuku, I tried skipping the tomo just to see…the result was pretty darn good I must say!

I ended up settling on a softer Kiita tomo for my hard Ozuku..in fact I think it was you, Nick, who recommended that to me….it solved my tomo problem very nicely!

 

[Disburden]

Yep that was me! I had a softer kiita tomo nagura but I sold it with my Maruichi asagi.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Done it, not nearly as sharp as I like, but certainly doable.

 

[ACorazza]

Tried it once or twice. I remember reading advice that stated you should try to shave off each stage of the progression that way you can see how the edge is changing. Also it makes sense that if the edge off the mejiro is not up to par then the tomo may not improve it much. The edge was actually pretty nice but got better after I used the tomo on it.

 

[buca3152]

Ive done it, but like to finish on tomo or slight atoma slurry if I dont have a tomo for that particular stone.When I get some time, I will get a carbide hacksaw blade and attempt to cut a corner off of the ones I dont have a tomo for. I find the mejiro works better than using a too hard tomo(on a softer stone that is). Ive done mejiro and 2 komas which was better. The atoma slurry almost has to be broken in. Ive gotten my share of micro chips. Who knows, maybe some diamonds are getting lost in the mix.

 

[Disburden]

I honed a tower brand wedge up to 6k last night and then went to botan--mejiro. I refreshed both botan and mejiro twice. This morning's shave was very nice and smooth. I am going to see how far I can push the mejiro slurry and see if there are improvements. Somehow when I was going to tomo nagura the edges were ruined.

 

[Brooksie967]

One thing to try is using the mejiro on a softer stone and working it until it stops changing then transferring that slurry onto your harder stone and working it more. The harder base stone, in my experience, allows for further breakdown of the particles.

 

[Gamma]

Somehow when I was going to tomo nagura the edges were ruined.

Not every Tomo works well with every stone, and some stone bits sold as Tomo Nagura are just worthless scrap rock.
If the slurry from the tomo is good, but it's not refining on the Honzan for whatever reason, you'll take the refinement from the previous Nagura down a notch or two or further.
One reason that slurry won't refine is if the host stone has a low abrasive particulate content.
Another reason could be that it's just slow as snot and you're stopping too soon.
I think the most common reason is that the Tomo is way short on abrasive and then you're just honing on mud.
Also possible - toxic hoodah in the Tomo getting in the soup and it's ruining the edge. Kawa flakes, etc.
Do you feel any weirdness when you're honing on Tomo slurry?

 

[Disburden]

No it is glassy and looks like the host stone. It is from Maksim and it came with the Ozuku. It is a piece of the same stone.
I think you're on to something when you say it is slow and not cutting enough.

 

[Brooksie967]

No it is glassy and looks like the host stone. It is from Maksin and it came with the Ozuku. It is a piece of the same stone.
I think you're on to something when you say it is slow and not cutting enough.

Try a heavier slurry with it too. Pics of your slurry with the tomo would help.
The tomo that maksim sent me with my ozuku 5+ was apparently a piece of level 5 wasaka. It takes AGES to build a slurry but if i really persist it's good at it's job. I don't use it anymore as I have so many other options that work just as well and are faster.

 

[Gamma]

No it is glassy and looks like the host stone. It is from Maksim and it came with the Ozuku. It is a piece of the same stone.
I think you're on to something when you say it is slow and not cutting enough.

IF the Tomo is good.
And IF the stone is slow and not breaking down the slurry quickly enough;

Try soaking the Tomo for a good while before using it.

The thing is - if the stone is breaking down the Mejiro slurry well enough and not the Tomo slurry then you might find success with a softer Tomo. If you soak it, that might soften it up a bit.

You can try altering the slurry, but if the stone is slow then more slurry is just going to take longer to work to refinement.

Lots of 'if's in all of this. One thing is tied to another - isolating the first domino takes some time and patience.

 

[Disburden]

Gamma
Thank you for all your advise.
I am going to soak the tomo and see what happens.
The shaves off the mejiro are getting better and better the more I break down and refresh the slurry.

 

[Gamma]

Cool, and you're welcome.

 

[Disburden]

Apparently this thread, which I have started, is getting too personal in discussion for some people. So I'll pm Gamma if the conversation needs to continue.

This thread was started, by me, on how to use Mejiro as a finisher. I honestly dont see anything personal being discussed here.

 

[CanonSterVa]

It is threads like these where I am learning a bit about honing.
If you get over the wall, please let us know what you did - I surely would like to know.