Been honing for about a year and owned two JNATs for about 6 months. I struggled getting good JNAT edges. Like a lot of people I have read the Iwasaki PDF and was puzzled by his final step in finishing a razor. I guess done to remove the final burr.
After seeing a yt vid by a guy who referenced another vid from aframestokyo, I tried to emulate aframetokyo's version of Iwasaki's final step: essentially vibrating/wiggling the razor with no pressure in a side to side motion spine leading. The direction of the motion is parallel to the edge NOT perpendicular (and of course this is not breadboarding; the spine is flat on the hone).
So I went back and refinished some blades at the tomo nagura stage and diluted the slurry until it was trace. Then I rinsed everything and slowly did the Iwasaki finish on plain water (and running water too) using a Shobudani Asagi or an Ozuuko Asagi. Two slow strokes along the length of the hone and the results were very very encouraging: dramatic improvement in the quality of the shave. Dramatic. I am very pleased.
I figured my lack of success with JNATs was perhaps due to the formation of a burr that was not being removed??? Clearly this is user error since others get great JNAT edges with their existing methods. Don't know what I am doing wrong but I was convinced bevels were properly set and they seem to be ok and not the problem. In contrast to JNATs, my coticule has given me fine edges. Maybe the old adage: you can't over-hone on a coticule???
Just wondering what other's opinions/experience are with regard to this method and spine leading strokes in general. After all, doing circles on a hone is spine leading and edge leading. I will try this method on a coticule and a thuringian for the fun of it an see what happens.
After seeing a yt vid by a guy who referenced another vid from aframestokyo, I tried to emulate aframetokyo's version of Iwasaki's final step: essentially vibrating/wiggling the razor with no pressure in a side to side motion spine leading. The direction of the motion is parallel to the edge NOT perpendicular (and of course this is not breadboarding; the spine is flat on the hone).
So I went back and refinished some blades at the tomo nagura stage and diluted the slurry until it was trace. Then I rinsed everything and slowly did the Iwasaki finish on plain water (and running water too) using a Shobudani Asagi or an Ozuuko Asagi. Two slow strokes along the length of the hone and the results were very very encouraging: dramatic improvement in the quality of the shave. Dramatic. I am very pleased.
I figured my lack of success with JNATs was perhaps due to the formation of a burr that was not being removed??? Clearly this is user error since others get great JNAT edges with their existing methods. Don't know what I am doing wrong but I was convinced bevels were properly set and they seem to be ok and not the problem. In contrast to JNATs, my coticule has given me fine edges. Maybe the old adage: you can't over-hone on a coticule???
Just wondering what other's opinions/experience are with regard to this method and spine leading strokes in general. After all, doing circles on a hone is spine leading and edge leading. I will try this method on a coticule and a thuringian for the fun of it an see what happens.