Thinking of picking up a jnat. Looking at a Narutaki or Okudu. Also gonna need the appropriate toma. Any help and advice here?
Jnat Rabbit Hole
- Thread starter Acmemfg
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Buy from someone that has finished a razor on the stone personally before you pull the trigger. gamma usually has razor worthy jnats on his etsy page with a detailed description of performance etc.. aframestokyo is reportedly a good vendor.
Wouldn't worry about mine names or color. Just look for a good performing stone from a vendor who has experience with razors. I really like Hamma/tomonagura but JNS or aftames is usually good too.
I own 5 Jnats. Love them all but my best value jnat is my finest of the five and was purchased in California of all places. The rest were purchased from Japan. As mentioned above, there are very reputable retailers on this forum.
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- #5
Went with a Narutaki from Griffith Shaving. Figured Matt knows a thing or two about jnats
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- #6
One question. What’s the protocol with the rubbing stones (nagura, toma, etc.)? Can I just use a DMT plate?
Some people like it and others don't. I have found my best results with a tomo nagura. If you don't have a good one you can try with a coticule or thuri slurry stone as well. Part of the Jnat magic though in my opinion comes with use of a good tomo.
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- #8
Guess I’ll look into acquiring one……
There are no rules…
Yes, you can just use a diamond plate and different plates/grits will make different slurry and break down at different rates, producing a variety of finishes.
But more importantly will tell you a lot about your base stone and it’s ability to cut and polish. Interestingly what works on one razor may change for another razor because of the steel. So, you must experiment if you want to eek out the maximum from your stones.
Tomo are matching stones, not necessarily from the same base stone or even same layer or mine, but one that works well with the base stone and the razor in your hand.
Remember these are all natural stone and the composition of each stone, base and nagura are really unknown and do not matter as long as they work for you.
I probably have 20-30 tomo nagura, but really a handful of proven performers that I know work well with my favorite stones.
So bottom line is start with Diamond nagura, experiment with the amount of slurry and thin if you can get good edges from diamond then try adding nagura.
I typically go to a Jnat from a near mirror Suehiro 10k, to a Tushima nagura and make a quick cutting, semi heavy uniform matt finish and straight edge, then finish on a hard nagura or diamond slurry depending on the stone, final finishing on a very thin/worked slurry.
Yes, you can just use a diamond plate and different plates/grits will make different slurry and break down at different rates, producing a variety of finishes.
But more importantly will tell you a lot about your base stone and it’s ability to cut and polish. Interestingly what works on one razor may change for another razor because of the steel. So, you must experiment if you want to eek out the maximum from your stones.
Tomo are matching stones, not necessarily from the same base stone or even same layer or mine, but one that works well with the base stone and the razor in your hand.
Remember these are all natural stone and the composition of each stone, base and nagura are really unknown and do not matter as long as they work for you.
I probably have 20-30 tomo nagura, but really a handful of proven performers that I know work well with my favorite stones.
So bottom line is start with Diamond nagura, experiment with the amount of slurry and thin if you can get good edges from diamond then try adding nagura.
I typically go to a Jnat from a near mirror Suehiro 10k, to a Tushima nagura and make a quick cutting, semi heavy uniform matt finish and straight edge, then finish on a hard nagura or diamond slurry depending on the stone, final finishing on a very thin/worked slurry.
In my opinion, a dmt nagura can be used to cover the range of your typical asano nagura progression.
You will still need a good tomo nagura for the final finish.
If you use synthetics up to e.g. 8k, you just need to use a tomo nagura.
The dmt slurry will most likely just set you back a few steps.
That doesn't need to be a problem. You get allot more time to play in the mud
Taking a good 8-10k edge and blasting it with large particles from the diamond plate is really not productive in my opinion.
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