Lapping my first tomo nagura

[Jakebullet]

Like the title says.
When I got my Kiita jnat it came with a perfect tomo nagura, a real fool proof match made in heaven.
When I moved house I lost the nagura.
The seller sent me another but i couldn’t get it to work with the base stone, so I sold it on.
Then I bought another from a different seller. The stone worked but didn’t make the same sizzling edges as the original one did.
The seller of the original one has very kindly sent me a rough chunk of nagura to try only charging me for the postage.
The stone came unlapped and quite rough.
I’d never prepared a nagura before so I had to choose which side I would dress and prepare for use.

The natural curve on the side shown in the lower photo looked good so I chose that side.
Using a 600 diamond plate I rounded the curve, smoothed the face of the stone and chamfered the edges.
Then I did the same with the 1000 grit side of the plate, then gave it a good rub down on the base stone.
I sealed up the edges with two coats of clear nail varnish, and was ready to go.
After this treatment the stone, which came with a grey white colour, took on a very yellow colour similar to my Kiita.

It made a nice orangy slurry which doesn’t really show in the photo.
Being my first try with it I touched up my Friodur which has a nice Welsh slate edge.
I just gave it maybe 60 laps or so on a milky slurry then gave it a strop.
The HHT is very good, not silent, but it was good anyway before this hone.
I have a strong feeling I can make it quite a lot better with a little longer honing but I want to see how today’s efforts translate into a shave.
Anyway that’s my first experience of preparing a rough stone and I have to say it was a lot of fun and an hour well spent.

 

[Jakebullet]

Nice to say I got a really beautiful shave from the Friodur this morning.
The stones seem to like each other.
I touched up my restore razor on it tonight.
I did about 100 laps today rather than the quick 50 of yesterday, so let’s see how that goes.

 

[rhgg2]

Very nice.

I'm pretty sure that I keep buying natural stones mainly so that I can do more of this kind of refurbishment work.

 

[Jakebullet]

Very nice.

I'm pretty sure that I keep buying natural stones mainly so that I can do more of this kind of refurbishment work.

Hah it’s a lot of crazy fun.

 

[Christian1212]

Nothing better than finding the right tomo for your base! Might want to try and snag an extra 1 or 2 to try if you ever see em pop up (just as a back up).

 

[Jakebullet]

Nothing better than finding the right tomo for your base! Might want to try and snag an extra 1 or 2 to try if you ever see em pop up (just as a back up).

Yes it’s a delight.
My restore razors edge wasn’t excellent, I may have rounded it on too thick a slurry.
I gave it 20, 10, 5, 3, 2, 1, laps on a King 1k then a few X strokes, then same progression on my Kiita jnat with a diamond slurry.
Feels great to hone on.
I know from experience that this will remove all the 1k stria and leave a lovely kasumi finish.
Then I made a nice watery slurry with my new tomo nagura and did the same progression on that.
Finally I added a little water and watched it undercut like hell.
I learned that nagura are named from the samurai Nagura Siccone (sic?) who either discovered or learned that a slurry stone could improve the edge.
HHT is splendid, looking forward to the shave.
I find some steels respond differently to my different stones.
Some like slate and water, others love a coticule, some like coti with oil.
Sometimes it’s not enough that the Tomo likes the Aswedo, they both have to like the steel too.
Let’s hope they like this restore razor.

 

[Jakebullet]

Pleased to report the restore razor shaved great today.
A lovely smooth edge which left a long lasting niceness to the touch.
A thinner slurry and fewer laps was the key on this razor/stones combo.
As I had the stones out I sharpened up the kitchen knives for the first time since Xmas.
Just the King 1k and 6k for those.