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Pairing Stones with Razors...

Hello all , hope everyone is doing well in these days. With all my free time to shave every day (Im in construction so not required) I've been experimenting and wanted to reach out to see if anyone experienced what I have.
I've been mixing stones with different razors and I think I have discovered that certain stones don't pair well with certain razors.
Here's my process:
I use shapton glass stones starting at 1000 and go up to 16000 and then finish on nano cloth with liquid; been very sucessful but recently switched out the final stone with a jnat and the results have been great on my filarmonica doble temple 14; simply the best shave I've ever had consistently.
after using the fili for a month, decided to switch to a revisor 6/8 that I consider to be my first real razor that ever worked well for me. The results were simply mediocre at best.
I decided to redo the Revisor today back to how I used to do it before the Jnat, staying on the shapton stones and then final stropping as normal. Ill probably shave tonight and post how the razor is.
anyone been down this path? certain stones just dont work well for certain razors?
Is this specific to Jnats?
One advantage with the Synthetics is the predictable scalability, but Im wondering if this is a common issue with Jnats?
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
I have kind of experienced different results with different CLASSES of razor steel, but an Aust and a Filly DT should be quite similar. I do have stones that hard steel like the Filly Sub Cero, the Swedish razors, and some hard Japanese razors seem to like. I’m not sure that I have jnats that are great on one razor but fall flat on another.

The first thing to try is just rehoning/refinishing it, start at 8k and just re-do the edge and see if that makes a difference. Take your time and watch the usual suspects, undercut, pressure, getting all the edge equally honed, and of course check the bevel set.
 
Hello all , hope everyone is doing well in these days. With all my free time to shave every day (Im in construction so not required) I've been experimenting and wanted to reach out to see if anyone experienced what I have.
I've been mixing stones with different razors and I think I have discovered that certain stones don't pair well with certain razors.
Here's my process:
I use shapton glass stones starting at 1000 and go up to 16000 and then finish on nano cloth with liquid; been very sucessful but recently switched out the final stone with a jnat and the results have been great on my filarmonica doble temple 14; simply the best shave I've ever had consistently.
after using the fili for a month, decided to switch to a revisor 6/8 that I consider to be my first real razor that ever worked well for me. The results were simply mediocre at best.
I decided to redo the Revisor today back to how I used to do it before the Jnat, staying on the shapton stones and then final stropping as normal. Ill probably shave tonight and post how the razor is.
anyone been down this path? certain stones just dont work well for certain razors?
Is this specific to Jnats?
One advantage with the Synthetics is the predictable scalability, but Im wondering if this is a common issue with Jnats?


I have preached this probably the longest here on B&B. Not long really, but nobody else ever mentions it or has seen its effects. I'm not sure why as many here have honed for a very long time.
I have used a microscope for a few years now and the phenomena you are referring to is clearly visible under a scope.
I think this is why many stones are dismissed as inferior. Its not necessarily the stone!
It is vitally important when testing a stone to use a razor that is of the finest quality, that is, a razor that works well with all mediums. Very few razors are capable of this. If you find one keep it as a test razor.
For other razors, some exhibit slightly irregular edges even at 8k some look fantastic.
An irregular edge may be a slightly chippy steel that requires hard stones to finish on. All good at 8k then start trying anything.
Razors will definitely have a particular "type" of stone they work better on - no doubt!
Finding it is not always easy. The stone must be verified by an excellent razor. Again, that doesn't mean an expensive high class razor - simply one that works with all mediums.
I would say you pretty much need a microscope to verify a razors quality on a variety of stones. The edge must be confirmed as excellent with a test shave.
I have on old Le Grelot that absolutely loves my little Coti and nothing else really except one Jnat.
My first straight was from my Barber but I never really got great edges from it even though I could get great edges on other razors with the same stones. It was the stones! I didn't use it for many years because nothing seemed to work well. Jnats did, but I didn't know any better at that time.
You mention Jnats but as a whole I think they are more friendly to razors than other mediums. Perhaps their diversity.
However, I still keep an extremely hard, medium hard and softer Jnats to work with. Any razor will work with one of them.
A variety of stones will keep more razors happy:)
 
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The big difference I see in steel on Jnats is in the stainless steel knives. A lot more variability there. Don't notice too much difference in the razor. One really hard steel case razor is an exceptional, but not as varied as the knives.
 
I have razors that don't like slates, some that don't like high grit synthetics.
They are temperamental. I think this is why some say don't like a 12k Naniwa and some do.
The ones that don't have razors that would prefer something else.
Its not that the edge won't be usable but it may not be very good at all or somewhere in between.
The same razor put on another medium may be the best shaving edge you ever experienced!
It really does matter IMO.
I started a journal some time ago, although I have not gone through all my razors, as a reference as to what each razor works best with.
Saves a lot of time!

Examples,

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thanks,
this is alot of help by all.
I guess I need to start a journal.
what really got me going down this path with the Jnat is I always heard about how buttery smooth they were and the fili finished on the JNat is simply the best I've ever seen.
I was convinced until I started doing the same thing with other razors and did not have the same results.
I guess that's why some people readily get rid of razors: maybe they simply don't work for the stones that they have (saying this as I quite easily got the fili off someone in one of the marketplace's; talking to this person it seems that they could not get good results out of it and were eager to get rid of it).
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
If it isn’t getting sharp/keen enough, try washing the hone and razor off and adding 20 or 25 clear water strokes. If it’s too ‘bitey’ try thicker slurry. Also try some different tomo nagura.

And a journal is a good idea, I’ve kept one for years.
 
I don't know if this question has to do with the topic, but maybe someone here has already encountered this situation.
I have a jnat (nothing special, a bargain on ebay) that gives me a very fine edge. I find it very comfortable to shave, although it does not irritate the skin, it leaves the hair after 1 day of growth with the sensation of pricking when I run my hand. I have other jnats that although they don't give me such a thin edge, but it doesn't. Has anyone encountered this situation or something like that? (sorry my non native english)
 
I have preached this probably the longest here on B&B. Not long really, but nobody else ever mentions it or has seen its effects. I'm not sure why as many here have honed for a very long time.
I have used a microscope for a few years now and the phenomena you are referring to is clearly visible under a scope.
I think this is why many stones are dismissed as inferior. Its not necessarily the stone!
It is vitally important when testing a stone to use a razor that is of the finest quality, that is, a razor that works well with all mediums. Very few razors are capable of this. If you find one keep it as a test razor.
For other razors, some exhibit slightly irregular edges even at 8k some look fantastic.
An irregular edge may be a slightly chippy steel that requires hard stones to finish on. All good at 8k then start trying anything.
Razors will definitely have a particular "type" of stone they work better on - no doubt!
Finding it is not always easy. The stone must be verified by an excellent razor. Again, that doesn't mean an expensive high class razor - simply one that works with all mediums.
I would say you pretty much need a microscope to verify a razors quality on a variety of stones. The edge must be confirmed as excellent with a test shave.
I have on old Le Grelot that absolutely loves my little Coti and nothing else really except one Jnat.
My first straight was from my Barber but I never really got great edges from it even though I could get great edges on other razors with the same stones. It was the stones! I didn't use it for many years because nothing seemed to work well. Jnats did, but I didn't know any better at that time.
You mention Jnats but as a whole I think they are more friendly to razors than other mediums. Perhaps their diversity.
However, I still keep an extremely hard, medium hard and softer Jnats to work with. Any razor will work with one of them.
A variety of stones will keep more razors happy:)

so tonight I tried both revisor and fili straights. Fili was done with a shapton progression and then finished on a jnat and revisor was done only using shapton stones. The revisor turned out much better contrasting to how it turned out finishing on a jnat. The Fili, I finished on a jnat . Both were very nice, as expected.
I guess as I grow my collection of users, I need to keep track of which stones work well for which razor; results may vary!
One thing I need to test is wether the Fili’s like being finished on a synthetic. I remembered tonight that Long algo I gave away a Fili to my brother in law due to me not being able to get it to a satisfactory level; however I also was very inexperienced honing at this time.
 
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