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"""Which one should I use as the tomo nagura for slurry and which one should I use as the base stone? The one on the left is 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick while the one on the right is 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. """


In general your tomo should be slightly softer than the base stone, just rub yours together and determine where the slurry is coming from. The quality of the slurry from whatever stone is partly dependent upon the inherent quality of the stones being rubbed. This is apparent if you used a plain old sandstone as a tomo from the hill behind your house on your cherished Jnat or Arkansas. For us looking at photos of the two Jnats, who knows which one is finest or if either is a razor grade stone. Rub them up and tell us which is which. If both stones are from the Ozuku mine, and they are thin like that (suggesting modern digging), they were each sold as base stones. I have one that looks like a brother to the one on the left, mine is really really hard. It is silly to rub two super hard stones together, all they do is scratch each other like cats fighting. No one really wins. Usually the tomo provides the slurry and thereby helps to keep the base stone intact and flat while providing the slurry.

Alex


I rubbed both stones together using the left one as the tomo and the slurry matched its color (of the one on the left) so I'm sure the one on the right is harder then the one on the left. I'll shave with it's first edge tomorrow. The one on the left produces some great shaving edges including one that I considered my best yet. And the razor (atleast one one side of the razor moreso than the other) seemed to have this suction or sticking the further I got along with honing.
 
In general your tomo should be slightly softer than the base stone,
Why is it ideal for the Tomo to be only slightly softer? What is the drawback to having it significantly softer even if it’s equally fine? Now you’ve got my mind racing as to all the different Tomo/base stone combinations I aught to be trying
 
Why is it ideal for the Tomo to be only slightly softer? What is the drawback to having it significantly softer even if it’s equally fine? Now you’ve got my mind racing as to all the different Tomo/base stone combinations I aught to be trying


It can be softer. Experiment.
I believe he was referring to one vs the other.
If the Tomo is harder you may as well be using a DN.
 
It can be softer. Experiment.
I believe he was referring to one vs the other.
If the Tomo is harder you may as well be using a DN.

Well said.
Something has to provide the slurry if you are going to use a slurry. The DN levels the playing field for the Jnats so that even the hardest base stone can be used if you do not have a tomo slurry stone that will provide it. Rubbing two hard stones together is a mixed bag, at least with the diamond plate you can choose #150, #400, #600 or #1200 generated slurry. With this method you can then re-crush that slurry with a harder tomo stone if you like but it is usually not necessary as the Jnat slurry will tend to break done on its own to some degree by rubbing against each other under the weight of the blade. Sort of like an automatic transmission mechanically smoothing thru the gear box.

Alex Gilmore
 
"at least with the diamond plate you can choose #150, #400, #600 or #1200 generated slurry "
I don´t understand this part with different diamond nagura #150 #400 #1200 i will have the same slurry or have diference in slurry using a diamond with different grit?
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
I’ll try to answer. Regardless of the diamond plate grit, all the slurry will be from the base stone - unlike a tomo nagura, the diamonds don’t come off into the slurry. Slurry from a coarse diamond plate will begin coarser than slurry from a fine diamond plate. A coarse plate scrapes off bigger pieces of the base stone than a finer plate.

Slurry can break down and act finer with continued honing and dilution. Coarse slurry from a coarse plate begins more aggressively than finer slurry from a fine plate.

Here’s a ‘one stone’ example. The razor was glassed and dulled on, well, a glass. It would not cut skin, but the bevel was basically intact. The bevel was set on the stone with medium slurry generated by a 1200 diamond plate. This slurry was gradually thinned and diluted to act as a finer grit.

Finally, a thin slurry - my normal finishing slurry - was generated with a hard tomo nagura, which did not contribute much grit to the slurry because it was hard. So the beginning slurry was much finer than the diamond plate. Result, a finished edge.

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Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
Hey Steve - what brand of diamond plate is in your picture?

One that you don't want Nick, it was fine for about a year but since has started shedding I think. Stick to Atoma and DMT. I believe it was an iWood foil, and it's stuck on the back of a CKTG 1200 thats really worn.
 
One that you don't want Nick, it was fine for about a year but since has started shedding I think. Stick to Atoma and DMT. I believe it was an iWood foil, and it's stuck on the back of a CKTG 1200 thats really worn.

Ha ~ I was judging the book by the cover. I've been using DMT plates for the past 5 or 6 years. I don't like the self-slurry edges I am getting with my worn DMT 400 - the edges are a bit too rough. I need to get a 600 or 1200 and experiment with self-slurry some more.

Thank Steve!
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
This one’s been sitting around for 2-3 years, it was such a mess I never went to the trouble to ‘refurb’ it. It’s a nice, light grey stone with a yellowish green tint, very pure as stones on fitted stands frequently are. No lines, cracks, goma, sparklies, etc. But it had a filet of nasty looking hard grey glue all around it, and of course over time it became detached in places from the stand, which get wet when you use them. Just a mess.

I started by using a cheap wood chisel and a small hammer to lever off the glue filet, staying away from the stone. I got most of it off. The stone wouldn’t come out of the base though it moved pretty well at one end. Nothing left but to lever it out from the loose end. There was some glue under the stone, and it pulled off a small dtrip of skin, but the strip was only about as thick as a piece of paper. Whew! Lucked out.

Now it’s clean up time, removing glue from the stone and stand, removed with the chisel and small hammer. Fortunately the glue did not stick that well to the stone or stand, and some nice ocher and umber colors were revealed. A wire brush and a good washing removed decades of slurry from the base recess. Then the stone got lapped.

The stand still needs some TLC, but that will come in time, and I’m pleased with the results; a very pure and fine stone on a fitted stand. I got lucky and nothing broke.

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