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What did you hone today?

I use a 50:50 mix of Paraffin oil and Food Safe Mineral oil. This mix has no scent and is a little thinner than Singer Sewing Machine oil (which I also use). I like the mix a bit better though it’s faster and less sticky.

I got some low oder kerosene at Bunnings but it stinks just as bad as the normal stuff. I’m already pushing my luck honing on the kitchen table. The kerosene would get me banned to the garage for sure.

I got the empty dropper bottle from a local hippy health food shop for a couple bucks. Apparently the hippies use them for mixing up essential oil potions.

Like David - I use that Digger's stuff. It should be effectively identical to food grade mineral oil. My local hardware shop actually rang them up on my behalf to ask if it was food safe. Apparently they didn't necessarily say it was, but strongly hinted that it was fine, and not cut with anything.
 
My latest attempt to get this restoration razor to the level of my other, honed by @Legion . Today I had; Willunga Slate, Shapton 12k, Asano Nagura, Mizu Asagi.

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I’d been able to get it as sharp as the other, but not as smooth in use. Which I assume was something to do with removal of mid-grit scratch patterns.

However today I had some special performance-enhancing drugs, to bring my honing game to the next level. The secret recipe is closely-guarded, but it tasted quite a lot like: equal parts Gin, Vermouth, and Campari.

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And... we’re there! This is now very good; smooth and easy as anything. This may have been down to me reading up a bit about how to use a nagura properly. More likely I think though... negronis.

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Legion

Staff member
My latest attempt to get this restoration razor to the level of my other, honed by @Legion . Today I had; Willunga Slate, Shapton 12k, Asano Nagura, Mizu Asagi.

View attachment 1344161

I’d been able to get it as sharp as the other, but not as smooth in use. Which I assume was something to do with removal of mid-grit scratch patterns.

However today I had some special performance-enhancing drugs, to bring my honing game to the next level. The secret recipe is closely-guarded, but it tasted quite a lot like: equal parts Gin, Vermouth, and Campari.

View attachment 1344162

And... we’re there! This is now very good; smooth and easy as anything. This may have been down to me reading up a bit about how to use a nagura properly. More likely I think though... negronis.

View attachment 1344163
Where did the slate fit in to the progression?
 
Where did the slate fit in to the progression?

First. Though I actually ignored the Shapton, so it was just the two stones.

This slate both cuts alright, but also has a lot of mica in it, so I hoped would be a good edge polisher too at the same time.

TBH I think the real difference was probably trying to learn how to work a nagura slurry properly on the Asagi afterwards. But the slate was certainly a good jumping board. I have used it as a final stone before and it did alright, but I think it's probably a bit too bite-y.

It's actually rather a good knife stone for quite fine finishes, but still with a bit of grip :)
 
My latest attempt to get this restoration razor to the level of my other, honed by @Legion . Today I had; Willunga Slate, Shapton 12k, Asano Nagura, Mizu Asagi.

View attachment 1344161

I’d been able to get it as sharp as the other, but not as smooth in use. Which I assume was something to do with removal of mid-grit scratch patterns.

However today I had some special performance-enhancing drugs, to bring my honing game to the next level. The secret recipe is closely-guarded, but it tasted quite a lot like: equal parts Gin, Vermouth, and Campari.

View attachment 1344162

And... we’re there! This is now very good; smooth and easy as anything. This may have been down to me reading up a bit about how to use a nagura properly. More likely I think though... negronis.

View attachment 1344163
I see you do it like I do. Steady hands make smooth razors friend!
 
I am just too lazy to take and post a photo.

I put a nice finish on my humble Henckels 42 using my humble 6 x 2 x 1/2 hard black Ark with mineral oil, and the resulting shave was very close and crisp/keen. Perhaps not quite as smooth as my JNATs, but I really enjoyed the edge. And I really enjoyed honing with the oil.

I am definitely going to be spending more time with this stone!
 
And this afternoon I did a re-handling for a rather nice 150mm yanagiba belonging to a friend. The stone that would be absolutely killer in this progression is my Maruoyama Shiro Suita, but that's on loan to a different friend, so I've got the following:

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King 800 - Just an awesome stone, and brilliant for the start of a polishing progression.

Tanaka Aoto - The scratch pattern from will be more random than the previous. A lovely feeling stone and can be worked in various ways to build kasumi.

Very old Jnat from Iyo - This stone leaves a pretty swish finish, especially on iron clad knives (I don't yet know whether this is or not).

Nakayama Tomae Koppa - We'll see how this goes. It's softer than a lot of other Nakayamas @ 3.5, so might work alright. Though if it starts feckin with the jigane I'll be going back to the previous.

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My friend is a winemaker, and wanted a simple one-piece handle from an old oak barrel he'd cut up. The wine doesn't stain very far into the wood, but if you're a bit clever you can get a quite cool gradation of the colour along the sides with the taper of the handle. I used the longer piece in the picture below:

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I am convinced that this JNAT is the finest one that I have, and it is not hard enough to handle dry Nagura stones without scratching. So I would just use it as a finisher with great effect.

However, Cotedupy gave me some material about soaking the Nagura before use, and how they will produce the slurry without scratching the base stone. I tried it tonight, and they worked amazingly…not a single scratch…even from the tomo!

I really feel like this edge on The Bull is ultra refined…HHT was wonderful! I find out tomorrow!

Vr

Matt
 
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