First Impressions: Naniwa

Came home to a couple of Naniwa’s at the front door today –1, 3, 8 and 10K. Woot!

The first thing I noted was how very smooth they were. It’s been a while since I used a Norton but they certainly felt smoother than what I remember the Norton’s to have been – especially the 1K. I had moments of thinking that they had mislabeled it.

They all needed lapping – I did as much. I used the lapping stone they sell after making sure it was flat too.

They aren’t as fast as I thought they would be – I am glad for that. But you can speed things up by running the lapping stone over them a little. They provide very little feedback and the razor “jumps” very little. I found they needed to be sprayed down now and again during work.

I honed up a Swede that was very generously “donated” to me by a fellow member who knows my love for thinner blades. Swede’s have a reputation for being hard and needing a bit of extra honing over say a German blade, but the Nani’s made short work of it.

I had to make a presentation tonight so I cleaned up a bit beforehand (sigh); so I probably can’t give the blade the true test of a shave until tomorrow or Saturday - but I’ll report back.

Again this is all initial thoughts, but they did feel alittle soulless compared to a natural stone. BUT if the blade I honed today shaves as well as I think it will – none of that will matter too much. The fact that I set a bevel and honed it up to 10K all in less time than I would have spent setting the bevel on the Coti, is simply remarkable. I am well pleased so far.