Thank-you for your support.
Thank-you also for your support.
You are correct as to the effect of a strop; however, it is the compressibility, not the sag that is responsible. Otherwise, paddle strops would not function.
I agree. 100%. The answer to the question IMO is he mentioned bevel work at times isnt 100%, Thats a given. Next is continuing to try different combinations of tomos, maybe using a nagura set and making sure the edge is refined well enough up to the finish. Then for the finish slight tiny bit of slurry, more slurry, these have to be all tried out and shave tested. Making sure the slurries are really worked. Once you have "nailed it" then you repeat it to make sure. When I started using Jnats it used to takle me 15 minutes per nagura to break them down enough. And thats before I had chu and koma. So the beginning is keep putting the time in, you will get out what you put in. Most stones IMO are definitely capable of delivering any number of different edges from very sharp to buttery smooth depending on your technique.
Hence my original question; buying more tomo: good idea or no? (And yes, I understand no one has a crystal ball and can give a guarantee, but I was hoping for something in the range of, "yes, usually a different tomo makes for a different edge, but not always," or "switching around tomo is very hit-or-miss," or "I did that once and didn't really get anything out of it.") The way I see it, a DMT slurry gets me pretty much the same end results as tomo-slurry, so it may be the hone itself, as opposed to the tomo.
As to the intermediate nagura, a) I tried to simulate that effect with a progression of lapping film, going from bevel set on the Chosera 1k to 9um to 5, to 3, then to a tiny tomo slurry; HHT3. b) I'm not sure I see a need for intermediate refinement, given how fast this slurry cuts. Most of the 1k scratches are gone within a few strokes on a fresh slurry. By the time I'm anywhere close to being done with the slurry they are long gone. The edge is about 95% of the way to where I need it to be, so I'm thinking of how to make it finer, not have more steps to get me to where I already am, if that makes sense.
If I could use an analogy: If I could take a piece of rough-cut lumber and make fifteen or twenty passes with a cabinet scraper and all of the saw marks are gone, and the smoothness of the wood surface is almost (but not quite) where I wanted it to be, I would be looking for a finer scraper, but probably not considering using 230 grit and 400 grit between sawing and scraping.
As to the rest, I'm kinda running out of things to try. I've tried itty bitty slurries, large watery ones, very muddy ones, tomo- and DMT-generated slurries, several slurries in a row. I've tried working it into mud until the surface is almost dry (even though I'm not supposed to,) and tried diluting it down as I go until there's almost nothing left (this gets me as close to anything.) I've done water-only a few times, resulting in an edge that fell apart during the shave (wire edge I'm guessing.)
My most recent experiment is with the lather, and while the hair indicates more cutting ability, it will be the shave that tells the real tale and that won't happen until sometime tomorrow.
If I were getting wildly different results from one honing to the next, or vastly different results along individual edges, I may think it was just me. But as it stands now, I'm beginning to think I've gotten all I can out of this particular stone/tomo. For certain, I'm starting to come up short on new things to try.
And I think I've rambled enough for now....
No wonder you racked up a lot of honing experience.
Did you bevel set on botan, or use a separate hone?
I see. Are there places that sell these intermediate nagura as a set? A trustworthy place? Or do they have to be picked out individually?
Alex and I have been in communication, he's going to send me some tomonagura to try out, and if I find a piece or two that does better than what I have I'll buy them from him. I'm not sure whether he carries other nagura, or if they can be a try-before-you-buy type item. I'll have to ask him about them.
Again, when the slurry from this tomo is fresh, it cuts so rapidly that I can't help but think it would erase any type of finish already in place from intermediate nagura. If it can wipe out 1k scratches in just a relatively few passes, I don't see why anything finer than 1k would also not be obliterated.
Maybe I'm just looking at it all wrong.
Thanks, Denny I appreciate the encouragement.
Usually after the stone I'll give a quick palm strop, then 15 or 20 careful passes on clean leather, then hair test the edge.
I'm considering a nagura set, but I'm not quite sure where to look just yet, and there's no way to know if they are something I really need. I also have some tomo coming in for trial use, hopefully I will find one or two that work differently than the one I have. I also have a different finisher on the way.
More learning to do.
Don't forget to post back if you find THE tomo that improves over your edges from the dmt! I'm looking at doing the same thing
