King Japanese Nagura Stone #8000

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However the main thought here is that for faster honing clean sharp abrasive is better. For final polishing slurry is better. So adding slurry using a nagura before you start sharpening on a particular grit makes little sense to me especially on coarser grits. On harder finer stones (finishing stones that mimic natural stones for one) starting on a clean stone makes sense to me, then as you work the stone, using a nagura on the ends to even out wear and create more slurry, which you let dry, also makes logical sense although if the stone is softer so that a good slurry develops anyway, why bother with the nagura? A good opening question to this subject is whether you even need a nagura or not. Some stones are soft enough to “self-slurry”, where the act of sharpening or polishing will pull enough abrasive off the base stone to not need a nagura. This is the ideal circumstance and at that point a nagura may not help you much. Such a soft stone will also likely not be a great host for nagura slurry and may burn through the stone faster than necessary. Often stones that self-slurry will not be very hard or fine, and as such may not be a great finishing stone for razors. The average stone though can benefit from a nagara which we will cover below.

By using the same grit stone, I can true a stone while I am using it, without having to worry about grit (or diamond particle) contamination, which I have experienced with diamond plates but which Henk says doesn’t happen anymore. He may be right, I don’t know. Finally, buffing with a felt or hard cloth wheel and green buffing compound on your bench grinder will give the sharpest edge. Of course an edge this sharp is best for hand paring wood, not hammering away. It should leave a shiny surface on the wood itself if truly sharp. My neighbour often brings me nail-dented dull chisels, used for everything but cutting wood, and I never sharpen it beyond a 400 grit, (too dangerous and a waste of good steel). I used to have several sets from dull to razor sharp in a fine wooden boxed set, but now just keep a basic set for cabinetry and a few sharp but not razor-edged chisels for general household work. Cleaning your water stones regularly is another best practice to follow. This can be done with a nagura stone, which helps to remove any metal particles that have been embedded in the stone during the sharpening process. Finally, always handle the blade with care. Even a dull katana can cause serious injury if not handled properly. Maintaining Your Katana Post-Sharpening Wet the Naniwa Nagura by spraying or briefly submerging it. These are splash-and-go, and a long soak is not required to prepare them. Your water stone should also be wet. Once both are wet, rub the surface of your water stone with the nagura. This will create a slurry of abrasive particles on the surface of the water stone to prepare it for enhanced sharpening. Choose from 10 gritsI think diamond plates are too expensive to use on sharpening stones because sharpening stone grit, while softer and less abrasive than diamond dust, is a lot harder than steel and wears the diamond plates out prematurely. I don’t consider that cost-effective. On the other hand, Henk uses his tools professionally, and time is money, so the greater speed of diamond plates may justify wearing them out sooner. You've now gone through the four grits of waterstones, and you should have a chisel blade so shiny and sharp that it will put a smile on your face. But there's still one more thing you can do to help your chisel out: add a microbevel. FULL POLISH” correct description: To polish a sword after a complete analyses of the sword. The good points and the bad points have to be considered before a sword is placed on a stone. After evaluating the sword a professional polisher will choose at what stone he may want to start at. In many cases, a polisher can start with the Binsu stone or Kaise stone or Nagura stone (For more information please look at “Foundation Polish”). The Arato stone is very aggressive and should be avoided as much as possible. In this way he will remove as little steel as possible. Even starting at a later stone, the work will be very hard, so this sword is still receiving a full polish. After the foundation work the sword will be finish to reveal all the points necessary in a high level polish. Sharpening a katana is an art that requires both skill and knowledge. There are certain practices that should be followed to ensure the best result, and there are others that should be avoided to prevent damage to the blade. Understanding these do's and don'ts can help you avoid common mistakes and maximize the effectiveness of your sharpening efforts.

Understanding the components of a katana is essential for those who want to learn how to sharpen a katana properly. The blade is the most critical part, and it's where all the sharpening action happens. The blade's surface needs to be treated with care to maintain its razor edge. It's not just about making the blade sharp; it's about preserving the blade's integrity and ensuring it's ready for anything. A: A sword can be re finished if the original polish is deemed to be of good quality. Shape, geometry and over all it has no deep problems. The decision must be left up to the polisher. If a person is asking for a “touch up” just to save money and is not interested in what is best for the blade again a polisher may choose not to work on that sword. No professional polisher will grind a sword down from the first stones if it is not necessary, I certainly will not. The battle is to remove as little as possible and at the same time achieve the best results for a particular sword.

After several sets of passes, you'll see a thin line on the end of your chisel blade. Job well done.

An alternative method of nagura is to use what is called a tomo nagura or a partner nagura. Traditionally, tomo nagura are a piece of the whetstone itself which has been cut separately. This provides a palm-sized chunk or smaller which can be used on the larger whetstone’s surface. A traditional tomo nagura is ideal as the the slurry generated between the whetstone and nagura will consist of all the same particles since they are essentially the same material. This is the only natural nagura type where you do not pull particles which are different from the whetstone into the slurry mix. The downside to these nagura is they can be very wasteful. Often the amount of slurry generated is unnecessary for sharpening the blade. An additional danger of this nagura is slurry polution. When using a diamond nagura there is always a risk that one of the diamond grits releases from the nagura into the slurry. In such a circumstance, you may seriously scratch the blade you are working on. It is worth it though to give it a try yourself and see if you prefer this method over other nagura. I have grown to prefer this method personally. Nagura ProgressionNagura stones are easy to use. Simply wet the large stone and rub the small stone on its surface. You may need to add additional drops of clean water while doing this. The goal is to wear down the high spots on the large stone while at the same time producing a slurry mixture from both stones to use when sharpening blades.

The slurry created on your water stone will be a combination of the grits from the water stone and from the nagura. When pairing a nagura with a water stone, it is typical to choose a nagura that is the same or higher grit than your water stone. For instance, with a 1000 grit water stone, you would use a 1000 grit or finer nagura. While it is possible to use a nagura that is coarser than your water stone, doing so will introduce larger abrasive particles to the stone's surface, making the slurry coarser than what you would get from the stone itself. Maximize the PolishIn my case, I bought a somewhat similar adjustable angle guide from "General" brand of tools that uses two small wheels that can roll freely at both sides of the sandpaper strip if you cut it a little wider than the blade to be sharpened, so that they don't have to roll over the sandpaper. Cutting the sandpaper in those widths gives several strips from every sandpaper sheet, which means even more savings!