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? Don’t let using a jig become a habit for normal sharpening, though. It’s very embarrassing. That would be like using a wheelchair to keep your shoes from wearing out: your shoes will look great but eventually you won’t be able to get around without it. Sooo embarrassing. After you've finished sharpening your katana, it's important to clean it thoroughly. This involves removing any metal particles left on the blade from the sharpening process, as well as any excess water from the stones. Use a clean, soft cloth to gently wipe down the entire blade. Be sure to get into all the nooks and crannies, as any remaining moisture can cause the blade to rust over time.

Included #1000 grit stone is your all-purpose stone to sharpen dull or damaged blades, and a #6000 to return that mirror polish and screamingly sharp edge to your blade. ideal for sharpening both German and Japanese style knives, scissors and other bladed tools. Handcrafted Acacia wood base serves as a level surface to hold your stones in place as you sharpen, and as a convenient base for easy storage. Another common mistake is rushing the process. Sharpening a katana takes time, patience, and focus. If you're in a hurry, you're more likely to make mistakes. Take your time, pay attention to the blade, and let the process guide you. Remember, the aim is not just to get the blade sharp, but to maintain the integrity of the blade and to honor the craftsmanship that went into creating it. Best Practices for Effective SharpeningThe key is to pay attention, use your handy dandy stainless steel ruler to identify the high spots, maybe mark them with a pencil, and use the nagura on those areas first. Don’t be a ninny and rub the nagura all over the stone willy nilly like you’re washing your pet goat. Make a plan. Work the plan. Develop good habits and speed will follow. The Knifewear Nagura Stone developed in part by our good friends at Naniwa, one of the premier manufacturers of sharpening supplies, is in essence a very hard 600 grit stone. Here’s how it works: 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 Progression Depends what Ya are Looking for on the Natural Stone Path..I Personally..Normally Prefer a Natural Edge to a Synthetic One..I Do Enjoy Both Mind..Depending on Steel Variations..But..The Vast Majority of My Razors have a Natural Edge..

Using a nagura that is finer than your water stone will result in a slurry that has finer particles mixed in with the stone's abrasives, and can enhance the stone's polishing effect. You won't turn your 1000 grit stone into a 10,000, but you can use a high grit nagura to get as fine of a polish as possible from a given stone. This part is easy. Just plunk it into some clean water and let it get totally saturated. This usually takes about 10-15 minutes. Using soft nagura like this is done where a hard whetstone is desired to give you a better working surface which will not easily dish out after sharpening an edge. This will provide the benefits of the softer particles coming off the nagura stone and allow different naguras to be used in a progression. Using successively finer naguras will reuslt in a better edge then the whetstone alone would produce for blades such as razors. This method will still pull particles from the whetstone via the rubbing of the nagura, but very few will be mixed in. A Nagura stone is a small waterstone, the word "nagura" means "correcting" in Japanese. The stone is used to condition waterstones during use. For natural waterstones their use is to wear away hard particles or contamination in the waterstone, and to selectively allow flattening by being rubbed on a high spots on the stone. Another usage is to create slurry.A dull katana is, quite simply, not a katana. The sharp razor edge itself, the one that can easily slice through paper, is what makes a katana, a katana. The importance of a sharp katana extends beyond its practical use. It’s a testament to the owner's respect for this piece of history and their commitment to maintaining it. Sharpening razor edge of a katana is not as straightforward as sharpening knives, for instance. It's a process that requires patience, skill, and a deep understanding of the blade's structure. 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. With artificial waterstones, which are far more common these days, there is of course no contamination that needs to be removed and most people use flattening plates of some sort to keep their stones flat. If you use a diamond stone for flattening and you just let the stone dry with the slurry from flattening on it and you have lots of slurry. In that sense the nagura is obsolete. 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. Some might be tempted to use power tools for the job, but traditionalists would strongly advise against it. The heat generated by power tools can damage the blade's temper, ruining its cutting edge. Plus, there's something profoundly satisfying about sharpening a katana by hand, feeling the blade against the stone, and seeing the edge come to life under your touch. Remember, sharpening and polishing a katana is a journey, not a race. Take your time, choose your tools wisely, and respect the blade. Setting Up Your Sharpening Station

Remember, a katana is more than just a weapon. It's a piece of history, samurai sword, a work of art, and a symbol of the samurai spirit. Caring for it properly is a way of honoring that history and preserving it for future generations. Cleaning the Katana After Sharpening Hold the blade up to a light source and look along the edge. If the edge reflects light, it's dull. A sharp edge, on the other hand, will not reflect light. Understanding the state of your blade will help you determine how much work needs to be done and guide you in selecting the right tools for the job. Applying the Sharpening Stone In theory, nothing is stopping someone from rubbing two whetstones together as nagura. This experience though is often fairly unpleasant. The two large stones create a suction between one another which make separating them from one another unwieldy. It does still work though, just be careful should you attempt it. Diamond Nagura It is rare however to be able to get a piece of the same stone you are using as your whetstone. This has lead to the use of the term tomo nagura to reference a small piece of stone cut from a different whetstone which can be used as a nagura. Having one of these tomo nagura which are not of the same stone still provides the ability to raise slurry and change the way the whetstone is sharpening by adding in new and different particles. If the large stone is already perfectly flat, and you need to produce a starting slurry, work the ends and corners of the large stone with the nagura in anticipation of those areas becoming high in the near future. That’s a good boy. Protecting the Tsushima Nagura StoneTake your stone out of the water and put it somewhere where it won't slide all over the place. You may want to make a little setup like mine on Step 1. Another option is to place the stone on a piece of fine-grit sandpaper which has been secured to your workbench. You can see in the picture below that I had neither at the time, but merely used the lid of a plastic storage tub.