Show us your Japanese Natural Whetstones
- Thread starter superbleu
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That’s an Arkanese oil stone.
Japan does produce novaculite type oil stones though.
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砥石｜砥石販売｜砥石通販| 業務砥石の最高峰 | 最強の砥石 | 最強砥石 | 三河油石 | 包丁用砥石 | 天然砥石 | 青山砥石店
三河油石という非常に珍しい砥石を販売しています。アルカンサス系の砥石で日本ではここでしか採れません。
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Also known as a JArk.
Next up, a little iromono koppa, barber-size-ish and around 600g:
Again, the sides look to me like they are hand-sawn, and the back has lots of scratches:
I've seen this on a couple of other stones as well, don't know what it indicates. Maybe the miners checking the ore is good.
This one is slightly softer than the kiita, and a bit less fast, but makes amazing edges, just super close but very comfortable at the same time.
So the sides were sawn and then scraped with a ski-sen. It is the same thing used to scrape out the hollow of a worn out kamisori to bring it back again. I wonder if they scraped the bottom some too in order to flatten it more Or remove small chunks.
My first Jnat along with a tomo, purchased off the BST. I finished an 8k edge with it today and it gave up an outstanding shave! Looking forward to spending more time with it.
@SliceOfLife just noticed that a stone and razor kit that just sold on Yahoo Japan is a dead spit for this one of yours. This one seems to have been originally sold in Japanese Taiwan, which I guess dates it to 1895-1945.
I wish I knew more about mid grit and pre-finisher jnats. I finish knives to tomo on my kiita then do a few light laps on medium Botan or gujyo slurry to put teeth back on it but it'd be cool to have one that just does it. Especially if it's fast. Fast mid-range>pre- finisher that get pretty fine for what they are, they're my favorite stones. I love the one that'll put tiny little teeth like a micro- serration in short order(Tams, washitas, and medium llyn Idwals come to mind). I do have slate hunted down and cut by one of our own that leaves teeth very similar to a soft medium washita. They're one of my prized, I have a couple prices. That range/ utility is undeserved in natural stones, especially one that leaves proper teeth.
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natural stones are great but so expensive, but I guess for a few hundred bucks 100 million years of evolution isn't too expensive if you compound the interest per year.
I'm invested enough I can justify it, but I refuse to pay insane prices for jnats. I'd love a mid range jnat with fine, slimy mud that is fast as a quick coticule. I can justify it by I don't really need it. I'm planting Indian tobacco this year and I think a rounded edge and corner for my tobacco knife would be perfect edge for cutting tobacco stems.
Wastikivii(?) Is also interesting to me
I have a greater need for well tuned farm implements than shaving razors generally, but being able to make a scalpel in short order is a valuable skill.
I have a greater need for well tuned farm implements than shaving razors generally, but being able to make a scalpel in short order is a valuable skill.
I would consider getting some Morihei synthetics. The 1k is ok, but the 4k feels like a good suita. They leave allot of bite. The 4k is probably closer to a Naniwa 2k.
Midrange jnats are really nice.
For me the sweet spot is stones in the lv 3.5 range. They are hard enough to get a precise edge, and you can control the auto slurry effect with pressure, if you get a good stone with enough cutting power.
They can also be used with razors, at least my stones can.
The third stone is this suita san:
It is pretty hard for a suita which I think backs up the Ohira theory. It seems to be less old than the other stones, but I suspect it originated from the same lot.
It is as fast as you would expect, not crunchy feeling but not slick and soapy either. I've used it successfully as a prefinisher but should try shaving off it - I suspect it's probably fine enough to give a comfortable shave.
Just for fun, any thoughts on the mine on this suita? Old pics(2019), tried to capture the colors correctly but I guess I am not good at it.
That is a really terrific looking stone! What's performance like? Unfortunately, unless it's something fairly distinctive, which this doesn't strike me as, it's bad practice to speculate too much I think, especially without having the stone in hand. I've seen Okudo like that, but also Shinden. The way that line is patterned almost like a vine with leaves reminds me of a Hakka suita I saw from a reputable vendor too. So... impossible to say with certainty and risky to even speculate.
Thx Ed. I hate to speculate too but I thought I would pick your brain on this one. A similar looking Okudo sold recently and it reminded me of it so I found the old pics. Will look around for it and see. If I remember correctly it was pretty hard and worked great before going to a final stone.
Testing this 1.7kg kiita. Pretty hard rock. Test razor looked good with kiita tomo slurry so I touched up a DD and will try it tonight.
I love a kiita nashiji, got side pics?
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