Show us your Japanese Natural Whetstones

I have this sweet little narutaki in for testing from Alex along with a few others. This stone is extremely silky feeling and quite fine. The feedback feels as good as my Kiita from Narutaki. I'm most likely going to buy it, it's a great performer with looks to boot.


Sorry my pics are so huge. The attachment upload never works for me on my phone.

Pretty stone - looks soft.

when cktg got a few more ozuku asagi koppa's in stock i got one and so did a friend. friend didnt feel like going through the ordeal of lapping his so he sent it to me and i bought it. had a crack on the top that i thought wasnt that deep but after about 10 minutes i could see it would be quite awhile longer so i flipped it over. after lapping out the sawmarks a nice looking stone was hiding underneath.

Gamma said:

Pretty stone - looks soft.

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I was expecting a pretty soft stone as I think it's akapin but it is actually hard enough and fine enough for finishing. Definately better than the many other akapin I was testing. In fineness it is on par with most tomae and hardness is like a kiita on the softer side or like a medium suita.

If it was like most akapin or prefinish stones I would have passed. I got a great shave from it's slurry produced with a much harder stone. Plenty keen with a bit of smoothness to it. So I think it's a keeper.

I'm not reading it as Akapin; although it could, feasibly, be from any layer.
Your description of the softness is about what I expected. I've had a number of Tomo that are kissing cousins....

Well since my first jnat came home yesterday, it has found a mate and produced several baby naguras.


The nakayama asagi on the left is what I previously posted that came from Takeshi. The Okudo asagi Tomae on the right with its tomo, that my friend and I tested today, I will be purchasing from Alex.

Gamma said:

I'm not reading it as Akapin; although it could, feasibly, be from any layer.
Your description of the softness is about what I expected. I've had a number of Tomo that are kissing cousins....

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I just asumed akapin but it could be anything. I honestly have no clue what it is and didn't ask Alex about it. Just from my testing it acts finer and smoother than most akapin or suita and finishes great for shaving. A little soft for a mikawa nagura progression though but a nice tomo slurry with either a harder or softer stone works fine.

There is another pink suita stone I might post later. Also probably going to purchase it. It's super soft and fast cutting but doesn't have that coarser abrasive feeling like a lot of suita have. It has a finer silkier feel to it but leaves a good haze.

Smooth feeling Suita are interesting, they don't cut as much but they are very nice for upper-range mid-level finish on razors, the haze makes a good base for the final polish. I have a 1kg rough slab of that type sitting here now, I can't decide if it'll be lapped or cut up.

Softer stones from other layers, particularly those that can be slurried by Mikawa Nagura are, for me, relegated to a lower tier in the progression.
I know some people like to use softer stones; while they are somewhat easier to work with than the harder types, they don't get me all the way to where I want to go with the edge. It really depends on what one wants and their skill set. The hardest stones bring great rewards along with the greatest challenges.

I agree. I still use my hard Nakayama a lot and always do a full nagura progression if I am looking for what others consider my best edges. I get the most consistent and predictable results as well as my keenest edges. My kiita is close but the Hardness of my Asagi from Nakayama allows you to get that extra oomph from tomos.

I usually do my fiddling on softer stones with my personal razors as I like smooth vs hyper sharp usually. Also I just enjoy the feel and everything from the softies. But I have gotten the most good feedback from my Jnat edges off the harder stones. Even more than thuri/coti edges I do for people. Also the pure effectiveness of a maxed out Jnat edge can't be beat, they demolish whiskers.

My natural stones to date:


Shobudani??? and Tomo (rear)

Shobudani??? and Tomo (front)

Tenjyou Nagura

Botan Nagura

Mejiro Nagura



Haven't used any of these to date - I'm still practising on synthetics.

The stone is what I believe is a Shobudani, based upon what feedback I've gotten from a few folks around here (Nelson and Bill T).

Can't wait to try all these out!

Nice looking Honzan. I would guess Shobu based on the pattern but Shobu is not the only mine to produce that look.
I bet the stripes pop more when it's wet....

Gamma said:

Nice looking Honzan. I would guess Shobu based on the pattern but Shobu is not the only mine to produce that look.
I bet the stripes pop more when it's wet....

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It was described as a medium hard stone. By 'pop' do you mean in appearance or feedback?

HunterBlades said:

I just asumed akapin but it could be anything. I honestly have no clue what it is and didn't ask Alex about it. Just from my testing it acts finer and smoother than most akapin or suita and finishes great for shaving. A little soft for a mikawa nagura progression though but a nice tomo slurry with either a harder or softer stone works fine.

There is another pink suita stone I might post later. Also probably going to purchase it. It's super soft and fast cutting but doesn't have that coarser abrasive feeling like a lot of suita have. It has a finer silkier feel to it but leaves a good haze.

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You are very fortunate to live in close proximity to such a great person, Gabe! I met Alex recently and cannot speak highly enough about who he is as a person and his willingness to pass on his knowledge - Simply a class act!
You also have direct access to a taco truck (La Bamba) which is dear to my heart! Don't get me started on wine.... Anyway, back to naturals:

I look forward to testing out stones from Alex once I get my sea legs with this sport and I look forward to it!

StubbleTrouble said:

It was described as a medium hard stone. By 'pop' do you mean in appearance or feedback?

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Appearance.

Gamma said:

Appearance.

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Used the stone today and you're right. The stripes did stand out more.

My latest Kiita from Takeshi, unknown mine??? Any ideas?
Not really hard and very smooth, I just love the silky feedback honing on this one. Edges are plenty sharp and very comfortable.

Nice stone.
If anyone on this planet is going to know what mine that came from - it's Takeshi.
If he sold as a stone from an unknown mine, that's because he thinks guessing is a waste of time.
Anyone can guess.
He, and his family, have been in the stone trade for a long long time. If he says it's unknown, it's unknown.

C FrankC said:

My latest Kiita from Takeshi, unknown mine??? Any ideas?
Not really hard and very smooth, I just love the silky feedback honing on this one. Edges are plenty sharp and very comfortable.

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I would agree with Keith, Takeshi handled it and he would have the best guess. If it was that important, from which mine, you could send it to me and I have comparrisons to judge by. Remember that all of the mines had some kiita stone, the finer stones will be from the Umegahata valley and Shobudani. Good Luck
Alx

Thanks for the offer Alex, this stones a keeper and I don't need to know where it came from just that it putts the kind of edge on a razor that I like.
This is not the first stone I have that came from Takeshi, all have turned out to be outstanding.

C FrankC said:

I don't need to know where it came from just that it puts the kind of edge on a razor that I like.

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^
This
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