Show us your Japanese Natural Whetstones

Steve56 · Feb 27, 2015

David,

Beautiful stone, and I have one with a similar geometry, taller than it is wide. Mine was sold as an aisa layer, and it's fine enough to finish a razor but a better prefinisher because it's smooth and very fast. It's 205 L x 40 W x 45 T. It's also a kind of "living edge" stone, kawa skin on both sides and the back. The first image is the face and one side, the next is the back and the other side.

Cheers, Steve

David · Feb 27, 2015

That's a beauty, Steve. I don't think I've seen one before with skin on 3 sides. That's really cool.

eKretz · Feb 27, 2015

Both very nice.

Gamma · Feb 27, 2015

Dcaddo111 said:
Got this cool piece of Hakka today from Gamma.

Forgot to mention, this one excels at dressing the top of a stone after lapping. It slurries like crazy so might stick a bit, be careful.

Dcaddo111 said:
Got this Takashima Karasu today from Nelson.

Very cool - that was, originally, set up for use on the wide side. The slurry used to sparkle a little bit.

David · Feb 28, 2015

I noticed one side was lapped. Did the side not work well?

Bayamontate · Feb 28, 2015

I honed on the lapped side and it was fine but the top was awesome. The Urushi made the top look nicer too.

Gamma · Mar 1, 2015

The Oozuku had 2 lapped sides upon departure I think - neither were lapped when it arrived though, and - after testing - the side with the 'Baby hippos walking along a river' pattern (Scott's analogy) seemed best. Looks different now, subsequent lapping to relieve a very soft but strange inclusion moved the pattern and the baby hippos aren't there. Very very nice piece in an uncommon shape.

The Hakka came with one side flattened but not smooth, never tried the other side.

David · Mar 1, 2015

One side still has saw marks, but the bottom is smooth. I'll have to look back for the baby hippo pics, assuming they're in this thread.
I haven't been able to do much with it or the Hakka yet, we're slammed at work from this "ice damming" that we had last week in middle TN. I really like the feel under the blade on both. The shape of the karasu will take some getting used too...I hand hone and the thickness feels awkward to me, but I think I'll get used to it. I thought about lapping the bottom of the Hakka, but I don't really see any benefit in doing so. Nelson also sent me a piece of sword grade Koma that I'm super excited to try out.

HunterBlades · Mar 1, 2015

I have a couple tomo sized Nakayama slabs from a corner. They have kawa on all sides but 1 and stack up almost perfectly. They make a cool viewing specimen piece.

Gamma · Mar 1, 2015

Dcaddo111 said:
One side still has saw marks, but the bottom is smooth. I'll have to look back for the baby hippo pics, assuming they're in this thread.
I haven't been able to do much with it or the Hakka yet, we're slammed at work from this "ice damming" that we had last week in middle TN. I really like the feel under the blade on both. The shape of the karasu will take some getting used too...I hand hone and the thickness feels awkward to me, but I think I'll get used to it. I thought about lapping the bottom of the Hakka, but I don't really see any benefit in doing so. Nelson also sent me a piece of sword grade Koma that I'm super excited to try out.

IMO - there's no point to lapping the bottom of the Hakka at all.
I think the baby hippo pix are probably gone.. but who knows? If I had them on imageshack they're gone.

David · Mar 1, 2015

Is this it by chance? This is a pic Nelson sent me.

Gamma · Mar 1, 2015

Possibly. It's been a while. I seem to remember a seam or a spot that gave up sparkly slurry too.

Bayamontate · Mar 2, 2015

The bottom was uneven, I lapped it flat so it would sit nicely on the Bench Cookies.

caccia · Mar 23, 2015

A softer stone in original box and label.It works for me,I liked the red stripe and the price was reasonable.

Gamma · Mar 23, 2015

Ooo - pretty stone.

HunterBlades · Mar 29, 2015

Got this Narutaki Kiiita today. If it arrives and is too hard for my taste hopefully the vendor will let me return for the softer kiita i saw.(this one is 3lb vs 1.5 lb on the lighter color)

Brooksie967 · Mar 29, 2015

Gabr, almost bought that One, looks nice!

HunterBlades · Mar 29, 2015

I kind of wanted a softer stone but the light yellow narutaki is like 2lbs less stone for only 20$ difference.(hoping it doesn't mean it was higher quality)

If it turns out too hard I will just have to send it back. Anyone experienced what Takeshi calls an 8.8 in hardness? Is it softer or still hard enough to use a nagura set and get just nagura slurry?( I'm hoping softer)

David · Mar 29, 2015

8.8 on Takeshi's scale is good IMO. 8.8-8.9 is usually what I look for. It should work great with mikawa nagura but also have just enough give where it kicks up a bit of its own slurry.

HunterBlades · Mar 29, 2015

Hmm. I guess I will have to test in person to decide. I kind of wanted one that is too soft for mikawa(not muddy but you know what I mean). I already have a hard Nakayama that is a 1%er performance wise so have no reason to nagura slurry on anything else.

I just couldn't spend all that money on 1lb stone for the lighter one. Unless this doesn't work out then I have to...

Sorry for ranting guys. I was planning to buy another Lorraine Rouge or a reddish La Lune but it fell through so ended up here.(BTW anyone getting rid of a Lune or Lorraine PLEASE contact me, still want those as next purchase/trade)

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Show us your Japanese Natural Whetstones

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