Travel Jnat

[Gamma]

At home recuperating from some injuries... and a nice pkg showed up.
Recently - I decided to sell my travel touch up hone, which was a nice Verte Coticule. Not for any real reason, the Verte was a good stone. Mostly - on my last trip, I decided I wanted a bigger surface to work on, and since I'm leaning more toward Jnats these days I felt that was the way to go. My goal is to create a form-fitted box with some nagura in it so I'll have a full set to work with should I want to do that. On my last trip I picked up 6 straights at an antique mall so it's not beyond me to want to hone while on vacaton; honing an edge is a nice way to minimize the stress from driving.
Anyway - It's an Ozuku, and I just finished lapping it. How hard is it? Well, that water has been sitting there for a good long time now. I think it's a pretty hard stone...
I lapped it on a 180x Nambutama, then an 800x Chosera, followed by a 2k Chosera then a BBW. It stuck to the BBW pretty good, I think this is the flattest stone I have now.

[Obiwan]

very cool!

[Wid]

Real nice!!!

[Drybonz]

Nice stone! Is that pattern considered karasu?

[Gamma]

Nice stone! Is that pattern considered karasu?

I honestly don't know...
Karasu means crow, and I don't 'see' any crows in there.
On the other hand, I don't see crows in most stones sold as 'Karasu' either.

[hig789]

Very nice gamma.

[EvilZeg]

Nice stone, get well soon.

[Drybonz]

Karasu means crow

Cool... I didn't know that. The karasu stones are hard, bottom-layer stones, from what I understand... like yours. Usually the black patterns I have seen are small blotches... I thought maybe it was just a unique pattern.

[Gamma]

Cool... I didn't know that. The karasu stones are hard, bottom-layer stones, from what I understand... like yours. Usually the black patterns I have seen are small blotches... I thought maybe it was just a unique pattern.

I don't know that all Karasu are hard, but I did read 330Mate's page where he put that down in print. I've seen at least one Karasu Suita for sale online, if I remember it wasn't all that hard.
This Ozuku is very hard. One weirdo thing about it is that the slurry that it gave up when lapping is tan/brown and so very silky smooth it's disarming. I'm tired from lapping it, and right now the lacquer I put on it's sides and bottom are drying - so I won't get to test it until tomorrow or the next day. I have a good feeling about it, but, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. So - that will be another day.

[Hammertime1]

Very cool, I love the looks of it. You always seem to find some amazing pieces too. I really like the hard Jnats. I finally got my first one. It's amazing thanks for advice you gave me too! It was sold as a good introduction to hard Jnats and perfect size for a traveler. Is it me or do they seem to have the biggest travel razors hones out of anyone else. Like the jnats travelrs are twice the size. Which is fine with me because I prefer bigger hones. Addicting bastards too new I should have resisted !!! those nagura seem to multiple like rabbits too....

[Earcutter]

Wow - that's a good looking stone! I want.

[Doc226]

Now, I know you can spare me some naguras. Nice stones.

[global_dev]

very nice, gamma!

[Kentos]

Looks like the perfect size for circles.

[Gamma]

Looks like the perfect size for circles.

Its just short of 6", fine for x strokes, I only do circles when setting bevels. Even then, not often.

[Kentos]

I always wanted to try circles, but doing them on a narrow hone is difficult for me and I always manage to drag the edge on a corner. Justification for the next purchase I guess ;)

[Gamma]

I always wanted to try circles, but doing them on a narrow hone is difficult for me and I always manage to drag the edge on a corner. Justification for the next purchase I guess ;)

Most definitely!

[duderdo]

*sigh* all these pictures of Oozuku's with breathtaking patterns, especially when wet. Mine just turns a murky-green-pukey color. Oh well, got a great edge off of it today :)

Beautiful stone Gamma.

[Gamma]

*sigh* all these pictures of Oozuku's with breathtaking patterns, especially when wet. Mine just turns a murky-green-pukey color. Oh well, got a great edge off of it today :)

Beautiful stone Gamma.

Thanks - fwiw, my hardest and finest Jnat is a murky puke green color too. I love stones with a spectacular pattern, but at the end of the day what matters is the edge.

[Gamma]

And at the end of the day - the shave was spectacular. Very very smooth edge. This is now definitely my travel stone. All I need to do now is figure out how to make travel Nagura and set up a carry case.