Thread: My Little Japanese Stone Family

Hey all,

So not long ago I got a really nice Asagi/Kiita mix finishing stone from Alex Gilmore, but wanted a nice set of naguras to go along with it. (The large stone is about 8"x2"x1"). I already had a Mejiro nagura, but I wanted to get the full set of 4: Botan, Tenjyou, Mejiro and Koma. I picked up the Botan and Tenjyou quite easily, but the Koma took a bit more time, but finally got one!!!

Anyways, here is my lovely finishing stone with my lovely nagura. From left to right the nagura are: Botan, Tenjyou, Mejiro and Koma. That's pretty much from coarest to finest, although Tenjyou and Mejiro are pretty close in fineness.....I haven't tested much and don't hone that much anymore, but just wanted to show off this sexy set of Japanese stones.

Enjoy!

P.S. The Kiita/Asagi stone is very hard, so is a perfect base for a nagura slurry. Naguras wouldn't work so well (or at least the same way) on a softer stone....

Beautiful family, thank you for posting.

I never tire of seeing people's photos of their Japanese naturals, because no two I've seen are really alike.

Nice stones! I'm jealous.

If you dont mind my asking, where did you find those nagura's?

I like the pear speckles on that stone. Cute to see them all lined up like that.

Originally Posted by Jasongreat

Nice stones! I'm jealous.

If you dont mind my asking, where did you find those nagura's?

I got the Mejiro from JimR here. The Botan, Tenjyou and the Koma I got from Maksim (not all at the same time, had to wait until he got a koma ) from http://japanesenaturalstones.com/.

Originally Posted by joke1176

I like the pear speckles on that stone. Cute to see them all lined up like that.

They're all lining up obediently for the picture. The surface of that stone is neat looking isn't it???

I'm one of Alex's biggest fans, and that stone is more evidence for why he's a great person to purchase from! Beautiful hone, and it must have cost a dump truck of money, but who's counting when you get to use a stone like that for finishing your blades, right?

Interesting that you use nagura stones with a toishi that hard. Personally, I have two really, really hard stones, both of which are excellent finishers -- one from Alex and one from another dealer. Both of them recommended a diamond plate for building a slurry, not a nagura. Seeing your collection, I wonder if I'm missing the boat here.

Thanks for sharing!!

Originally Posted by JeffE

I'm one of Alex's biggest fans, and that stone is more evidence for why he's a great person to purchase from! Beautiful hone, and it must have cost a dump truck of money, but who's counting when you get to use a stone like that for finishing your blades, right?

Interesting that you use nagura stones with a toishi that hard. Personally, I have two really, really hard stones, both of which are excellent finishers -- one from Alex and one from another dealer. Both of them recommended a diamond plate for building a slurry, not a nagura. Seeing your collection, I wonder if I'm missing the boat here.

Thanks for sharing!!

You're not missing the boat. Those naguras are great for doing a bit of sharpening when you build up a slurry on the stone. But as far as using the stone for the final finish, a slurry from the nagura is not fine enough. That is where a diamond plate for building the slurry comes into play. Alex recommended that I use mine with a diamond plate as well. If all your doing is using your stone for the final polish, then you don't really need any nagura.

I wanted a set of naguras to build a "progression" of finer grit slurries on the same stone. The nagura are very soft and chalk like, and the slurry created is pretty much entirely from the nagura, NOT the finishing stone. But a slurry created from the finishing stone (or by using a small similar piece of the stone as a slurry stone) should be used for the final polish, as no nagura slurry will apparently rival the fineness of a good finishing stone. Also since the slurry is from the nagura, not the finishing stone, you are pretty much just using the fine stone as a lapping plate for the nagura slurry. This is why a hard stone is good, and using the nagura doesn't really wear the finishing stone down at all, it only uses up the nagura a LITTLE bit each time.

JimR wrote a great article about using your Japanese hone with nagura in the way I was describing: Japanese hones: a traditional approach - home of the famous Belgian Coticule Whetstone.

edit: Sham also has a thread where he did essentially the same thing on a Japanese stone. http://www.straightrazorplace.com/fo...pen-razor.html He didn't use nagura, but did use a series of progressively finer slurries on one stone, so the exact same principle.

Originally Posted by JeffE

I'm one of Alex's biggest fans, and that stone is more evidence for why he's a great person to purchase from! Beautiful hone, and it must have cost a dump truck of money, but who's counting when you get to use a stone like that for finishing your blades, right?

Interesting that you use nagura stones with a toishi that hard. Personally, I have two really, really hard stones, both of which are excellent finishers -- one from Alex and one from another dealer. Both of them recommended a diamond plate for building a slurry, not a nagura. Seeing your collection, I wonder if I'm missing the boat here.

Thanks for sharing!!

those naguras are not making slurry from the stone, they release their own grit which is used to sharpen. The finshing job is done with the stone slurry raised with a diamond plate. All in all naguras are fun but not really necessary IMHO.

Originally Posted by mainaman

those naguras are not making slurry from the stone, they release their own grit which is used to sharpen. The finshing job is done with the stone slurry raised with a diamond plate. All in all naguras are fun but not really necessary IMHO.

Exactly, what he said ^

Just because I have nothing better to do now, I took a scan of the surface of my hone. I really wanted to show off the really neat looking colours and patterns. You can see that the surface is mainly Kiita but you can see where the Asagi is coming through a bit. (The colour is a little bit off, the scan makes it look kind of orange....)

As a bit of history on the stone, I have a great story to tell you from Alex, which I really hope he doesn't mind me sharing!

"...Ishihara-san grew up in the mine business and he of course knew all of the old miners including Kato-san who owned the Nakayama Mine until he quit in the late 1960s. Miners used to do a lot of trading, and they traded what else, stones. When Kato-san decided to close up the Nakayama Mine he hired Ishihara-san to do some bull dozer work. The stone that you have came as part of the trade with Kato-san. Because only Kato-san and now Hatanaka-san the current owner of the rights to the Nakayama mine are the only ones who can legally ink stamp the Nakayama stamp, Ishihara-san sold me several stones that are just attribuited to the Nakayama mine.....At least now you have an old mined stone to compare others by, and the deep red/brown skin on the back that glissens a bit is typical of Nakayama stones."

So I have an old mined stone that came from a trade with the old owner of the Nakayama mine! I think that's pretty damn cool.