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08-01-2009, 01:04 AM #30
I have limited knowledge of Japanese stones, but I do own and regularly use a Nakayama Karasu. It's a great finishing stone.
My understanding is that the term karasu is Japanese for "crow," and is simply a descriptive term for the jet black spots or stripes on the stone. It is not a name for a specific geologic stone, like say, Novaculite. It is a feature description.
I think that in the case of the Nakayama mine, the term karasu is used to describe the prominent feature of a specific strata of rock that happens to be found deep in that mine, which is prized as a very fine hone. So, a Japanese stone may be described as karasu, but may have different characteristics than a Nakayama karasu. Then again, perhaps all karasu that are sold as hones come from Nakayama mine, I don't know? Old School would likely know.
The picture of the stone looks very much to me like my Nakayama karasu, with a more yellow coloring. I don't know if it performs the same. Mine was expensive, even from a trusted source like Old School that sells well below market prices. But maybe you stumbled onto a bargain, it happens.
My specific Nakayama karasu is a very fine polisher, with a very prominent feedback or draw, and is fast. I haven't used an Escher, but the karasu I have seems to produce noticeably finer edges than my Shapton 16. But it isn't out of the ballpark of the other Japanese stones I have, a Kiita and an Asagi, both Nakayamas. The karasu may be a bit finer, but is a little less consistent and forgiving than the other Japanese stones. It is noticeably faster though.
My karasu has no stamps. For some reason, I haven't seen a picture of any karasu with stamps. Maybe the "ink spot" patterns make it impractical to legibly stamp them, I don't know.