Originally Posted by
DaveW
That was an inaccurate response to what I said. I said I don't like the numbering, which is something that appears to have been made up by the dealers. It's an unnecessary and potentially too precise (vs. reality) system.
I couldn't really be any more indifferent about what you actually buy or have bought.
The other thing I've noticed is a real loosening of the names for stones, in terms of what's called kiita, what's called karasu, and it's fairly obvious that there have been a lot of stones with maruka stamps that certainly didn't start out as maruka.
As far as buying a soft stone to set bevels, there isn't a soft stone that's going to be called "level 2" or whatever that will be good for setting bevels. They are all still stones with small particles and don't cut nearly fast enough to do that. If you want to set bevels, you need to go down the ladder and get something like an iyo nagura or one of the other porous hard stones. If they cut too slow, you slurry them. There really isn't any virtue in stones that are softer than a kiita stone that was truly graded by a miner (and not given this level this or that stuff) as a razor stone. I guess the knife people like them for different finishes, but for razors and tools they don't do much of use. They are not fine, and compared to any stone that is intended to prepare an edge, not fast, either.
There was a time not long ago when stones like that were $100. Now they get stamped and sold to unsuspecting buyers as another variation of an expensive stone for $350. I do have a stone like that. It's a hideriyama stone that sheds particles fast, and the reason that I have it is a seller lied to me about 8 years ago in describing its level of fineness. It cuts an edge about as fine as a tanba aoto, and though it's not quite as soft as a tanba, it isn't really useful for anything.
The other aside from this is that if you're using a razor, it never needs to go down below the last couple of steps, and thus never needs to go to a stone that would have heavy slurry (like a soft stone).
One thing appears to be the case, and that is as the internet has created a demand for natural japanese stones, there is an audience all of the sudden that will buy stones that the longer term users never would have paid anything significant for. The longer term audience included professional users, and that should tell everyone something.