Thread: Hope no one buys this " Japanese natural"

Yeah there is no way I would put a razor to this.
DC Natural Whetstone Kumamoto Amakusa ‏ | eBay

Looks like someone used a very blunt axe, cut out a chunk of concrete, then proceed to paint it while in full on grand mal.

I have one that I'd set a bevel on. It's many times the size of that stone, though.

I should say I have one that I have set a bevel on. Binsui and Amakusa like that.

A 5 pound version of that should cost about $30 with shipping, so I'd avoid those even so. Plus, they're not a consistent or generally well regarded stone, and very few people use them in place of synthetics.

I have used one(very different look) and it was one of the strangest stones ever. Crazy hard, weird crystal inclusions and other inclusions. Nearly impossible to slurry even with a DMT and doesn't cut steel fast enough. The feedback was also horrid.

This was probably a vintage one that Alex(@Japan Stone) has laying around. It was more orange than the ones I see on ebay. The ones on ebay could be much better stones or even worse than what I tested.


IMO they have no place for razors. Their hardness might be good for dull Kanna blades or something though.

This japser I plan to cut into a 7" x 1.5" hone looks very similar.

Originally Posted by DireStraights

I have used one(very different look) and it was one of the strangest stones ever. Crazy hard, weird crystal inclusions and other inclusions. Nearly impossible to slurry even with a DMT and doesn't cut steel fast enough. The feedback was also horrid.

This was probably a vintage one that Alex(@Japan Stone) has laying around. It was more orange than the ones I see on ebay. The ones on ebay could be much better stones or even worse than what I tested.


IMO they have no place for razors. Their hardness might be good for dull Kanna blades or something though.

This japser I plan to cut into a 7" x 1.5" hone looks very similar.

That's a pretty stone, the bottom looks like stylised waves.

Originally Posted by nicknbleeding

Yeah there is no way I would put a razor to this.
DC Natural Whetstone Kumamoto Amakusa ‏ | eBay

Would you care to elaborate or should I not even ask being the newbie that I am.

Cheetah

Originally Posted by edhewitt

That's a pretty stone, the bottom looks like stylised waves.

Yes it is Ed.
Would look good in a fish tank. That was a strange deposition environment to get all the swirls.

Originally Posted by cheetahmeatpheonix

Would you care to elaborate or should I not even ask being the newbie that I am.

Cheetah

It looks extremely course. Like a granite curb stone. Just doesn't look fitting for a straight razor. I also feel with the increase in Japanese hones that anyone over there might try to cash in on an unknowing person.

Amakusas are I believe, sandstones and not the same type of Jnat that we see most often.

The hardness and fineness seems to vary a lot, but they are pretty IMHO. There's no getting around being sandstone though, and for coarser work. And as we all know, they aren't going to compete with diamond plates and coarse Choseras for the coarse work.

I agree these aren't well suited for razor work.

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by Steve56

Amakusas are I believe, sandstones and not the same type of Jnat that we see most often.

The hardness and fineness seems to vary a lot, but they are pretty IMHO. There's no getting around being sandstone though, and for coarser work. And as we all know, they aren't going to compete with diamond plates and coarse Choseras for the coarse work.

I agree these aren't well suited for razor work.

Cheers, Steve

Both my amakusa and binsui are both good hardness, have relatively even particles, etc. The voids look worse than they are, and both of mine set a bevel OK, but when you have a lot of large loose particles, sometimes the finish just at the edge of the bevel on the hollow side of the razor can look a little rough because of the random natural particle that is large.

Amakusa and binsui are slow for their coarseness compared to modern stones, but the key for all natural stones on the coarse side is two fold:
1) don't bring a 66 hardness razor to them, because it's too hard for silica particles. You can burnish something like that slowly, but burnishing is what will happen when the stone and the particles are flip flopped in terms of what's harder than the other
2) Go one step coarser with natural stones than you would with synthetics. Particle wise, a lot of the amakusa are in the 600 or so grit range, and binsui just up from that. If you don't try to get them to do the work of a 600 grit synthetic stone, but instead something more like 1500-2000, then they are OK.

That's assuming you get one like mine, which seems to not be the case generally. I hear a lot of people who have amakusa that are too hard and don't release particles, and that's a problem on a waterstone because water doesn't suspend large particles like oil on an oilstone does. There is no middle of the road diamond hone that solves the problem, only coarse can be used to flatten (better to rub several sides of the stones together under water.

They are pretty stones, I agree with steve. I do like them. They'd be at the bottom end of my list for someone getting into natural stones, though - I like them for japanese knives because they aren't so brash as crystolon or other stones that really will damage a hard edge if you're too aggressive with them. There is an economy in their sharpening that doesn't exist in synthetic grind-it-away stones.

All of that said, I agree with one of the other posters whose sentiments were:
1) they're not similar to a finish stone (that's certainly true for binsui/amakusa and iyo stones)
2) there are a lot of people selling stones with absolutely no pedigree for a lot of money lately - that's really annoying. I suspect there will be a lot of newbies buying subpar stones, sometimes for prices higher than labeled stones of known origin.