Maruka Hatanaka Nakayama

Hello everyone


This is kinda of showing off :)


I got this stone not long ago from a Japanese barbershop located in Sakai, the man sold it to me as Maruka Hatanaka Nakayama.....


It is magnificent finisher, absolutely top shelf stuff, it's hard and will not autoslurry, but not the hardest.


However the stone has a unique pattern like a gold splash, can anyone tell me what is Japanese name for that if there is any ?


Sunlight photos
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Room light

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No extra prussere is used the stone is a beast

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Japanese razor honed with the same stone

Very nice stone.. Looks like a great finisher :)
I'm sure it's probably wrong, and I may get slated a bit by the "proper" Japanese members here, but I know that the expression "picka picka" is a way of saying 'shiny' or sparkly',, but how to say gold, I'm unsure..... My mother is from Japan so I can speak a bit of broken Japanese,, but unfortunately never learned to read it :(

Take what I say with a pinch of salt,, but a sparkly Japanese natural,, .. Picka picka came to my mind,, tho it could be just be slang, or 'Yamagata ben' not sure

Anyway best of luck enjoy the stone
:)

Looks like Nashiji to me, I can't remember if the lighter spots have a specific name. . Does the stone have a Maruka stamp? If not then it can't be Maruka, or Nakayama for that matter. Most important of all is that it works great as a finisher.

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Originally Posted by mainaman

Looks like Nashiji to me, I can't remember if the lighter spots have a specific name. . Does the stone have a Maruka stamp? If not then it can't be Maruka, or Nakayama for that matter. Most important of all is that it works great as a finisher.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by mainaman

Looks like Nashiji to me, I can't remember if the lighter spots have a specific name. . Does the stone have a Maruka stamp? If not then it can't be Maruka, or Nakayama for that matter. Most important of all is that it works great as a finisher.

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Hello Stefan,

No the stone has no stamps, and yes I agree with you without stamps I can't say that it's a Maruka Hatanaka or Nakayama, but as you have said the most important thing that it perform exceptionally well as a finisher and the absence of stamps make it reasonably affordable.

And I too thought that it might be a Nashiji, but I haven't seen one looks like this one before, those photos might not revel who golden those spots are.

Here is a microscope picture of the Henkels bevel, you can see who the edge is really straight without stropping, however the scraches appear to be exaggerated as I have taken the picture at a very low lighting.

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Lovely stone.

It looks like you have a very slight folded edge or wire edge to me.

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Originally Posted by eKretz

It looks like you have a very slight folded edge or wire edge to me.

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Yes it is false edge, not folded though and it was removed by 20 laps on canvas to remove it, my poor camera focus only on the middle part of the picture that's what created that effect on the left part of the picture. Sorry I think I must fund a better choice for microscope photography.

Nice observation my friend, however if take a good look even with the presence of the false the edge is really straight, which is something I always link to Escher hones.

Maybe do the stropping first for the next photo, lol. I have a Nakayama Maruka Kiita with Nashiji that produces some very outstanding edges also - like yours it isn't ultra hard, but doesn't self slurry either. I find that all of my better JNats produce really nice bullet straight edges, just as well as my Thuris.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AljuwaiedAK

Hello everyone


This is kinda of showing off :)


I got this stone not long ago from a Japanese barbershop located in Sakai, the man sold it to me as Maruka Hatanaka Nakayama.....


It is magnificent finisher, absolutely top shelf stuff, it's hard and will not autoslurry, but not the hardest.

However the stone has a unique pattern like a gold splash, can anyone tell me what is Japanese name for that if there is any ?

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Alijuwaied

I have several examples of that type of stone, and it is a form of Yaki, a brownish alternate mineral component that can sometimes look brightly golden but usually a dull brown and contrasts with the main stone body tone which is often gray or bluish (tinged blue). With my examples the stone feels slightly open grained, not necessarly rough or coarse but just open. I have seen yaki from several mines and Nakayama is one of them along with Okudo and Shobudani. These stones tend to be hard and I belive that they are from the Aisa layer because I have one that also has a karasu pattern on the ushiro backside.

About your stone being from the Nakayama mine. Hard to say and like the post from Stefan above, performance is everything on these forums. Without a patch of kawa skin on the back as an indicator I don't think you will ever find out for sure. Hatanaka stamped their stones on the top side so their stamps were worn off in first use, Kato-san usually stamped on the ends in black ink.

About 6 months ago the Japanese version of "The Antiques Roadshow", a TV show that does apprasials of antiques, guns, paintings and furniture, a guy brought in a few stones that came from his father to ask for appraisal. I guess that a lot of barbers in Japan saw that program because for the last few months a lot of barbers think that they own small fortunes in their used stones. Most barbers don't care from which mine their hones came from, but now some are curious.

I hope this helps in some way.

Alex


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Well, just to add to the conversation, and I'm not supporting the claims of this vendor, :thinking: ....however, i do covet this stone, :D

Maybe there is some valid related point, and maybe not. I dont know!! :shrug:

Nakayama Maruka Hatahoshi Natural Whetstone 1611.2g (3Lb. 8.9oz. )

"Size: 209mmX75mmX37mm It is a very old Nakayama Maruka Hatahoshi whetstone. The original paper box is still with it. It has still Hatahoshi stamp on the top of the sharpening surface. It does not have Maruka stamp on the side, but Hatanaka whetstone is the company sells Hatahoshi and Maruka, so they are from the same company and the same mine."

Nakayama Maruka Hatahoshi Natural Whetstone 1611.2g (3Lb. 8.9oz. )

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Originally Posted by alx

Alijuwaied

I have several examples of that type of stone, and it is a form of Yaki, a brownish alternate mineral component that can sometimes look brightly golden but usually a dull brown and contrasts with the main stone body tone which is often gray or bluish (tinged blue). With my examples the stone feels slightly open grained, not necessarly rough or coarse but just open. I have seen yaki from several mines and Nakayama is one of them along with Okudo and Shobudani. These stones tend to be hard and I belive that they are from the Aisa layer because I have one that also has a karasu pattern on the ushiro backside.

About your stone being from the Nakayama mine. Hard to say and like the post from Stefan above, performance is everything on these forums. Without a patch of kawa skin on the back as an indicator I don't think you will ever find out for sure. Hatanaka stamped their stones on the top side so their stamps were worn off in first use, Kato-san usually stamped on the ends in black ink.

About 6 months ago the Japanese version of "The Antiques Roadshow", a TV show that does apprasials of antiques, guns, paintings and furniture, a guy brought in a few stones that came from his father to ask for appraisal. I guess that a lot of barbers in Japan saw that program because for the last few months a lot of barbers think that they own small fortunes in their used stones. Most barbers don't care from which mine their hones came from, but now some are curious.

I hope this helps in some way.

Alex


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Thanks Alex, what you have shared was really helpful, I believe those golden spots are very similar to the two stones on the right.

As for the stamps, if the stone is a Maruka Hatanaka or at least Nakayama I don't really care as I paid 1/10 of the price of a stamped one, and the stone is great which is what I am looking for really.

And that thing with the Japanese barbers that you mentioned, I think it is true as I almost exclusively buy my Jnats from Japanese barber because if it's good for them it is definitely good enough for me, but lately I noticed that the prices are rising I think that they got an idea about the value of their stones from that program.

Thanks again Alex for your help.

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Originally Posted by eKretz

Maybe do the stropping first for the next photo, lol. I have a Nakayama Maruka Kiita with Nashiji that produces some very outstanding edges also - like yours it isn't ultra hard, but doesn't self slurry either. I find that all of my better JNats produce really nice bullet straight edges, just as well as my Thuris.

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I will do so next time, but hopefully I find a better camera for my microscope.

The stone that you have sounds sexy if you don't mind sharing a pictures of it I would appreciate it, I have an addiction to these things :)

Here are a couple shots of it. A friend of mine traded it to me for one of my Kuro slate "found" stones - he said the stamps were removed when he rounded the sides and edges - he does this to all his stones. More money than sense IMO (he doesn't use computers, no danger of him reading this, lol). I don't really care though anyway, as the stone is so good that I will never ever sell it. Super fast cutter but still gives an amazingly fine and comfortable edge. I normally finish on a very light slurry with this one. One of my very favorite stones. Color is corrected and bang on.

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I remember reading in one of Iwasaki books the he recommend sanding out the saw marks on the sides of the stone and removing the skin to protect the blade during honing.

So I think you can find a lot of super Jnats without id maybe for this reason.

Thanks for sharing this s amazing stone.

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Originally Posted by AljuwaiedAK

I remember reading in one of Iwasaki books the he recommend sanding out the saw marks on the sides of the stone and removing the skin to protect the blade during honing.

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Could be a way! but you would do it today if you believe 100% you keep the stone your lifetime, otherwise you would lower the price of the stone removing the stamp....

And if youre careful "normally" you do not hit either the Kawa nor the sawmarks if you have a chamfering....

Removing the Kawa would it make sense too see how the "other" side of the stone works ?!?

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Originally Posted by doorsch

Could be a way! but you would do it today if you believe 100% you keep the stone your lifetime, otherwise you would lower the price of the stone removing the stamp....

And if youre careful "normally" you do not hit either the Kawa nor the sawmarks if you have a chamfering....

Removing the Kawa would it make sense too see how the "other" side of the stone works ?!?

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Totally agree with you losing the hone id will lower the value significantly, I would rather keep it and adjust my way of honing instead.

Here is the quote from Iwasaki book:

Just like your Nagura, carefully round off the corners. Flatten the sawmarks on the sides of the hone
with sandpaper. There are stones with purple or brown “skin”. Remove this completely. This skin is
harder than steel, and so any fragments of it can cause serious damage to your edge. It is also best to
smooth and even out the uneven areas of the bottom of the hone. In the past, people often coated the
sides and bottom with Urushi lacquer, but these days “Hone Coat” is sufficient, and it dries quickly.