Thread: Jnats, Fake Stamps and Soft Stones

Alex is right as always, but for us razor guys, another reason we still have good razor hones around is that they aren't good for much else. They're too hard and usually too slow for knives and tools and frequently too small, and the absolute fineness isn't needed for anything else. A fine sushi knife is probably the closest, but even the best of them don't need a razor hone. As we knife folk say, 'a pot roast never complains'. I like the toothy edge from an Aizu on vegetable knives. I don't know about the precision Japanese woodworking knives, but they may also need a fine stone.

Hard stones also usually don't finish metal well so knife/sword polishers don't want them.

Cheers, Steve

My big problem with the sellers is how they word things with these obviously newer stamped from the wholesaler stones. So a wholesaler feels a stone is of a certain quality and stamps it Maruichi now the seller will imply it was stamped Hatanaka Nakayama when this really maybe a Nakayama, but probably not stamped by Hatanaka, just implying it is that quality. Now as long as the price is not what an original stamped stone would cost I think most that buy these types of stones are buying with caution.