Thread: is that good or not this stone?

Also, if you’re buying from The Gentleman’s Blade, and this is resold from the Russian seller, who is also a reseller, then you’ll pay a lot of premium... just saying, may not be great price-performance ratio there.

Originally Posted by Srdjan

Also, if you’re buying from The Gentleman’s Blade, and this is resold from the Russian seller, who is also a reseller, then you’ll pay a lot of premium... just saying, may not be great price-performance ratio there.

+1 to that. might consider looking at some other sites before purchasing

I don't really know a lot about these stones except for the few I own I have been lucky to have good performers. I have no stamped stones and my paranoia of fakes seems to have been alerted when seeing the link you posted. The stamps on the linked stone look as if they were put on yesterday and as Mainaman pointed out the mines were closed some fifty years ago. I just cant see even a stone sitting on a shelf in the best of circumstances can have such crisp clean stamps. Inks bleed and fade over time I doubt the stamps are authentic, just a gut feeling though. I don't know what the price is but I can generalize what I have seen from good vendors asking for marukas , minimum of 500-700 dollars for a small razor sized hone and sky is the limit for large pretty bench stones. I'm sure there are exceptions but if the seller knows he has a winner they are going to ask a high price. I echo the sentiment that Alex is good to deal with and will accept a returns if you are unhappy not many will do this. Maksim from JNS may be a better vendor for you being in Romania because he is in Denmark probably less shipping hassle in that regard and he sells good stones also Tomo Nagura website gets a mention hes never let me down either. I am sure there are other good vendors out there but those three I would trust most from what I know and experienced.

Price is 200$.
also has a picture with slurry.
I've talked to an experienced boy (roumanian) who told me at first glance he was from Russia.
I told him to sell it, I thought he did too much favor for me.
I'm waiting to see if he sells it.

Good man

he saw me more needy, and he made mercy.

The shape of the stone looked familiar (had some jnats from the Russian seller in my watchlist for a while last year). I agree with what's been said about the products of this seller. I bought a generously stamped "nakayama" lv5 from him but turned out to be a mediocre pre-finisher and more soft than any other lv5 I've owned. I ended up cutting it into smaller bits as tomos.

If it helps, here's the old listing - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Na...p2047675.l2557
Personally, for 200$ I'd go the JNS route and shoot Maksim an email.

Thx a lot. I don't buy the stone.

Well since the few pages of the kioto mining asociationstamps registry pics went on all the forums a few years back(cough) there has been a lot of freshly stamped maruka...sometimes they get the ink coluor wrong...sometimes it's the font on the kanji and the proportions of the stamp that are off...and sometimes they go all out stupid and use stamps not normaly seen togeter or stamp a stone clearly from another mine like awatanii...''maruka''...when it comes to money some people go all the way...guys when something sounds too good to be true then it most certanly is.

Dont think buying from Japan is diffrent...there are a lot of fakes out there and a lot of mediocre stones not worth buying...dont think ppl are just selling their best stones to the highest bidder...they also have multiple accounts and raise their bid on their own items...they also got fake stamped stones...and low quality stones polished up , laquered in cashew and put on a nice new shiny stand... they also want to make money and honour is a rare thing even in Japan these days...you will lose more money then you make if you dont know what you are doing and funny part is that sometimes you will realise you actualy bought a fake months later ...

A stone is a nakayama or a maruka if it has the stamps to prove it...those stamps must show their age if used and even if kept in a box.
The stamps also must respect certain characteristics.

If there are no stamps few ppl can actualy be trusted to give their opinion to what a stone might be...by looks...and honing propertyes...and even this is a guess...sure some stones scream out the mine...but most dont and they can be anything. And of course the one selling it wants the most money for it and its easy to yell Nakayama or Ozukoo...on every damn tomae stone.

Keep in mind that no stone dealer in Japan will admit to reading bark/kawa or telling what mine a stone is from...and those guys deal stones thousands of them...it's hilarious when you see ppl that never even got to test a hundred jnats begining to name stones...


What I sugest to people seeking a good stone. Buy from a seller that accepts test and return at your expense.

Buy from a seller that has decent prices...not cheap and not sucker prices.

Buy from a seller that has no bad reviews
And also buy from a seller that stands behind his products 100%. You have your God given right to return a product that is not to your standards in 30 days...I dont see why this should be any diffrent.
Use paypal or some payment method thatnalows you to get your money back

And a few kind words to the fine gentlemen selling stones.

People buy a stone because they like using it...sooner or later they will get educated and find out what they have.

Dont fund scumbags...even if the price is right....because for every fake stone sold...that person will make more...and in time it will be difficult if not imposible to recognise the authentic ones from the fakes....the only way to stop the fakes is to stop buying them...get educated and buy smart....if they dont make money they dont make fakes....

My 2 cents

Easy to tell, hard to make.