Wood base for new Jnat?

I just purchased this new slab and am seriously considering fitting it to a pedestal/base for ease of use and protection. What would be the traditional wood species to use as a Jnat base?Attachment 309289

I don't know what is traditional, but i got a Jnat once that was glued to a piece of board that looked like a fence board. Not fancy. Now i just make my own boxes out of whatever wood i feel like.

Many of the mounted stones I have seen look like they have been attached to a piece of redwood or juniper. Not sure that I want to use epoxy. I might just chisel out a tight fitting relief.

I believe they use Hinoki, but is difficult to source in the US. I never did find any. Port oxford cedar would be close.

Any hard wood would do, having it removable is a good idea too.
Check out my website honing page I have 2, one fixed made by a carpenter.
The other (Nakayama) by a skilled craftsmen, which is removable.

Hinoki is sold as small cutting boards in Japanese dollar type stores. I have seen them in a chain stores, “Daiso” locally here.

But Pine or Cedar will work, attaching with silicone or French fitting will make it reversable.

No kidding - My oldest daughter works at a nearby Daiso Japan, I'll have to go and give their cutting boards a look. I use several things from there because they are so cheap: Gloves, masking tape, containers for my Greaseless compounds, epoxy, a waterproof tray with grippy material on it that I use when honing, probably other things I'm forgetting about.

-Mickey

The wood mine was glued to looked like Cedar. Like I said, Like an old fence board. It was an old piece of wood and you could tell it had been around water a lot of its life.

If you go to Daiso, check out their Stainless Steel trays in the Kitchen section, they are great for working on project and keeping small part together, cleaning small messy projects, they clean up easily.

They also have a variety of inexpensive clear plastic storage containers, great for drawer organization.

I have made them from fence board Cedar from Home Depot, they work just fine, Cedar is easy to carve or route.

I will see if I can find some cedar. Probably take the time to fit it well and the silicone idea is interesting. In a pinch I might just use redwood. It is very resilient to moisture, although it carves poorly. The stone is a Shohonyama Black satin from Justin at Rocknrazors. He is a very easy guy to deal with. Now I just wait for it to arrive.

It looks very squarish/flat so making a cutout for it to sit in shouldn't be too much work for a router. Then small chisels to finish.

Port Orford cedar would probably be the closest to traditional Japanese wood used for the bases. They use a different grain orientation though, see the images below. As Jerry said, you can fit the stone to the base, and if you’re really good, the base will hold the stone by friction and the stone will only fit one way. Of course, any hardwood would work.

You could also make a cover, the cover shown below is hand made for the stone of paulownia wood. The stone inside the cover is very, very, good and I take the cover was to prevent anything from being dropped on it in a barber shop (I suppose)

That looks like a very heavily used doug fir 2x6 from home depot. It seems that they had no interest in taking attention away from the stone by showcasing a nice piece of lumber. it works! I just want to look at the stone.

I guess it's all in how you look at it. A hone, no matter how good it is, is merely a tool to be used and hopefully taken care of. Through the lifetime of an heirloom quality hone a wood base would likely see a lot of wear and tear from moving it around and exposing it to moisture on a regular basis. I have an exceptional la Vienette coticule bout that I mounted in a beautiful piece of Bocote a few years ago. The hone has been one of my favorites for a long time and has been used heavily. The base is starting to look pretty shabby these days. It's warped and cracked. When it's dry I can barely get the coti seated in it but when wet it fits like a glove. if I let the whole thing dry together it is nearly impossible to remove the stone. Seems that bocote was a bad idea.

I suspect that there is probably a reason certain species were used as bases for a hone.

Yeah that’s basically it. The stands were just that and nothing more, usually. And they got their own patina over time. On the old ones, I usually try to remove all the old slurry and lightly sand the loose wood fibers, then give them a coat of wax or spray lacquer just out of respect. Sometimes they’re rough and I like them to look like well cared for vintage tool handles.

I have only made bases for stones with uneven bases, Jnats. But for me space is more of an issue than protection. I store the daily drivers, synthetic and naturals, that I use most in four drawers, on end in wooden cutlery drawer organizers with rubber drawer liner between the stones. They are kept clean and well protected in their drawers.

I no longer use wood bases, I now make spacers from pieces of yoga mats glued with silicone and trimmed to fit to make the base level with the top without rocking, then hold each stone on a Steelex rubber holder.

I used a wooden bridge across our laundry sink for years, it was almost constantly wet, drying out only overnight. It was just a 1x4 pine board with a piece of drawer liner.

I only stopped using it because we moved, and the new sink is much lower that the old one. So, I don’t think it matters much what kind of wood it is.

Here is an interesting video of a guy, Bill Carter, master woodworker and self-taught plane making artisan, making a box for one of his natural stones. He makes works of art, reproduction English Miter Planes, by hand,. He also collects Natural stones used to hone his plane blades.

The video is a little shaky, but this Bill is a National Treasures.