Thread: Japanese hone

I have this Japanese hone. I bought it from an importer on the West Coast. It is a dull pea green in color with a yellowish highlight. It's a brick of a stone, very heavy. Can anyone tell me something about it?

No.

There is an immense variety in colors, patterns and shapes in Japanese hones, even within 1 grit range or quality range, there is no way to tell without the original kanji intact.
The only other way would be to have it appraised by an expert like So Yamashi.ta or his dad.

wow it looks like a brick for sure i need to bild a wall so if u want ill take it off your hands for free, lol kidding its tough to tell about that maybe old school will have something to say about it, or SO might if he reads the forums, dave martell over at japanese knife sharpening gave me his name as an importer of fine japanese hones as well

Here is the link to the importer that I used:

Welcome to Hida Tool's Web Site

I have O_S looking for hone for me as we read!

Why not hone a razor on it to see what kind of grit range it might be, that'd be a start in the right direction of figuring out what it is.

If it feels heavy for it's size, that's probably a good thing as the harder (more dense) stones are considered superior polishers (if the grit is suited to polishing).

The color isn't a sure thing with any of them, but it looks like a Narutaki (~8k) that I have.

If you give it a try and the grit seems to be in the 6k to 10k range, I'd call it a narutaki and use it as necessary. Unless you're trying to sell it, there's no real need to know for sure.

Here are some better pictures of what's left of the Kanji. Maybe this will help your eyes O_S . BTW O_S, I am anxiously awaiting the beautiful Nakayama Karasu that I know you will find for me!

OOOPS! Here are the pictures of the Kanji!

Originally Posted by blaireau

I have O_S looking for hone for me as we read!

I guess the "holy grail" wasn't the end ?

Life is a journey, the only end is THS END. I am typing this post so I'm still not at THE END!

Which size did you choose, 24 or 30? just wonderin'

well, the description says Ohira- so you can assume it was mined on the west side of Mt.Atago in the ohira mine.

The second name: Kozan; should be the name of the stratum. I don't have the familiarity with every single strata so i don't know the name specifically. The color reminds me of tomae. which is usually near the mdidle of the hardness spectrum

On So-san's site he says there are 48 strata of tomae; maybe I am smarter than I think and each tomae has a more specific name. I'd call Hida and ask them, but they may only say it is ohira-kozan.

How does it cut?