Thread: Help while waiting for my Nakayama to get here

So I just pulled the trigger on a Nakayama hone, any comments or thoughts are welcome. She's a green one with black slurry, and measures 240mm (just under 10") by 65mm (just over 2"). I dealt directly with a guy in Japan so there were some language barriers, but people here and at Cornell's language department helped me out. Explaining the need for high quality on razors lead no where, so I researched Katana and Sushi Knife sharpening, as these are the most common reason our "razor" hones are made, and it turns out that they both require the same high grade cutting edge we expect. And in the case of the Katana, they are highly regarded and some say the best and finest hand made damascus steel ever. So I asked him, what would you use to edge an amazing Sushi knife or a Katana, and he said, you need something really special (this was good, before he was saying, this and that will be fine), and went and picked out a few rocks from his collection that looked to be good (good origins, qualities, etc) and tested them on some Japanese blades. This is what I ended up with, and he claims will be a good finisher well above "10k" grit. Confirmed that it leaves the hazy finish of a high grade Japanese stone. It has been lapped and is ready to use (hence the characters are not original) though I will probably relap it. Also, don't know if this matters or not, but he claims this was hand chiseled and lapped on top obviously to use and on the one end for the trademark, not sawed, and the pictures seem to confirm this.

If possible can anyone translate the characters for me?

Once again, any thoughts concerns comments and advice are welcome. Just showing off and hoping to discuss this, just trying to ease the waiting period...

wow looks beauty after getting it please let us know how much you like it.i wanna add 1 more thin it seems like a thin hone be careful with water.my hone is braking down and i have trying to paint it.

hi_bud_gl can you please elaborate on that? (it is around 22mm thick, just under 1")

And something I forgot to mention, I will probably want to send this to between one and three people to try out and evaluate for me (because I am new to honing it is hard for me to judge the fineness of grit) so if anyone is willing to please let me know.

sure i can do so and will be happy. what i mean in my early reply Nakayama (at least what i have ) is different then escher,coticule etc. when they stay longer time period contact with water it starts to brake down small peaces(from the bottom of the stone). it just comes off. To avoid this you will need to use nakayama and then dry it. next option i think was painting. i did use nail polisher but didn't work. that is why i said i am going to paint mine. hope this clears a little.

Unless you have tried making slurry with a diamond plate, I'm pretty sure what you think is slurry is actually steel off of your razor! On any hone, steel in the water on top of the hone looks like what you show in the photo.

Edit: I re-read your post and realize that you don't have the hone yet. The pattern of the slurry is typical of Japanese strokes on a hone. I know there is another term for Japanese strokes but I can't think of it right now but if you watch the Livi honing video you will see it. Basically it's like doing circles but more of just a back and forth motion. That slurry is almost definitely steel. You really won't know how well it works on razors until you have it in your hands.

Originally Posted by khaos

If possible can anyone translate the characters for me?

My kanji skills are limited but I think the characters on the round hone indicate that it really likes the other hone.

If you look at the seller's site, virtually every stone there has the same characters on the top. I would guess that it is the company's mark, or finishing stone, or (with my expertise) "eat at Chen's".

It almost looks like the same mark at the end.

It is not the mark "genuine Nakayama" which is shown on O_S's site.

Did he say what this stone is- where from etc?

Originally Posted by Utopian

My kanji skills are limited but I think the characters on the round hone indicate that it really likes the other hone.

LOL, thanks for the chuckle!

That sure is a beautiful stone. I can't wait til next year when I have refreshed my hone buying account... I gotta have one of those Japanese stones.

Most of the stones on his site with these markings are labeled "Japanese whetstone central Kyoto Honyama Yamashiro"