Thread: Have you ever seen these?

Hi there,

Hope this picture post shows up!

I purchased these water stones about 25 yrs ago. They have been used to sharpen my chisels and planes. they do a pretty good job at that but, unfortunately I don't know what the grits are. The grey is rough, red smoother and the yellow is the smoothest. This is a Japanees water stone set. Has anyone here ever seen this set-up and have any info about it?

Also, could it be used to sharpen a straight razor?



Thanks for any help.

Sorry i should say try yellow one and see what happens. rest 2 stones definitely out of question too course for straight razor purposes .hope this helps

I agree with Sham - The blue one is too coarse, for sure. The red looks like a King 800/1000/1200 (they are all the same color). It could be used for bevel setting. For some reason, the yellow has me thinking 4K or 6K (but not King). It is probably your best bet for something close to what a razor needs, but most likely not enough.

Do you have a manufacturer name or can you take pictures of each of the stone's faces?

Might be a Naniwa set up. The one I show is a new(er)product.

lots of companies have tri-hones, though that Naniwa is strikingly similar.

One comment : though what will you do when you aren't new to this nu2this?

Originally Posted by khaos

lots of companies have tri-hones, though that Naniwa is strikingly similar.

One comment : though what will you do when you aren't new to this nu2this?

Well------------hadn't even thought of that-------maybe, "tooldtolearn" or "longinthetooth". Something like that.
Thanks for the help though. When I bought the set there was no name regarding the mfgr. They were purchased from Garrett Wade tools many years ago.

I will try to get a larger and closer photo that might show more detail. The comments about the grey stone are most likley correct, too rough. The red one however is pretty darn smooth, to my eye anyway. It takes a pretty long time for water to be absorbed and the blade makes very little sound when stroked across it. I used this stone first in the process.

The yellow stone seems to keep the water on top of itself most of the time and there is very little sound during the stroke. I might be too impatient in my attempt at sharpening but it seems as though I am not getting very far very fast. All in all, 30-45 min have been used. The blade feels sharp and slices a piece of paper O.K. but won't shave hair from my arm.

Having never sharpened a razor befor, I haven't any guidelines to work from.

Thanks to everyone so far.