The Aoto Thread

[Pyment]

I wouldn't expect anything else, really. They have BIN listings on the stones, that's probably where the cleanest ones get sold.

My impression is that he has them all packed and just picks one off the pile.

He may have a pile for the auction and a pile for those that sell at the BIN price.

from his site:

天然ç¥çŸ³ ä¼Šäºˆç¥ æ£æœ¬å±± å±±åŸŽéŠ˜ç¥ ç™½é·¹åŒ…ä¸� 玄ç¿� 鉋 é‘¿

for those of you that read the language I think this is the answer:

傷が走っていますのでお安く。

it is part of the description for the Aoto he sells for ￥3,980 (税込)

I think you have to go to the more expensive ones to get a stone that might be useful.

[sparq]

I wish you better luck with your stones. Mine seems to be a very low grade. It wears out unevenly, there are many pits in the surface left after honing, there are cracks and cavities in its body. I will post some more pictures later.

[kevint]

Let's take a quick trip to So's site: Kouzaki, Inokura, Miyagawa, Hakka. And I think also Tanba.

Quite a bit more than those currently under discussion as these are the good ones.

It seems unreasonable to me to expect to get a 150-200usd middle stone for 12-60usd.

I do not consider it a worst case scenario; it is only fair that lower price =lower quality.

[Pyment]

Let's take a quick trip to So's site: Kouzaki, Inokura, Miyagawa, Hakka. And I think also Tanba.

Quite a bit more than those currently under discussion as these are the good ones.

It seems unreasonable to me to expect to get a 150-200usd middle stone for 12-60usd.

I do not consider it a worst case scenario; it is only fair that lower price =lower quality.

Actually, it would be more cost effective to us to buy an Iyo whetstone which is in the 1000-3000 range. I think these are being mined again.